Mills Lane
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| Mills Lane | |
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| Born | Mills Bee Lane III |
| Occupation | Retired television judge, former lawyer, and former boxing referee |
Mills Bee Lane III (born November 12, 1936) is a legendary boxing referee, and also a former boxer, judge, and television personality. He is best known for having officiated over several major heavyweight championship boxing matches in the 1980s and 1990s, and for starring in the television show Judge Mills Lane.
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[edit] History
Lane hails 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, however, had other aspirations, and joined the United States Marine Corps in 1956, after his graduation from Middlesex School. He became a boxer while with the Marines, becoming the All-Far East welterweight champ. After leaving the Marines, he enrolled at the University of Nevada, Reno and became the NCAA boxing champion. He turned pro while in college, eventually earning an 11-1 record as a pro. He was in the 1960 Summer Olympics boxing finals held in San Francisco, California. 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 to attend law school. Lane graduated as a lawyer, and later on became a prosecutor at the Washoe County district attorney's office in Reno. In 1979, he became a deputy sheriff. That was the same year that he refereed his first world championship boxing match, when Vito Antuofermo retained the world middleweight championship with a 15-round draw against Marvelous Marvin Hagler. Lane has refereed a total of 102 championship bouts.
Lane became a household name in the United States the night he refereed "The Bite Fight" rematch between world heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield and challenger Mike Tyson 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.
[edit] Television
From 1998 to 2001 his court show, Judge Mills Lane, aired on national television. 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 so also 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 named his autobiography Let's Get It On: Tough Talk from Boxing's Top Ref and Nevada's Most Outspoken Judge.
Mills Lane made a guest appearance as a voice-over for My Gym Partner's a Monkey, as Substitute Principal Wolverine (with the same voice as the Mills Lane character on Celebrity Deathmatch). Lane also guest voiced on an episode of Buzz Lightyear of Star Command in which he played a judge.
[edit] After TV
After the fight between Thomas Hearns and Jay Snyder on November 6, 1998, Mills Lane retired from being a boxing referee. Lane can currently be spotted in television commercials for 1-800-THE-LAW2. He resides in New York City.
[edit] Stroke
Lane suffered a debilitating stroke in March 2002 which left him partially paralyzed. He still has a great deal of difficulty speaking, which is the main reason why he does not voice himself on the new version of Celebrity Deathmatch. His character is now voiced by Chris Edgerly, who also provides the voice of Nick Diamond on the series. His adopted city of Reno celebrated him on December 27, 2004, proclaiming it "Mills Lane Day". On this date, Lane made his first public appearance in years at the dedication of a new courthouse which now bears his name.
[edit] External links
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