Father and son enjoy a unique football connection for South
Valley teams
Hollister – It’s just the two of them, one on each couch. There’s no light in the room other than the bright images flashing from the television.
“Backers are coming downhill,” the father tells his son. “Could be an earlier cut.”
And then, moments later: “O-line could get a good push off the ball because their nose guard ain’t too good.”
It’s Monday night at the Lango household, and the tape of the football game has the rapt attention of both father and son. Practice out on the San Benito High fields ended hours ago, but Haybalers fullback Tim Lango is getting some extra coaching after dinner.
With the biggest game of the San Benito season just days away, Tim and his dad, John, are watching footage of the previous week’s Palma-Alisal contest and talking football.
From as long as he can remember, Tim, 17, has lived and breathed football. With a dad who ran the Gilroy High program for years and now heads the Gavilan College program, it has been impossible not to.
From the early days of playing Pop Warner and serving as a ballboy wherever his dad was coaching to attentively watching Gavilan practices and games from the sidelines while starring for the ‘Balers, Tim has been immersed in the sport.
“It’s like it’s meant for me to play football,” he says.
And he’s not alone. Tim’s brother Mike, 20, was a captain for the ‘Balers and is now a defensive lineman at California Lutheran University, a Division III program in Thousand Oaks.
The entire family loves the sport. Susan Lango, the mother of three, orchestrates the show, traveling to the games of all her men as well as the cheerleading competitions of Lauren, 13.
As John says, “One time, she had on our answering machine, ‘This is the Lango residence. We’re either playing football, watching football or studying football.’ And then my daughter started cheering, so it was ‘cheering for football, coaching football or playing football.'”
Tim, just as Mike did before, has made full use of having an in-house coach. The football discussions are a staple – “It’s fair game at the house at all times,” John says – and those conversations extend beyond strategy and film study to team dynamics and how to be a successful athlete.
John is in attendance at every San Benito game, sitting with the “40-yard line crew,” beaming just as any other parent while watching another one of his sons star for the ‘Balers.
After a stellar start to the 2006 season, helping lead the ‘Balers to a 5-1 start with 563 rushing yards and another five scores, Tim looks to have a future in college football. Whether he joins his father at Gavilan remains an open question.
Tim feels a strong pull to suit up alongside a family member, but finds himself torn between trekking to Gavilan or playing with his older sibling, Mike.
“It’d be great to play with my brother,” Tim says, “(and) I’d love to play with my dad. I’m lost basically.”
John finds himself in a unique situation – weighing the health of his football team while also looking toward the best future for his son. “Can he come play for us? Yeah,” John says. “When it comes to recruiting, we’re going to go after him hard.”
“It’s interesting at home,” John continues. “Right now the biggest thing at home is Mike would love for Tim to go play with him … so they could play together for the first time ever.”
But John also feels that playing for Gavilan – as Mike did for two years – would best further Tim’s development as a player.
“The best players have always played at Gav if they didn’t get a four-year scholarship or they decided not to play,” John says.
“I want him to come play for me.”
