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Mills Lane
Born	Mills Bee Lane III (1937-11-12)November 12, 1937 Savannah, Georgia, U.S.
Died	December 6, 2022(2022-12-06) (aged 85) Reno, Nevada, U.S.
Statistics
Weight(s)	Welterweight
Stance	Southpaw
Boxing record
Total fights	11
Wins	10
Wins by KO	6
Losses	1

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 likewise 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. 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. 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.

Boxing career

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. In the U.S. Olympic Trials in San Francisco for the 1960 Summer Olympics, Lane was defeated by Phil Baldwin in the boxing semifinals. He turned pro while in college, eventually earning a 10–1 (.909) record as a professional.

Legal career

Lane then attended the University of Utah's S.J. Quinney College of Law, graduating with the class of 1970 and joined the bar in Nevada. In 1979, Lane became Chief Deputy Sheriff of Investigative Services at the Washoe County Sheriff's Office. He was elected District Attorney in 1982 and District Judge in 1990.

Boxing referee career

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. 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.

Television career

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 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. 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.

Lane was a guest voice actor on an episode of Buzz Lightyear of Star Command.

Personal life and death

Lane and his wife, Kaye, had two sons.

Lane titled his autobiography Let's Get It On: Tough Talk from Boxing's Top Ref and Nevada's Most Outspoken Judge.

Lane suffered a debilitating stroke in March 2002, which left him partially paralyzed and virtually unable to speak. 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.

Lane's adopted city of Reno proclaimed December 27, 2004, as “Mills Lane Day'”. 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. The Mills B. Lane Justice Center houses the Reno Municipal Court and the Washoe County District Attorney's Office.

Lane died in Reno, Nevada on December 6, 2022, at age 85.

Professional boxing record

No.	Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round, time	Date	Location	Notes
11	Win	10–1	Buddy Knox	UD	6	May 9, 1967	Centennial Coliseum, Reno, Nevada
10	Win	9–1	David Camacho	UD	10	February 28, 1963	Mathisen Hall, Reno, Nevada
9	Win	8–1	Al Walker	UD	6	January 31, 1963	Mathisen Hall, Reno, Nevada
8	Win	7–1	Larry Sanchez	KO	2 (6), 1:04	December 12, 1962	Mathisen Hall, Reno, Nevada
7	Win	6–1	Artie Cox	KO	3 (8), 0:43	August 7, 1962	Memorial Auditorium, Sacramento, California
6	Win	5–1	Al Carroll	TKO	5 (8), 3:00	July 17, 1962	State Building, Reno, Nevada
5	Win	4–1	Dick Smith	PTS	6	June 26, 1962	Sacramento, California
4	Win	3–1	Marva Hawkins	KO	6 (6)	June 12, 1962	Sacramento, California
3	Win	2–1	Sonny King	TKO	1 (6), 2:10	May 27, 1962	Wagon Wheel Convention Center, Stateline, Nevada
2	Win	1–1	Carlos Loya	TKO	1 (4)	May 10, 1962	State Building, Reno, Nevada
1	Loss	0–1	Artie Cox	TKO	1 (4), 0:35	April 7, 1961	State Building, Reno, Nevada

