The Next Generation of You: Reggie Langhorne

By Jim Gehman

And when the Browns returned to Cleveland in 1999, so did Langhorne.

“I’m from a small town (Smithfield, Virginia), and there wasn’t much opportunity and there wasn’t much going on. So I figured I’d go back to Cleveland and kind of stick my toe in the water and see what would stick,” said Langhorne.

“I had no hopes of getting involved with the (Browns) organization. I hadn’t really thought about that, just being in the city with the opportunity. I had a clean name in Cleveland and we had some success there. I got some cool opportunities when I went back and things have been going good.”

Since 2011, Langhorne has worked in sales for Pat O’Brien Chevrolet in the Cleveland suburb of Westlake.

“One of the big things is the stigma of being in the car business; people think you’re up to something,” Langhorne said. “Immediately, people have this sense mechanism the minute they start talking about cars because almost everyone has had a bad experience. Some shyster with a flannel jacket is always trying to push someone.

“Pat O’Brien and his dad have been cool to me. I like the loyalty. I like the way that they handle people. I couldn’t work for a dealership that didn’t stand by certain standards in Cleveland because my name, like I said before, has been clean. People consider me an honest guy and I did well in the city, so I can’t be a shyster”

He is still doing well in the city. Presented in March 2015 with the Dino Lucarelli Lifetime Achievement Award, named in honor of Lucarelli, who served in several capacities with the Browns for nearly 40 years, it recognizes the work that Langhorne does in the community.

“When I first got to Cleveland in ’85, Dino was one of those guys that made sure that we were in the hospitals, we were in the schools, we were involved with the community,” said Langhorne. “He had a list for all the rookies with places for us to go. He said, ‘You won’t know now, but it’s so important.’ You learned to respect Dino, and as I had more time in the league, and now as an adult and a father, I understand why he wanted us to be committed to the city. Because in return, the city has loved me just the same.

Giving back was important to Langhorne while he was playing and it’s just as important to him today

“Just because you played on Sunday doesn’t mean that you carry more responsibility than anyone else,” said Langhorne. “There are so many role models that we see day in and day out that get up and go to work for 30 years at a minuscule job some may say, but yet they raised three kids and put them through college and they became productive citizens. That to me is the key to being a role model.”