David Langlais
Graduating class: 1983
Inducted into Hall of Fame: 2016
Hall of Fame Category: Athlete
He may have had a bitter-sweet high school athletic career, but when it was time to “spring” into action, David Langlais jumped to the top of Fairhaven’s all-time productive list. A three-sport athlete for the Blue Devils, the 6’2” Langlais was a man for all seasons, participating as an offensive end for the football team in the fall, playing a key role with the basketball team in the winter and, over his last two seasons, dominating the spring as the baseball team’s two-time pitching ace. Langlais earned his stripes as a football player during the 1982 season midway through the schedule when he caught a pass from quarterback Steve Caron and turned it into the only touchdown of his varsity career which proved to be the difference in a 27-20 victory at Wareham. It would be just the third win of the season for the Blue Devils and it was also the team’s only win on the road. It would also be the team’s last victory of the season as Fairhaven would drop its final four games and finish with a record of 3-7.
Langlais then began preparing for what he hoped would be better result for him and the basketball team in the season ahead. Half of those hopes were realized. Unfortunately, the Blue Devils would win just five games in the 1982- 83 campaign but nobody was blaming Langlais for the team’s struggles. Getting his feet wet in his first full season the year before by scoring a total of just 60 points, the gangly forward showed promise in his previews of coming attractions by scoring 14 and 12 points, albeit in losses to New Bedford High and Bishop Feehan. The Blue Devils won only seven games and failed to qualify for the tournament in his junior season, but bigger and better things were expected in Langlais’ final winter season. While the team didn’t meet that expectation, the all-around play of Langlais clearly did. The 6-2 veteran was the only Fairhaven player that season to score 20 or more points in a game and he did it in nine different games – including a string of four games in a row – to keep a mediocre team competitive in the Southeastern Massachusetts Conference, Division 2 race. The Blue Devils won just five games that season but 11 of the 14 losses were by a total of 36 points with seven by three points-or-less. After scoring a total of 12 points through his first three games, Langlais finally found the scoring range and tallied twin-digits in 13 of his next 14 outings including the 20-plus streak of four-in-a-row (23, 28, 24 and 20) to start the second half of the schedule. Langlais finished with a total of 236 points in 19 games for a team-high average of 12.4 a game.
But his breakout season was just weeks away and for the second straight spring, Langlais was about to spring into action. The year before, the junior right hander helped pitch Fairhaven to the SMC, Division 2 championship. This time he would carry the team to a repeat effort as a senior. He finished the season and his high school regular season career with a record of 8-2 and ranked among the top pitchers in the entire SMC (all divisions) in Earned Run Average. He also played a major role on offense by banging out 26 hits in 62 at-bats for a .419 average and led the team in runs batted in with 18. But it was his ability to dominate on the pitching mound that set Langlais apart from the average pitcher. “The key to his pitching this year has been his ability to change speeds,” head coach Allen Duarte was quoted as saying. That effort earned Langlais a spot on The Standard-Times and SMC, Div. 2 All-Star teams. David received his BS in Management Science at Bridgewater State, and played baseball there, graduating in 1988. He also earned a BS in Nursing from UMass Dartmouth, graduating Summa Cum Laude in 1999. He is currently Senior Manager of Global Pharmacovigilance Quality Assurance. He is happily married to his wife Cheryl and together they have two children, Jillian 13, and Jack 9.