Sarah Langs is a Jim Valvano for a new generation
The beloved baseball researcher dramatically personalizes the heartbreaking fight against ALS
She doesn’t wear a uniform or play on the field, but Sarah Langs might well be the Sportsperson of the Year.
The biggest story in Major League Baseball from Friday to Sunday didn’t involve any teams or ballplayers. It centered on Langs, the MLB.com researcher who is fighting Lou Gehrig’s disease, which she revealed publicly late in 2022, and galvanizing that fight nationwide.
The 30-year-old Langs has always been a singularly cheerful personality, with “Baseball is the best!” as her widely recognized calling card. In the face of her tragic diagnosis, none of her positivity in public has waned, and based on what those closest to her are saying, it has veritably remained the same in private.
The profound love and passion in the baseball world for Langs and the fight against ALS is remarkable, and I had trouble at first recalling anything quite like it. Then I thought of Jim Valvano, the similarly beloved North Carolina State men’s basketball coach, whose battle with cancer became a rallying cry at the 1993 ESPY Awards.
It’s hard for me to believe that Valvano was only 47 when he died on April 28, 1993, only eight weeks after this speech. But he is truly remembered, and as hard as it is to process, I believe Langs and everything she embodies will similarly endure. Heaven knows it should. And to think it’s for someone who spent most of her life and career behind the scenes.
I just googled “Sarah Langs + Jim Valvano,” and what did I find? A May 12, 2014 piece written for the Chicago Maroon, the University of Chicago newspaper, by Langs. The column is about how she fell in love with running, after she had tried out swimming in high school.
The thing with swimming was, I liked it, but I really wasn’t that great. I was definitely “good” at points, but I had reached my ceiling. I wasn’t going to improve. I didn’t quit because I couldn’t do better (I’ve heard Jimmy Valvano’s “don’t ever give up” speech far too many times to do that) …
Despite my relatively un-athletic history, though, I am inordinately competitive.
Langs’ birthday is May 2. She was born not only on the 54th anniversary of Lou Gehrig’s last game, but also days after Valvano passed.
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