Mills Lane obit

Beloved Reno boxing icon Mills Lane dies at age 85

 

He was not on the list.

Mills Lane, who rose to fame first as a boxer, then referee, Washoe County district attorney and judge, died Tuesday morning in Reno.

 Lane was 85 years old.

 His son, Tommy Lane, told the RGJ that Lane died after being in hospice for the past week.

Lane suffered a stroke 20 years ago, in April 2002.

"He took a significant decline in his overall situation," Tommy Lane said. "It was a quick departure. He was comfortable and he was surrounded by his family."

His family, wife Kaye and sons Terry and Tommy, were with him when he died.

"You never knew how long he had. We kind of felt like we were preparing for this all along, but there's no such thing as preparing for this," Tommy Lane said.

Bob Foster (left) fought Muhammad Ali (center) at the Sahara Tahoe, now the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, in 1972. At right is referee Mills Lane. The match was the only Northern Nevada fight of Ali's career.

Tommy Lane said they spent the past few days watching several of his father's favorite movies, including "Somebody Up There Likes Me," a movie starring Paul Newman about Rocky Graziano, as well "The Godfather," "On The Waterfront," "Patton" and "Shane."

They also watched Lane's fight from the 1960 college boxing championship.

"We had a great last couple of days with him," Tommy Lane said. "He was eating breakfast. We got him some Dairy Queen."

Tommy Lane said no funeral service is planned, but that the family might hold a memorial at a later date.

"He hated funerals," Tommy Lane said. "We might do some sort of send-off, celebration at a bar, or something like that, but not a traditional funeral."

Boxing promoter Mills Lane, center, poses with Antonio Barrera, left, of Mexico City and Prince Naseem Hamed of Sheffield, England during a news conference at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas on Wednesday, April 4, 2001.

Former Washoe County district attorney Dick Gammick said Lane was his mentor, and said Lane was like a brother to him.

Lane hated living with the effects of the stroke, including struggling to speak, Gammick said.

"The worst thing in the world that could have happened to Mills was losing his ability to talk," Gammick said. "Reno owes him a debt because he did a lot for Reno."

He said Lane helped numerous children throughout the community.

Mike Martino, Nevada boxing club coach and former president of USA Boxing, saw Lane the day before he died.

Lane was born in Savannah, Georgia on November 12, 1937. He hailed from a prominent Georgia family: his grandfather founded the largest bank in Georgia, and his uncle (and namesake) was the president of Citizens & Southern National Bank.

Lane attended Middlesex School in Concord, Massachusetts, where he played American football as a linebacker and ice hockey as a goaltender.[6] Lane joined the United States Marine Corps in 1956, and was discharged in 1959. Subsequently, he enrolled at the University of Nevada, Reno. He graduated with a business degree in 1963.

Lane became a boxer while serving as a Marine, becoming the All-Far East welterweight champ. He was an National Collegiate Athletic Association welterweight boxing champion in 1960. In the U,S. Olympic Trials in San Francisco for the 1960 Summer Olympics, Lane was defeated by Phil Baldwin in the boxing semifinals.[9] He turned pro while in college, eventually earning a 10–1 (.909) record as a professional.

Lane refereed his first world championship boxing match in 1971, when Betulio González had a fifteen-round draw with Erbito Salavarria for the WBC flyweight title.

Lane refereed Evander Holyfield vs. Mike Tyson II between world heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield and challenger Mike Tyson on June 28, 1997. Mitch Halpern was supposed to referee the fight, but Tyson's camp protested. So, Lane was brought in at the last minute.[10] After Tyson bit Holyfield's ears twice, Lane disqualified him. Lane's shirt was stained with blood from the incident, and he sold it to a memorabilia collector on the same night.

Less than three weeks later, Lane refereed the Lennox Lewis vs. Henry Akinwande match. Just like Tyson vs. Holyfield, it ended in disqualification when Akinwande used illegal tactics, these being excessive clinching and ignoring Lane's repeated orders to stop. After refereeing the fight between Thomas Hearns and Jay Snyder on November 6, 1998, Lane retired as a boxing referee.

In 2013, Lane was elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame. On August 10, 2013, he was also inducted into the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame.

Lane presided over the court show, Judge Mills Lane. The court show lasted for three seasons, from 1998 to 2001. In addition to this show, the producers of MTV's Celebrity Deathmatch approached him about having his character and voice used in their show as the referee of their plasticine figure matches. Lane accepted the offer and became an MTV personality. As a referee, Lane started boxing matches by declaring "Let's get it on!", which became his catchphrase. This was reproduced in Celebrity Deathmatch as his character would shout the same phrase to initiate fights.

Lane made an appearance on the November 16, 1998, episode of WWE Raw. He appeared on the Titantron and made a ruling in regards to a contract dispute between Stone Cold Steve Austin and the McMahon family.

Lane guest voiced on an episode of Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, in which he played a judge.