Ross Langston may be gone but he certainly won’t be forgotten anytime soon.
The long-time trainer, called Gulfport High’s “guardian angel to two generations of athletes,” will be honored during Friday’s game against Picayune at Joseph Milner Stadium.
Gulfport athletics director Bryan Caldwell said Langston’s family will be on the field when the school renames the training room after him.
Langston arrived at Gulfport High in 1978 from the U.S. Naval Academy and proceeded to spend the next 34 years serving the school district’s athletes.
During that time, Langston received numerous accolades in his field, including the Archibald Clinton Hewes Sports Medicine Award, Outstanding Mississippian by the Jaycees and Trainer of the Year by the Mississippi Athletic Trainers Association.
He was also inducted into the Mississippi Association of Coaches Hall of Fame in 2009 and Mississippi Athletic Trainers Hall of Fame in 2014.
“Ross was the most caring person I’ve ever met,” Caldwell said of Langston, who passed away in Jan. 2014. “He loved our athletes like they were his own children.
“He literally touched 100s of lives.”
Caldwell said a memorial plaque will hang just outside of Langston’s training room.