John 'Chick' Langlois had a knack for pulling off upsets in his storied athletic career
Editor's note: Spotlight is the theme for the latest installment in the Buddy’s Best series, which kicked off last year and continues this summer. Former athletes, coaches and pioneers are among the people who will be highlighted.
Prior to the start of the 1945-46 Tech Tournament, he was the captain of a mediocre New Bedford High School team that wasn’t given much of a chance in the upcoming 21st edition of the schoolboy basketball classic.
One clutch shot and three upsets later, John “Chick” Langlois and his Crimson teammates were celebrating one of the greatest tournament championships in state history.
It was just a year earlier that Langlois and another New Bedford basketball team high-stepped their way onto the Boston Garden floor with their heads held high only to limp away devastated following an embarrassing, 20-9, first-round elimination loss.
There were no high expectations the second time around after New Bedford received the final invitation after struggling through a mediocre 12-10 regular season record and was set to face pre-tournament favorite Attleboro in the opening round.
Langlois was a junior and in his second season as team captain. He shared a spot in the starting lineup with Joe Camacho, Joe Perreira, George Handler and Ray Blanchard but it was the co-captain who ran the show. And what a show it was.
A balanced team effort provided the tournament’s first major upset when the eighth-seeded Crimson blew away top-seed Attleboro, 40-25, and set the stage for “Slick Chick’s” spotlight game.
Like Attleboro, Brockton was heavily favored to oust New Bedford in the semifinal round but as the clock counted down the final seconds, the Crimson trailed, 33-32, and had the ball. It eventually landed in the hands of Langlois, who let it fly from just inside the half-court line. SWISH. Game over. New Bedford wins, 34-33, to gain a spot in the tournament finals.
Langlois talked about his game-winning shot in an interview with The Standard-Times several years later.
“I threw it up from half-court with 12 seconds still on the clock,” he was quoted as saying. “I should have held it a little longer.” But because he didn’t, New Bedford was able to pull off another upset. The third one would come via a 40-30 victory over Somerville in the title game, giving New Bedford its second Class A championship in six years.
Langlois ended his high school basketball career with a solid senior season and went on to play four impressive years at the New Bedford Institute of Technology. He continued to dribble and shoot the basketball as a player-coach in the Greater New Bedford Basketball League where, in 1957, he played a role in another major upset when his Morse Twist Drill team rallied from a 74-53 playoff loss to the Cape Verdean Band Club to win the next two games and capture the league championship.
In February of 1957, Langlois returned to the Boston Garden as a basketball official and worked the Class A game between Medford and Lynn English. He blossomed into one of the area’s best and most respected basketball referees and was elected President of the Southeastern Massachusetts District Board of International Association of Approved Basketball Officials.
But the competitor in Langlois resurfaced in 1971 when he teamed with former New Bedford High School standout athlete and basketball coach Stan Grabiec to win the annual Invitational Fourball Tournament at the Reservation Golf Club in Mattapoisett.
At the tournament-sponsored auction, where the No. 1 team in the 64-team field earned a bid of $2,000, the Langlois-Grabiec tandem was dead last at $300.
All they did was upset the team of Dr. Irwin A. Jaslow and Al Chevalier, 1-up in 24 holes in the final round to claim the crown. Grabiec tied the match with a dramatic 42-foot putt on the 18th hole and “Slick Chick’s” curling, 19-foot putt on the sixth extra hole won it.
The final chapter in the storied life of John “Chick” Langlois was written on Dec. 17, 1999 when the clutch athlete and outstanding human being died at the Sippican Healthcare Center following a long illness. He was 71.
This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: John 'Chick" Langlois led New Bedford to 1946 Tech Tournament title
