Jim Langton: Cool Fullback

If an opposing school were to write up a scouting report on Harvard soccer captain and sweeperback Jim Langton, it would probably read as follows: very consistent, nothing too flashy, not overly skilled, and a heckuva nice guy.

That last part's apocryphal, but the first three are probably close to what you'd find on such a report.

James Edward Langton came to Harvard in the fall of 1975 from State College, Pennsylvania, and in something of a surprise during his junior year, he moved into a starting spot. This year, he is to Harvard soccer what Franz Beckenbauer was to West Germany--that is, a steadying influence from the back-line fullback position, which does a lot in determining the team's fortunes.

With the Crimson's record just 3-8-1 so far, one might conclude--upon first impression--that he is not doing his job very well. And the fact that infrequent, but costly, defensive lapses have plagued the team all fall adds ammunition to that argument.

Hobgoblin

And to listen to Langton talk, he hasn't been all that great. "In terms of the record and in terms of consistency," he said while nibbling on a French-bread pizza at Quincy House before yesterday's game, "I just don't think I've done as good a job as I should have."

There are those, however--and they are in the majority--who disagree with such an analysis.

"Jimmy's improved a helluva lot this year," midfielder Michael Smith, the most talented player on the Crimson, said after yesterday's game. "He may not be the most gifted player on the team in terms of skills, but the job back there is just destroying, and he's good at running the other player off the ball, at making the tackle."

"He's good at distributing, and sending long balls to the wings," Smith continued. "Perhaps most of all, though, he pulls the midfielders back and the fullbacks back, and he talks all the time. He's great, the way he talks to everybody and gets everybody going."

There was a time in Jim Langton's Harvard soccer career when it would have been hard to imagine him even getting much varsity playing time, much less words of praise from his teammates.

Tall and thin, Langton picked up soccer in 10th grade, and while he starred on a highly-regarded State College High School team, he came to Cambridge with a solid but only marginally skilled game. Even today, he dribbles the ball too far in front of him, and his quickness afoot is average.

But it is not below average, and his innate sense of where he is on a soccer field, combined with his basic athletic ability, earned Langton a starting halfback spot on a talented freshman team.

Sophomore year found him in a curious state of limbo--not having earned a spot on the senior-packed varsity, Jimmy found himself ambiguouisly classified as a "J.V." in a program which had essentially eliminated the junior varsity team for that year.

So he ran laps on cold November afternoons, and got in an occasional varsity scrimmage, and played in the handful of informally scheduled J.V. games, and probably didn't do too much dreaming about serving as the varsity captain one day.

"I was in a kind of no-man's land," Langton said yesterday, moving on from pizza to french fries. "It wasn't the best situation."

"But I worked pretty hard that summer, and George (coach Ford) moved me back to a back position at training camp, and after a position switch with John Sanacore, I've been at sweeper since."

Strong Suit

The position of college sweeperback is one well-suited to Langton's talent. The role is not unlike that of a football free safety, except that soccer involves a continuous flow, while football action comes in spurts.

Sweeperback demands such qualities as cool-headedness, the ability to read the ebbs and flows of a game and direct the rest of the team accordingly, and agressive defensive play.

Langton has the requisite talent--he heads well, has a deceptively accurate flick volley, tackles well, and feeds the ball upfield coolly.

Last year, the defensive machinery worked well as Langton teamed-up with the likes of Smith and wing fullback Sanacore. A 0-0 shutout at Cornell proved that the inexperienced fullback line had gotten its act together, and the Crimson went on to finish .500 for the year.

"That was just a tremendous year," Langton said, smiling widely. "We weren't really losing anybody, so even when we lost we'd say, wait 'til next year."

The smile faded at that point: "That's why this year is so anticlimactic, well, not really anticlimactic, but frustrating. Really frustrating."

Picking up his lunch tray, Langton turned to talking about himself. "I've never thought I'm one of the best skilled guys on the team," he said. "But back there's not my place to be big on skills--what I have to do is just play the sure pass, not try to be too fancy."

I felt sorry for Jim Langton as he walked out of the cafeteria and headed down toward the B-School field for the game with Tufts. It seemed sad, really, that such a nice guy (excuse the corniness) was having such a difficult time as Harvard's soccer captain, in a moment that should be his finest hour.

No Tears

But watching him direct the flow out there later in the afternoon--watching at Harvard won only its third game of the year--I no longer felt sorry. You couldn't feel sorry, because win or lose, he was doing his job the way he was supposed to do it--making the sure pass, not trying to be too fancy. He was right at home.