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Brian Langley of Wolfville, Nova Scotia, was the first employee of the NS Track & Field Association. As part of the Track & Field Association, he held positions as a member of the board of directors, vice-president, and president from 1974 to 1984. During this time, Langley was also the Atlantic region rep for Athletics Canada.

Between 1983 and 1987, he was a member of five national committees: Technical, Competition, National Team, Coaching, and Personnel. Brian was vice-chair of the board of directors of Athletics Canada from 1987 to 1992 and was chairman from 1992 to 1996.

Langley was a member of the board of directors of the Canadian Olympic Association from 1988 to 1994. From 1975 to 1998, he was chairman of the NSSAF organizing committees and meet director.

 

Annual Program

When track and field official and coach Brian Langley learned he was to join the august company of those inducted into the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame, he reacted in typically understated fashion.

“I had a message to call (selection committee chairman) Keith MacKenzie and I had no idea why he was calling, but he wanted to inform me and congratulate me,” said Langley. “He told me (about the induction) and I thought it was nice and we just kept on talking and I had the sense that he felt I was kind of underwhelmed.”

“It’s true I wasn’t excited right away but the more we talked and the more I thought about it, the more I realized what a big deal it was. Before we finished the conversation I was quite excited, but I guess since I wasn’t expecting it, I didn’t quite appreciate the magnitude of it in the beginning.”

Langley describes his own career as a track athlete as “nothing to get excited about,” but after he was done competing, he wanted to stay involved in the sport. Becoming an official happened more or less by accident. “There was an announcement to show up at the old Dal gym if you were interested in doing something (for the 1969 Canada Games). My competitive days were behind me but I still wanted to participate, so by showing up at that meeting, I got involved with officiating,” he said.

Langley rose through the ranks until he was named Head of Delegation for the Canadian track and field team at the Olympics in Barcelona in 1992. But even while a member of the Canadian Olympic Association, Langley held the volunteer post that put him in touch with literally all of Nova Scotia track athletes. He remained Meet Director for the Nova Scotia School Athletic Federation provincial track meet.

“A friend of mine had run a couple of provincial championships and the school athletic federation was looking for someone to take that over,” he remembers of his first crack at the job in 1974. “After I had done it for four or five years, there was a core group of 10 or 12 of us from the metro area and by that stage it was easier for us to continue to do it than it would be to bring in someone else. Once you’ve done it two or three times, it’s a piece of cake. The difficult thing is to do it once.”

Even as he was taking on more high-profile volunteer work, Langley kept running the provincial meet for 25 years, finally handing over the reins in 1998.

“First of all, that was my job. As a phys ed teacher here in the province, that was what I got paid to do,” he said. “I also had an inherent interest in track and field. I always had the philosophy that if you didn’t like the way something was being done, instead of complaining about it, help out.”

Langley’s teaching career began in Chester and took in three schools in Halifax County, including 20 years at Sackville High School.

His long and varied career in track holds plenty of memories but one stands out. “The first time you hear the Canadian national anthem played to an international audience, that to me was as good as it gets.”

Annual Program Courtesy of Bill Spurr