Crystal Langhorne may look the part, but she does not act like a typical star.
A senior forward on the Terrapin women’s basketball team, Langhorne is soft-spoken, genuine and kind, and it would never dawn on her that she’s better than anybody else simply because of her monumental talent on a basketball court.
The daughter of first-generation immigrants who always valued education and religion over basketball, Langhorne will leave the Terps after their current NCAA tournament run as not only the best player in the history of the program, but also as one of the game’s – and the university’s – most interesting and successful people.
“As talented as she is on the floor, what she’s accomplished, the records she’s broken, she’s just even a better person,” coach Brenda Frese said. “I’ll miss the grace and dignity and the poise that she carries herself with each and every day.”
‘All about academics’
An honest-to-goodness example of the American Dream, Langhorne’s family and its values has shaped her into the person she has become.
Langhorne’s parents – father Cryhten and mother Juel – are natives of Guyana, the only predominantly English-speaking colony in South America.
Basketball, as well as the more popular soccer and cricket, exists there, but sports were never more than a very casual interest for the Langhornes.
When the hard-working couple moved to New York City 34 years ago, they did so for the economic and educational opportunity, certainly not for the sports.
“My husband went to school in New York,” Juel said. “We came really for the opportunities here.”
But Crystal’s older brothers, Cryhten and Chris, both loved basketball – both would also end up playing in college – and Crystal learned to love the game from them.
Growing up in Willingboro, N.J., where the Langhornes have lived since Crystal was less than a year old, the Langhorne brothers would play ball in a nearby park nearly every afternoon after school, and Crystal would often tag along.
“They didn’t really know how good she was until she started giving them some problems,” Juel said.
But basketball was never the most important thing at the Langhornes’ house.
Crystal made sure to take out her books and start her homework as soon as she got home from school every day, and wouldn’t do anything else until she finished.
Both she and her parents preferred it that way.
“Now they are, but at first my parents weren’t big about me playing basketball,” Crystal said. “It was all about academics.”
When her brothers and friends convinced Crystal to try out for her junior high school team in eighth grade, her first experience with organized basketball, it was just another extracurricular activity, and wasn’t to interfere with going to school or church.
But when it soon became clear that Crystal wasn’t just any ordinary player, she was able to find a balance.
‘Our Crystal?’
Crystal played for a local AAU team for two seasons, and her supreme natural talent caught the eye of coach Kevin Lynch, who recruited her to play for the Philly Belles, a large AAU organization that plays a national schedule, during her sophomore year of high school.
This meant extensive travel on weekends, and up to that point the Langhornes didn’t allow Crystal to play on Sundays, the day they all went to church.
Members of the Brethren Church, the Langhornes didn’t see the benefit of Crystal missing church to play basketball.
Never considering themselves basketball experts, they simply didn’t realize how good she was, even when everybody was trying to let them know.
“When I first went to visit her parents about playing for the Belles, I told them ‘Your daughter is one of the best players in her age group in the country,'” Lynch said. “And they started laughing, ‘Our Crystal? Our Crystal?’ They didn’t see it, and it kind of caught them by surprise how talented she was.”
Crystal’s brother Cryhten talked with his parents about the benefit of allowing Crystal to gain exposure on a national level, and since they always wanted the best for their children, the Langhornes changed their rule.
“My oldest son spoke to us and said, ‘Crystal’s good. If she’s going to go on to big things, you have to let her play on Sundays,'” Juel said. “So we did, and we’re glad we did too.”
Crystal starred for the Belles, and led them to the 2003 AAU National Championship and was named the MVP of the tournament.
Her parents would go to the games, but basketball was far less than the life-or-death experience it is for many parents of elite youth players.
“These were not your typical stage parents, believe me,” Lynch said. “They didn’t talk about the games afterwards I’m sure. They were very supportive, but it wasn’t the most important thing to them. Education and religion were always the most important things for the Langhornes.”
And Crystal liked it that way.
Having parents who weren’t overbearing let her keep the fun in basketball, and it also allowed her to keep things in perspective.
“I don’t have those parents that are like ‘you have to do this, you have to do that,’ and I’m glad I don’t have that,'” Crystal said. “They’re still very supportive of whatever I do.”
The Terps land their difference-maker
Crystal continued to dazzle on the court in high school, winning a state championship as a junior and twice being named the New Jersey Gatorade State Player of the Year.
When coaches from most of the top women’s basketball programs in the country began calling, the Langhornes began to fully realize that basketball could serve as a means to the education they longed for their daughter to have.
“Your education will never fail you,” Juel said. “It’s nice to be able to use these things to get you where you want to go, but you have to have your priorities in place.”
Tennessee’s Pat Summitt and Connecticut’s Geno Auriemma were among the college coaches who came to visit the Langhornes in Willingboro, and the always-shy Crystal didn’t even return a phone call to North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell.
But it was the recruiting contingent from Maryland, at that point a very average women’s basketball program, that struck a chord with the family-oriented Langhornes.
Like Crystal, Frese and assistant coach Erica Floyd were able to show they also cared about things other than basketball, taking the time to get to know her on a personal level.
“We really wanted to show an intimate approach in terms of recruiting her, really feeling like she could be the difference-maker,” Frese said. “We just recruited her as hard as we possibly could.”
Plus, Crystal wanted to start her own legacy at a school that hadn’t won a national championship before, not just latch on to an existing tradition.
She didn’t need other people telling her what was right.
“She’d be the first to do what’s never been done here,” Frese said. “She could come into a program and make such a statement.”
And from the day she set foot on the campus, Langhorne built a staggering resumé while leading the Terps to national prominence.
Building a Legacy
Crystal started every game as freshman, averaging 17.2 points and 10.6 rebounds per game, and was named ACC Rookie of the Year.
In the Terps’ national championship season as a sophomore, Langhorne started every game again and was the team’s leading scorer and rebounder.
She will leave the university after this season as the program’s all-time leading scorer and rebounder, a three-time first-team All-ACC selection, and a likely three-time All-American.
In February, with her family cheering loudly in the stands, she became the only active player in Terrapin women’s basketball history to have her jersey honored with a banner in the Comcast Center rafters.
“Obviously she’s set her legacy as the best player to ever come through Maryland,” Frese said. “Until someone else comes in, she’s the most decorated player in the program.”
She’s also maintained her academics, needing just a three-credit internship this semester in order to graduate.
Yet through it all Crystal remains humble, and her kindness is evident after a few short minutes talking to her.
Off the court she’s often smiling and joking, and never takes basketball so seriously that it affects her general outlook.
It’s the way she was raised, and she’s made her parents proud.
“I consider myself really blessed, I guess,” Crystal said. “I’m just really lucky, you know. I don’t want to sound super-religious, but God has been really nice to me. I’ve just had a lot of opportunities.”
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