Submitted by: Dan Rich

Walter M. Langford Sr.

June 27, 1908 - Feb 28, 2001

South Bend Tribune 3/7/2001

Professor Walter M. Langford Sr., 92, of St. Louis, Mo., formerly of South Bend, Ind., died last Wednesday, Feb. 28, in St. Louis. He was born in Haskell, Texas, and raised in McAllen, Texas, where he was a standout baseball and tennis player. He enrolled at the University of Notre Dame as a freshman in 1926, graduated with honors in 1930, and returned a year later to join the faculty in the department of modern and classical languages. A renowned teacher from 1931-1973, he taught Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American literature, and served for 11 years as chairman of the department. His book, The Mexican Novel Comes of Age, was published by the University of Notre Dame Press. He also wrote numerous articles on baseball, and a critically acclaimed book, Legends of Baseball. Professor Langford was head coach of the Notre Dame tennis team from 1940-1953, and his squads posted a 95-20 record, including the NCAA Champion-ship in 1944. He also coached varsity fencing at Notre Dame from 1940-1943 and 1951-1961, and his teams won 155 and lost only 35 matches.

In 1961 he was named director of the first Peace Corps mission to Chile. Upon his return to Notre Dame in 1963, he resumed teaching and trained volunteers for subsequent Peace Corps work in Chile. Upon his retirement from Notre Dame in 1973, he accepted a position as director of the Gulf and Western Foundation in the Dominican Republic. His wife of 44 years, Alice "Dit" (Joubert), died in Santo Domingo in 1975, and he returned to South Bend a year later. The following year he married Mary Goebel of St. Louis, formerly of South Bend, who survives. Other survivors include two daughters, Lois (William) Berry of South Bend, Elizabeth (John Naimo) of Jackson, N.J.; and two sons, Walter Jr. (Barbara) of Sacramento, Calif., and Jim (Jill) of Lakeville, Ind.; two stepdaughters, Judy Wilson of Syracuse, N.Y., and Janice Elzey of Oxford, Ohio; and a stepson, Joel Goebel of St. Louis. In his lifetime as professor, coach and Peace Corps leader, Walter Langford profoundly influenced the lives of many people who join in cherishing his memory. He was always a gentleman in the truest sense of that word, and the world is a better place because of him.