JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. – The school’s parking lots had been filled an hour before game time, and now the stragglers moved their cars slowly up and down the rows, looking in vain for a space. The walkers paid them no attention. Their breaths visible, their shoulders hunched, their hands jammed in the pockets of jackets, they hurried toward the lights and warmth of the gym.
This was the scene at Jeffersonville High School on a frigid basketball Friday night in southern Indiana. The Red Devils were at home to play New Albany for the 158th time. Both are bedroom communities of Louisville, the city just across the Ohio River, so the game always draws a nice crowd from both schools.
Romeo Langford
But on this night, special electricity crackled through the 4,500-seat gym, where fans sat cheek-to-cheek on the hard bleachers and the overflow spilled over into the aisles the fire marshal be damned. It was an eclectic crowd of old-timers and kids, but they were bound by something more than just a rivalry game.
Romeo was in the house.
That would be Romeo Langford, the 6-foot-5 New Albany High junior who already is approaching legendary status in a state steeped in basketball folklore and history. One recruiting guru has described him as “Damon Bailey with more athleticism.”
Bailey, of course, was the Hoosier folk hero who lost any hope of a normal life when he was in the eighth grade, and Bob Knight, then coaching at Indiana University, proclaimed him already good enough to play for his team. By the time Bailey was a senior, his mystique had grown to the point that 41,000 showed up to watch him play for the state championship in the now-gone Hoosier Dome.
He did go on to play for Indiana, as had been preordained years earlier, and while he had a very good career, it was impossible for Damon to measure up to expectations. Still, he always will occupy a special place in the hearts of Hoosiers who learn, from the cradle, to revere names like Bobby Plump and Rick Mount and Steve Alford.
As the teams went through their warmups, all eyes were on Romeo, but he seemed oblivious to the flashes of cell-phone cameras, the murmurs whenever he made a shot, and the furtive glances of the Jeffersonville players. He gave the impression of knowing exactly who he is, but not being too impressed by it.
The word on the street is that he will come back to New Albany for his senior year instead of being shipped off to one of those basketball finishing schools that have popped up around the nation. If that were the case, he would be going against the trend for players of his caliber. But it also would be a way to cling on to any last vestiges of normalcy that remain in his life.
A newspaper columnist from Indianapolis wrote that Romeo stays long after games to sign autographs. He once got a Kobe Bryant autograph that meant a lot to him, so now he will sign for any kid who looks up to him. He’s also reportedly a good student. He would be a good fit anywhere, but he supposedly has narrowed his choices, in no particular order, to Louisville, Indiana, Duke, and Kentucky.
On this night in Jeffersonville, Romeo blanketed the game much like the huge American flag unfurled before the game blanketed the court. In leading New Albany to a workman-like, never-in-doubt 67-56 victory, the boxscore line for Langford was 32 points, seven rebounds, and four assists.
Even the home crowd, which rocked the bleachers with their stomping and whooping, seemed at times to be mesmerized by Langford’s rainbow three-pointers or quick slashes to the rim. He really wasn’t as reminiscent of Bailey as he was – dare it be said? – of Oscar Robertson, who’s still in the conversation about who’s the greatest basketball player ever.
Rome-e-O and Big O. Separated by 60 years, their games are still much the same. Like Robertson, Langford is smooth, his movements economical. Also like Robertson, he is not a showboat, although a highlight reel of his best dunks would send any recruiter into a swoon.
Langford takes what the game gives him and doesn’t force anything. He rarely makes a wild foray into the lane with no idea of what he’s going to do. Whenever he’s double-teamed, which if often, he seems perfectly content to dump the ball off, sacrificing his stats for the good of the team.
Whenever Jeffersonville got hot and mounted a rally, Langford always was there to pour cold water on it. Again like Robertson, he rarely shows emotion. He just plays hard, whatever the score. He’s tall enough to be New Albany’s center, and, indeed, coach Jim Shannon lets him jump center at the beginning of games. But he spends most of his time on the perimeter, all the better to prepare himself for the position he will play in college.
The main thing that will keep Langford from reaching Bailey’s legendary status has nothing to do with his game. It’s the fact that a lot of mystique was lost in 1998, when the state went from an all-comers state tournament to four divisions. This, in effect, sent Cinderella into retirement.
As a sophomore last season, for example, Langford led New Albany to the state 4-A championship. That’s nice, but it’s not the same as being the ONLY state champion. As we learned from the movie Hoosiers, the essence of high school ball in Indiana was the enduring dream of a small rural school coming to the big city and becoming champs of the whole state.
It’s difficult to say how many fans show up at New Albany road games just so they’ll be able to say they saw Romeo play in high school. But everywhere the Bulldogs play, the experience in Jeffersonville is repeated. Naturally, every home game is sold out. One of New Albany’s games was shown on ESPN.
Romeo has the talent to be a one-and-done player. At least one recruiter has said he’s NBA-ready right now. But he marches to his own drummer. Is it possible he will like the college experience enough to hang around two or three seasons? That question will be answered after he decides which college to attend.
The buzz has it that Romeo wants to stay close to home. So did Robertson. But instead of taking his skills to Indiana or Purdue, Oscar went to Cincinnati and took the Bearcats to the 1959 Final Four as a senior. He was gone to the Cincinnati Royals of the NBA when the Bearcats won back-to-back titles in 1961-’62 and lost to Loyola of Chicago in the 1963 title game.
Nevertheless, he was the foundation of that dynasty.
Of the four programs Langford reportedly is considering, only Indiana hasn’t won a national title in this millennium. In fact, this season will mark the 30th anniversary of the Hoosiers’ last title. Will that play a factor in his decision? Or will it be healthier for him to get out of the state, even if it’s only across the river to Louisville?
As that old sports writer Bill Shakespeare might have put it were he working today, “O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore are thou (going), Romeo?” OK, apologies to fans of The Bard. It’s just that Romeo Langford brings out the silliness in everybody who loves to watch legends being made.
