Mills Lane
Encyclopedia
Mills Bee Lane III is a retired boxing referee
Referee (boxing)
The referee in the boxing is the individual charged with enforcing the rules of that sport during a match.-The role of the referee:Referees have the following roles:*Gives instructions to both boxers before the fight...

, a former boxer
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

, was a two term Washoe County District Court Judge, and television personality. He is best known for having officiated several major heavyweight
Heavyweight
Heavyweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Fighters who weigh over 200 pounds are considered heavyweights by the major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the World Boxing Association, the World Boxing Council, and the World Boxing...

 championship boxing matches in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, and for starring in the television show Judge Mills Lane
Judge Mills Lane
Judge Mills Lane is a syndicated American courtroom show that ran from August 17, 1998 to September 7, 2001. Reruns later aired on The National Network...

.

Biography

Lane hails from a prominent Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...

 family: his grandfather founded the largest bank in Georgia, and his uncle
Mills Lane (banker)
Mills B. Lane, Jr. was a banker in Atlanta, Georgia.He was born in Savannah, Georgia, and after graduating from Yale University in 1934 took a job as a clerk at a Citizens & Southern National Bank branch in Valdosta, Georgia...

 (and namesake) was the president of Citizens & Southern National Bank
Citizens & Southern National Bank
Citizens and Southern National Bank began as a Georgia institution that expanded into South Carolina, Florida and into other states via mergers. C&S became part of NationsBank in 1991 when NationsBank bought newly merged C&S/Sovran...

. Lane, however, had other aspirations, and joined the United States Marine Corps
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...

 in 1956, after his graduation from Middlesex School
Middlesex School
Middlesex School is an independent secondary school for grades 9 - 12 located in Concord, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1901 by a Roxbury Latin School alumnus, Frederick Winsor, who headed the school until 1937. Winsor set up a National Scholarship Program for the school, the first of its kind...

. He became a boxer while serving as a Marine, becoming the All-Far East welterweight
Welterweight
Welterweight is a weight class division in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like kickboxing, taekwondo and mixed martial arts also began to use it for their own weight division system...

 champ. After leaving the Marines Corps, he enrolled at the University of Nevada, Reno
University of Nevada, Reno
The University of Nevada, Reno , is a teaching and research university established in 1874 and located in Reno, Nevada, USA...

 and became the NCAA
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...

 boxing champion. He turned pro while in college, eventually earning an 10-1 record as a pro. He was in the 1960 Summer Olympics
1960 Summer Olympics
The 1960 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held from August 25 to September 11, 1960 in Rome, Italy...

 boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

 finals held in San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...

. He was defeated by Phil Baldwin in the semifinals.

Lane graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno with a business degree in 1963, then a few years later enrolled at the University of Utah
University of Utah
The University of Utah, also known as the U or the U of U, is a public, coeducational research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The university was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, making it Utah's oldest...

 to attend law school
Law school
A law school is an institution specializing in legal education.- Law degrees :- Canada :...

. Lane graduated as a lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...

, and in 1979, he became Chief Deputy Sheriff of Investigative Services at the Washoe County
Washoe County, Nevada
Washoe County is a county located in the U.S. state of Nevada. The population was 421,407 at the 2010 census. Its county seat is Reno. Washoe County includes the Reno-Sparks metropolitan area.-History:...

 Sheriff's Office. He was elected District Attorney in 1982 and District Judge in 1990.