References

1. ^ Erickson, Hal (2009). Encyclopedia of television law shows: factual and fictional series about judges, lawyers and the courtroom, 1948-2008. McFarland. pp. 147–48. ISBN 978-0-7864-3828-0.
2. "Lane inducted into Boxing Hall of Fame". ESPN. June 11, 2013.
3. "Mills Lane III - Reno, Nevada". Familytreenow.com. April 29, 1987. Retrieved November 12, 2016.
4. "Happy 77th Mills Lane ... and other Nevada tidbits". Rgj.com. November 19, 2014. Retrieved November 12, 2016.
5. "Mills B. Lane Dies; A Banker 64 Years". The New York Times. 1945. Retrieved June 5, 2015.
6. ^ William Nack. "The Ultimate Arbiter As Mike Tyson Learned, Mills Lane Is An Iron Judge In The Ring, And In Court - Sports Illustrated Vault | Si.Com". Vault.si.com. Retrieved December 6, 2022.
7. "Reno Gazette-Journal 31 Dec 1960, page Page 6". Newspapers.com. December 31, 1960. Retrieved December 6, 2022.
8. "Reno Gazette-Journal 11 Jan 1961, page Page 18". Newspapers.com. January 11, 1961. Retrieved December 6, 2022.
9. Moe, Doug (2005). Lords of the Ring: The Triumph and Tragedy of College Boxing's Greatest Team. University of Wisconsin Press. p. 117. ISBN 978-0-299-20424-2.
10. Lane late replacement, center of action Archived June 29, 2012, at archive.today, AP via Slam! Boxing, 1997-06-29, Retrieved on March 9, 2007.
11. Sugar, Bert Randolph (2003). Bert Sugar on Boxing: The Best of the Sport's Most Notable Writer. Globe Pequot. pp. 247–49. ISBN 978-1-59228-048-3.
12. Friend, Tom (July 12, 1997). "Lewis-Akinwande: a Fight for Heavyweight Redemption - The New York Times". Nytimes.com. Retrieved December 6, 2022.
13. "Akinwande disqualified in Lewis bout for holding Another bizarre ending for Tyson fight referee – Baltimore Sun". Baltimoresun.com. July 13, 1997. Retrieved December 6, 2022.
14. ^ Carp, Steve (2008). "Stroke victim Mills Lane, family cope". Las Vegas Review Journal. Retrieved November 12, 2016.
15. ^ Fitzgerald, Mike; Morley, Patrick (February 28, 2013). Third Man in the Ring: 33 of Boxing's Best Referees and Their Stories. Potomac Books, Inc. pp. 14–. ISBN 978-1-61234-242-9.
16. https://www.reviewjournal.com/sports/sports-columns/ron-kantowski/boxing-royalty-whip-up-emotions/attachment/former-boxing-referee-mills-lane-seated-attends-saturdays-ceremony-with-son-terry-rear-lane-76-is-one-of-19-members-of-the-inaugural-nevada-boxing-hall-of-fame-class/
17. "WWF Raw--November 16, 1998". www.pwwew.net. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
18. "Bash at the Beach 1999". Pro Wrestling History. July 11, 1999. Retrieved September 1, 2015.
19. https://deadline.com/2022/12/mills-lane-dies-boxing-referee-tv-judge-tyson-holyfield-1235191262/
20. "Legendary Lane returns to the spotlight for a night". Newspapers.com. August 9, 2006. Retrieved December 6, 2022.
21. Lane, Mills; Jedwin Smith (1998). Let's get it on: tough talk from boxing's top ref and Nevada's most outspoken judge. Crown. ISBN 978-0-609-60311-6.
22. https://www.tmz.com/2022/12/06/legendary-boxing-ref-mills-lane-dead-at-85/
23. "Mills B. Lane - Historical Washoecourts". www.washoecourts.com. Retrieved June 27, 2021.
24. "Justice Center | City of Reno". www.reno.gov. Retrieved February 7, 2019.
25. Krajewski, Jim (December 6, 2022). "Beloved Reno boxing icon Mills Lane dies at age 85". Reno Gazette Journal. Retrieved December 6, 2022.
26. https://www.newspapers.com/image/149988090/?terms=%22mills%20lane%22%20%22buddy%20knox%22&match=1
27. https://www.newspapers.com/image/600282285/?terms=%22mills%20lane%22%20quinney%20law%20school&match=1
28. ^ https://boxerlist.com/en/boxer/mills-lane/28349
29. https://bleacherreport.com/articles/357698-referee-mills-lane-to-be-honored-by-boxing-writers-association

External links

• Boxing record for Mills Lane from BoxRec (registration required)
• Mills Lane at IMDb
• Mills Lane Net Worth

• 1937 births
• 2022 deaths
• American male boxers
• American male voice actors
• Boxers from Georgia (U.S. state)
• American boxing promoters
• American boxing referees
• Boxing referees
• International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees
• Military personnel from Georgia (U.S. state)
• Military personnel from Nevada
• Nevada lawyers
• Sportspeople from Savannah, Georgia
• Sportspeople from Reno, Nevada
• Television judges
• United States Marines
• University of Nevada, Reno alumni
• S.J. Quinney College of Law alumni
• Middlesex School alumni
• Nevada state court judges
• Welterweight boxers