Mills Lane

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Mills Bee Lane III (November 12, 1937 – December 6, 2022) was an American boxing referee and professional boxer, a two-term Washoe County, Nevada district court judge, and television personality.

Lane was best known for having officiated several major heavyweight championship boxing matches in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, and for starring in the syndicated court show Judge Mills Lane. On June 9, 2013, Lane was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, and was inducted into the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame on August 10 the same year.

Early life

Lane was born in Savannah, Georgia, on November 12, 1937.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref name=nyt>Template:Cite news</ref>

Lane attended Middlesex School in Concord, Massachusetts, where he played American football as a linebacker and ice hockey as a goaltender.<ref name=si>Template:Cite magazine</ref> 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.<ref name=si/>

Boxing career

Boxer

Lane became a boxer while serving as a Marine, becoming the All-Far East welterweight champ. He was a National Collegiate Athletic Association welterweight boxing champion in 1960.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In the U.S. Olympic Trials in San Francisco for the 1960 Summer Olympics, Lane was defeated by Phil Baldwin in the semifinals.<ref name="ring">Template:Cite book</ref> He turned pro while in college, eventually earning a Template:Winning percentage record as a professional.<ref name=si/>

Referee

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.<ref name=hal/>

Lane refereed the second fight between WBA 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.<ref>Template:Usurped, AP via Slam! Boxing, 1997-06-29, Retrieved on March 9, 2007.</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Less than three weeks later, Lane refereed the Lennox Lewis vs. Henry Akinwande match.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> As in Tyson vs. Holyfield, it ended in disqualification when Akinwande used illegal tactics, these being excessive clinching and ignoring Lane's repeated orders to stop.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> After refereeing the fight between Thomas Hearns and Jay Snyder on November 6, 1998, Lane retired as a boxing referee.<ref name=lvrj/>

Lane was elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2013.<ref name="FitzgeraldMorley2013" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On August 10 that same year, he was also inducted into the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Legal career

Lane attended the University of Utah's S.J. Quinney College of Law, graduating with the class of 1970 and joined the bar in Nevada.<ref name=si/> In 1979, Lane became Chief Deputy Sheriff of Investigative Services at the Washoe County Sheriff's Office. Lane also served as one of fourteen witnesses to Nevada's last gas chamber execution, that of Jesse Bishop that same year.<ref name="witness">Template:Cite news</ref> He was elected District Attorney in 1982 and District Judge in 1990.<ref name=hal/>

Television career

Lane presided over the court show Judge Mills Lane, which lasted for three seasons, from 1998 to 2001.<ref name=hal>Template:Cite book</ref> 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.<ref name=hal/> 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.<ref name=hal/>

Lane made two appearances in the world of professional wrestling. He appeared on the November 16, 1998, episode of WWE Raw on the Titantron and made a ruling in regards to a contract dispute between Stone Cold Steve Austin and the McMahon family.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He was also the special guest referee for a boxing match between "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and Buff Bagwell at WCW Bash at the Beach on July 11, 1999.<ref name=PWBATB99>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Lane was a guest voice actor on an episode of Buzz Lightyear of Star Command.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Personal life and death

Lane and his wife, Kaye, had two sons.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Lane titled his autobiography Let's Get It On: Tough Talk from Boxing's Top Ref and Nevada's Most Outspoken Judge.<ref name="mills">Template:Cite book</ref>

Lane suffered a debilitating stroke in March 2002, which left him partially paralyzed and virtually unable to speak.<ref name="lvrj">Template:Cite news</ref> With his blessing, this led to his Celebrity Deathmatch alter-ego being voiced by Chris Edgerly (already the voice of color commentator Nick Diamond) for the MTV2 revival.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Lane's adopted city of Reno proclaimed December 27, 2004, as "Mills Lane Day'".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In May 2006, Lane made his first public appearance in years at the dedication of a new courthouse in Reno which is named after him.<ref name="FitzgeraldMorley2013">Template:Cite book</ref> The Mills B. Lane Justice Center houses the Reno Municipal Court and the Washoe County District Attorney's Office.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Lane died from kidney failure at his home in Reno, Nevada on December 6, 2022, at the age of 85.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> His son Terry said the cause was complications from Lane's 2002 stroke.

Professional boxing record

Template:Abbr	Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round, time	Date	Location	Notes
11	Template:Yes2Win	10–1	Template:Flagicon Buddy Knox	UD	6	May 9, 1967	Template:Small	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
10	Template:Yes2Win	9–1	Template:Flagicon David Camacho	UD	10	February 28, 1963	Template:Small	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
9	Template:Yes2Win	8–1	Template:Flagicon Al Walker	UD	6	January 31, 1963	Template:Small	<ref name=boxerlist>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
8	Template:Yes2Win	7–1	Template:Flagicon Larry Sanchez	KO	2 (6), Template:Small	December 12, 1962	Template:Small	<ref name=boxerlist/>
7	Template:Yes2Win	6–1	Template:Flagicon Artie Cox	KO	3 (8), Template:Small	August 7, 1962	Template:Small	<ref name=boxerlist/>
6	Template:Yes2Win	5–1	Template:Flagicon Al Carroll	TKO	5 (8), Template:Small	July 17, 1962	Template:Small	<ref name=boxerlist/>
5	Template:Yes2Win	4–1	Template:Flagicon Dick Smith	PTS	6	June 26, 1962	Template:Small	<ref name=boxerlist/>
4	Template:Yes2Win	3–1	Template:Flagicon Marva Hawkins	KO	6 (6)	June 12, 1962	Template:Small	<ref name=boxerlist/>
3	Template:Yes2Win	2–1	Template:Flagicon Sonny King	TKO	1 (6), Template:Small	May 27, 1962	Template:Small	<ref name=boxerlist/>
2	Template:Yes2Win	1–1	Template:Flagicon Carlos Loya	TKO	1 (4)	May 10, 1962	Template:Small	<ref name=boxerlist/>
1	Template:No2Loss	0–1	Template:Flagicon Artie Cox	TKO	1 (4), Template:Small	April 7, 1961	Template:Small	<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>

External links

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• Mills Lane Net Worth