Boxing referee

Lane refereed his first world championship boxing match in 1971, when Betulio González
Betulio González
Betulio Segundo González is a former boxer from Venezuela, who is considered a national hero in Venezuela. He is considered by many to be Venezuela's greatest world champion in boxing history...

 had a fifteen-round draw with Erbito Salavarria
Erbito Salavarria
Erbito Salavarria is a retired professional boxer from the Philippines. He's also a former WBA and WBC flyweight champion.- Biography :Salavarria made his professional debut in 1963. He captured the WBC flyweight title with a TKO win over Chartchai Chionoi in 1970...

 for the WBC
World Boxing Council
The World Boxing Council was initially established by 11 countries: the United States, Argentina, United Kingdom, France, Mexico, Philippines, Panama, Chile, Peru, Venezuela and Brazil plus Puerto Rico, met in Mexico City on February 14, 1963, upon invitation of the then President of Mexico, Adolfo...

 flyweight
Flyweight
Flyweight is a class in boxing which includes fighters weighing less than 112 lb but above 108 lb .-Professional boxing:...

 title. Lane became a household name in the United States the night he refereed "The Bite Fight" rematch between world heavyweight
Heavyweight
Heavyweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Fighters who weigh over 200 pounds are considered heavyweights by the major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the World Boxing Association, the World Boxing Council, and the World Boxing...

 champion Evander Holyfield
Evander Holyfield
Evander Holyfield is a professional boxer from the United States. He is a former undisputed world champion in both the cruiserweight and heavyweight divisions, earning him the nickname "The Real Deal"...

 and challenger Mike Tyson
Mike Tyson
Michael Gerard "Mike" Tyson is a retired American boxer. Tyson is a former undisputed heavyweight champion of the world and holds the record as the youngest boxer to win the WBC, WBA and IBF world heavyweight titles, he was 20 years, 4 months and 22 days old...

 on June 28, 1997. 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, Mitch Halpern
Mitch Halpern
Mitchell Howard "Mitch" Halpern was a renowned boxing referee who officiated some of boxing's biggest matches....

 was supposed to Referee that fight, but Tyson's camp protested him, so Lane was brought in at the last minute.

Television

From 1998 to 2001 his court show, Judge Mills Lane
Judge Mills Lane
Judge Mills Lane is a syndicated American courtroom show that ran from August 17, 1998 to September 7, 2001. Reruns later aired on The National Network...

, aired on national television. In addition to this show, the producers of MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

's Celebrity Deathmatch
Celebrity Deathmatch
Celebrity Deathmatch is a claymation television show that depicts celebrities against each other in a wrestling ring, almost always ending in the loser's gruesome death. It was known for its excessive amount of blood used in every match and exaggerated physical injuries...

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

Lane guest voiced on an episode of Buzz Lightyear of Star Command
Buzz Lightyear of Star Command
Buzz Lightyear of Star Command is an American animated science fiction/adventure/comedy series produced by Walt Disney Television. The character is from the planet Zurtron. The series originally aired on UPN and ABC from October 2000 to January 2001 as part of Disney's One Saturday Morning...

in which he played a judge.

After TV

After the fight between Thomas Hearns
Thomas Hearns
Thomas "Hitman" Hearns is a retired American boxer. Nicknamed the "Motor City Cobra" and more famously "The Hitman", Hearns became the first boxer in history to win world titles in four divisions. He would also become the first fighter in history to win five world titles in five different divisions...

 and Jay Snyder on November 6, 1998, Lane retired from being a boxing referee.

Stroke

Lane suffered a debilitating stroke in March 2002 which left him partially paralyzed, and affected his ability to speak. This led to his Celebrity Deathmatch
Celebrity Deathmatch
Celebrity Deathmatch is a claymation television show that depicts celebrities against each other in a wrestling ring, almost always ending in the loser's gruesome death. It was known for its excessive amount of blood used in every match and exaggerated physical injuries...

 alter-ego being voiced by Chris Edgerly
Chris Edgerly
Christopher "Chris" Edgerly is an American actor and voice actor.Edgerly was born in Silver Spring, Maryland, he moved to Savannah, Georgia at the age of two with his mother, and two brothers...

 (who played Nick Diamond) for the remainder of series' run. His adopted city of Reno celebrated him on December 27, 2004, proclaiming it "Mills Lane Day". In May 2006, Lane made his first public appearance in years at the dedication of a new courthouse which is named after him.

External links

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