An Inspiring Basketball and Legal Career

Athletics Hall of Fame
Andre Lang, ’95, ’04 JD
Men's Basketball
College of Arts and Sciences & School of Law

Andre Lang is a “Seattle kid, through and through.”  

Growing up near Madrona, Lang, ’95, ’04 JD, played basketball at Bishop O'Dea High School, four blocks away from the Seattle University campus. During his senior year, Lang watched the SU basketball team, coached by Bob Johnson, practice at his high school where he first saw Athletics Hall of Fame member John King, ’91, play. Al Hairston, the legendary Garfield Bulldogs High School coach, was named the men’s coach at the end of the season. Although numerous universities sent Lang offers, Coach Hairston’s presence ultimately swayed his decision to play for SU. 

“The opportunity to play for him really widened my desire to attend Seattle University,” says Lang. “I loved the camaraderie between (coach) Carl Ervin, ’80, and (player and coach) Greg Gill, ’94, and obviously Coach Hairston. They were role models.” 

During his run with the team, from 1991 through 1995, Lang played 118 games, earning recognition as a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Pacific Northwest Region All-Star, Little All-Northwest Third Team and NAIA Honorable Mention All-American in 1994 and 1995. He also earned Pre-Season NAIA All-American recognition in 1995. 

Over his career Lang averaged 13.9 points, 3.1 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game. He ranks in the Top 10 all-time in multiple statistical categories at SU, including first in steals (229), fourth in steals average (1.9) and assists (528), seventh in scoring (1,642 points) and eighth in three-pointers (150). 

For his stellar basketball career, Lang is one of the newest inductees into the Athletics Hall of Fame.

"When I look at the names that are already in the Hall of Fame, from Carl Ervin and Jawann Oldham, ’80, who played together at Cleveland High School—local legends that were  mentors to me and have passed on—to Frank Ahern, ’51, who coached me at O’Dea my senior year, it brings things full circle for me,” Lang says. “I’m in rare company and I don’t take it lightly. I'm honored and humbled.” 

After graduating from SU, Lang played professionally in Bavaria, Germany, for two seasons.  

“Going to Germany was a cultural infusion,” Lang says. “The European game is more physical. The guys were more attuned to ground play. That's how the NBA is playing now—a lot of dribble handoffs, a lot of screen and roll. I was able to learn that game early on and it's kind of transcended. It's how we play today.” 

With the ultimate goal of attending law school in mind, Lang returned to the Seattle area and began working as a police officer in Kent, Wash. 

“When my father became ill, the conversation was always, ‘Son, when are you going to law school?’ And so I made that turn,” Lang says. “I was his primary caregiver during his battle with cancer, so I went to school at night. I was able to get a job at a law firm and worked my way through law school.”  

Now an Estate Planning and Family Law attorney at Nunn Vhan & Lang, PLLC, Lang stays involved in the Seattle basketball community as a coach of his sons’ Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) teams and through the Seattle Rotary Style Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) Program, established at the Boys and Girls Club he attended as a kid. At SU, Lang serves on the Board of Regents and Athletics Hall of Fame Committee and mentors the basketball team on goal setting—specifically, on what it means to be a student athlete and life after basketball. 

“SU helped me forge servant leadership. I learned the values of diversity and hard work in an atmosphere that allowed me to make mistakes and treat them as a learning lesson. It allowed me to go from a boy to a man,” Lang says. “It’s awesome to be back in the fold and be a mentor to our student athletes.”