By JEFF CASPERSEN/Leader Sports Editor
Early in his career and early in the life of his son, Ryan, John Langerhans remembers watching his 4-year-old son manage a team of imaginary baseball players. A sports writer approached Ryan – now an outfielder with the Atlanta Braves – wanting to know the type of squad the youngster had.
“Hey Ryan, your dad’s team is 19-10. How’s your team doing?” the reporter asked.
“Oh, they’re 19-0,” Ryan responded. “We play the same teams dad does but we’re undefeated.”
Coaching is in the Langerhans’ blood, and it’d be no shock if Ryan, now 26, followed in his dad’s footsteps and entered the coaching ranks when his playing days in the majors are up. If he goes that route, he’ll have some big shoes to fill.
His father John, the longtime Round Rock High School coach who raised the bar for baseball coaches throughout Central Texas, stands on the cusp of induction into the Texas High School Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame.
With a 613-200 career ledger, a state title and a litany of playoff appearances flavoring an impressive resume, the 57-year-old’s selection is a no-brainer. He’ll officially enter the Hall during a January ceremony.
“It’s just a real neat honor,” Westwood coach Bart Bratcher, a Hall of Famer himself, said. “By being as successful as he was, by putting out a team that was that competitive, he makes the rest of us strive to put an equal product out there.”
Bratcher and Langerhans – both responsible for building and sustaining prestigious programs – had quite a rivalry brewing before the latter retired in 2003 after taking the Dragons to the state title game.
“They beat us more than we beat them,” Bratcher joked. “It’s incredible to line up against somebody that is that well prepared. It’s a lot of fun to have rivalries.”
Fortifying Round Rock’s tradition
Round Rock’s current string of 20 straight playoff appearances began with Langerhans. The Dragons won the state title in 1997, were state finalists in 2003 and made the region finals four other times, establishing a tradition that his successor, John Carter, is carrying on.
Carter played for and coached under Langherhans before taking the program over in 2004. Langerhans helped mold the young coach.
“I consider him a mentor to me,” Carter said. “He emphasizes the fundamentals. A lot of people don’t concentrate as much on fundamentals. They think they can do it on pure athleticism and talent. Coach took the everyday kid that doesn’t go off to play at Division I-type schools and made the players the best they can be, to make the team the best it can be.”
Laundry list of accolades
There isn’t much Langerhans hasn’t accomplished on the diamond. He won back-to-back state titles as a player under former University of Texas coach Cliff Gustafson at South San Antonio, pitching a no-hitter in the 1967 title game.
Langerhans went on to play college ball at Texas – again under the legendary Gustafson – and was selected by the Cleveland Indians with a second-round pick in the 1972 draft. He played minor-league ball for four years before moving on to the coaching ranks.
Rosenberg Lamar, San Antonio Madison and Uvalde high schools were Langerhans’ early sites of employment before he arrived at Round Rock. The Dragons made the playoffs in his first year, missed out on the postseason in his second and qualified for the second season each year until Langerhans’ retirement.
Langerhans picked up his 600th coaching win in 2003.
Like father, like son
Langerhans has coached two players who went on to play in the major leagues and countless others who moved on to big-time colleges or the minor leagues. The big leaguers: pitcher Norm Charlton and his son.
Little Langerhans eliminated any of the potential hazards of coaching your own by being an all-around heady kid and a talented baseball player.
“I didn’t know what it was going to be like when my kid’s out there,” the elder Langerhans said. “He made it easy by being the type of kid he is and by being good.”
Good enough for Ryan to surpass his father as a player.
“Every parent wants their kids to be better than they were and they want them to succeed,” coach Langerhans added. “And of course my wife and I were that way just like everybody else. On top of that, I had the privilege of coaching him.”
To top all that off, the two combined to win the 1997 state title.
“It was really special to me,” Ryan said. “From the aspect that I knew how many times he had been to the quarters before and he had never gotten down to Disch-Faulk, to the final four. It was special to be on the team that got him over that hump, to be part of the team that won it all.”
Beyond his own blood, Langerhans the coach has many an adopted son.
“I feel almost as happy with all these other guys that have made it because that’s what this is all about,” he said. “To get Baseball America and see your boys’ names, like [John] Danks and [Brian] Gordon and on and on, is amazing. All have made an impact.”
Hanging around
Go to a Round Rock baseball game and there’s a good chance you’ll spot the former Dragon frontman. Langherhans said he still catches about 75 to 80 percent of the games.
He also still plays a hand in molding future Dragons, doing camps and lessons in the area. Don’t expect to ever see Langerhans completely vacate the diamond.
“I was born to be a coach,” he said. “Doing lessons and camps and things pacifies me. When coach Carter and the guys go out there, I’m hanging around a bit.”