Tom Lang's history with Brown and Gold dates back over three decades.

But, when the Adelphi legend returns to Garden City this week as a member of the 1974 men's soccer team due to be inducted into the university's Hall of Fame, he'll be wearing Blue and White.

Lang, the head coach of the Southern Connecticut University men's soccer team since 1997, will first look to hand a Northeast-10 Conference defeat to his alma mater on Wednesday night, as the Panthers (8-2-1, 6-1 NE10) welcome the Owls (7-4, 4-3 NE10) to Motamed Field.

24 hours later, he and his Panther teammates will enter university immortality at the 47th Adelphi Hall of Fame dinner in the class of 2018. 

"I'm excited for the members of the team. It's a deserving honor, and being the first team to win a national championship for the Panthers was something special," Lang said of the team's induction. "I'm glad that the university has decided to bestow this honor."

The New Hyde Park, N.Y. native - pictured second from left in the above team photo from 1974 - was inducted into the Adelphi Hall of Fame for his individual accomplishments in 1997.

He is one of a nearly a dozen athletes who played for legendary Adelphi head coach Mel Less (HOF  '01) who are enshrined in the university annals. 

Lang's 105 career points, 41 goals and 23 assists all rank in the top 10 in program history. 

"Mel was a great recruiter in terms of getting talent," Lang said. "He found a lot of talented players and people who were extremely competitive. With his background [two degrees in biomechanics], his methods were ahead of their time for that period. He was passionate about the game and he imparted that passion to his players."

A forward and three-year captain for the Panthers, Lang played on four teams which reached the NCAA tournament, including the 1974 Division II National Championship team, and the first team which earned a Division I NCAA berth (1976) when the team held that classification. 

After stints as an assistant at Adelphi and Hofstra, Lang later returned to Garden City as the head women's soccer coach in 1987 and established one of the top programs in the nation in his three seasons. His 1989 team reached the NCAA national semifinals, which was the first NCAA appearance for the program.

"I'm always thrilled to go back to Adelphi. I had special memories there which I remember fondly in the three decades since being a student-athlete, as I worked in the admissions office and also coached," Lang said. 

"Whenever we play, my focus is now on Southern, and I want my teams to do well -- but I'm also a supporter of Adelphi and want to see them do well. In the years since Bob Montgomery left, the teams under [former head coach] Carlo [Acquista] and now Gary [Book] have excelled and honor the tradition and the histories of the program.

"I have a great affinity for the institution and great respect for Adelphi."

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About Adelphi Athletics
Adelphi University joined the Northeast-10 Conference in the fall of 2009, and in the past nine seasons, has collected 27 regular season conference titles, 29 tournament championships, 41 individual crowns and captured the Northeast-10 Presidents' Cup four times (2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017), while winning six NCAA Division II National Championships.

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