In Willingboro, New Jersey, there aren’t many people who can say that they have had the honor of greatly impacting the city on an athletic scale. The most notable athlete from Willingboro is hands down legendary track and field star Carl Lewis.
But former WNBA player and hoops star Crystal Langhorne has undoubtedly made her mark in Willingboro, and New Jersey sports history, and she recently had the honor of having her former high school name its gym after her.
Crystal Langhorne Gymnasium
The Crystal Langhorne renaming is the newest addition to a gym that has undergone plenty of recent renovations, along with the addition of some championship banners, a handful of them won by Crystal Langhorne and her Willingboro Chimeras.
“It was the place to be,” Langhorne, now 37, said of the venue. “I remember our games being completely packed with fans. It was such a great feeling to play there.” the Courier Post quoted her saying.
The legacy that she left on the high school is as impactful as any professional athletes from Willingboro. The aforementioned Carl Lewis, his sister Carol Lewis, football players Shaun Phillips, Kareem McKenzie, Marvin Hargrove, and wrestler James Green, all went to Willingboro, and the school track is named for Carl Lewis, while the football stadium the former NFL linebacker Phillips.
While she’s had plenty of fond memories carving out a legacy at the school, it was the relationships that she made along her journey that helped her become so successful.
One of her main relationships was her high school coach Guy Fowler, and, per the Courier Post, Guy Fowler practically described Langhorne as a generational athlete during her high school days, who effortlessly competed in anything but knew that basketball would be her ticket.
“She could play anything and be very good at it, everything except maybe gymnastics because she was too tall,” said Fowler, who also coached her in tennis. “I told her you’re a good athlete, you’re going to play tennis. It will help with your footwork and you can play for fun. Basketball was business for her.”
But even though it was business for Langhorne, she still had tons of fun as she shredded the competition, leading her team to the 2002 Group 3 Title, as well as two more finals appearances before graduating in 2004 and going on to play for legendary coach Brenda Frese over at Maryland.
She would eventually go on to get drafted in the WNBA by the Washington Mystics in 2008 in the first round with the sixth overall pick. After winning two WNBA titles, and becoming a two-time WNBA All-star, Langhorne would retire after the 2020 season.
Langhorne is planning to start some basketball clinics up in the area shortly, and when the students notice her name on the gymnasium in Willingboro, they’ll surely be ready to soak up all the knowledge she is willing to teach.
“It just doesn’t seem real, but it means everything to me,” Langhorne said a few hours before the ceremony. “I don’t know how many gyms are named after women, but what that symbolizes is incredible for me too.”
