Florida Atlantic University Athletics
Forged by FAU - Austin Langham
6/14/2021 10:53:00 AM | Baseball, General
After earning All-Conference honors his final season at Broward College, Austin Langham sought an opportunity to play high-level Division I baseball in Florida, his home state.
FAU presented that exact opportunity along with an athletic scholarship he valued dearly.
“My parents have been very supportive throughout my whole life,” said Langham, who joined FAU in 2016. “Being able to relieve some of the financial burden off of them and me, that meant the world to me, knowing they helped me my whole life and I could help them a little bit.”
Langham soon helped FAU, too. The infielder from Naples hit .320, recorded a .421 on-base percentage and committed just four errors across 57 games in his first season as an Owl, leading the team to a win over No. 1 Miami and a regular-season championship.
The 2017 season was even more fruitful for Langham, who started every game while improving his batting average to .332 and ranking second on the squad with 20 multi-hit games, 69 hits and a .443 on-base percentage. Defensively, Langham committed only two errors in 114 chances and earned ABCA Collegiate Rawlings Gold Glove Award finalist honors.
Langham’s improvement wasn’t limited to the baseball field, though. Coach John McCormack taught him and the squad life lessons applicable to virtually everywhere else.
“Coach [McCormack] was great,” Langham said. “He really cares about the players and their lives after baseball. Everyone has to hang up their cleats at some point in their life, and he tries to make sure that everyone understands that as well. I guess it’s a way about going about life, just being great at everything you do. Being great on the baseball field, being great off the field, in the classroom, being a great person. It extends to more than baseball.”
The 2017 season’s conclusion forced Langham to question his own life after baseball. He weighed opportunities to play professionally, but eventually decided to pursue physician assistant school instead.
Langham, who earned his bachelor’s degree in biological sciences, is now in the final semester of Nova Southeastern University’s physician assistant program and is slated to graduate from the Fort Myers campus in August.
“Everyone wants to chase that dream a little bit, but for my life, I wouldn’t be where I am right now if that were to happen,” Langham said of his professional baseball aspirations. “I was happy that I was able to go out off a successful season. I had a great two years at FAU and loved every minute I was there.”
Langham was prepared for life after baseball thanks to McCormack and his FAU experience. A return to sports, though, still intrigues him.
“It’d be awesome to work with a sports medicine orthopedic surgeon and kind of stick around sports that way,” Langham said, “but we’ll see what happens.”
