Mills Lane
|
|
Mills Lane (born November 12, 1936) is a famous judge, boxing referee and Celebrity Deathmatch character.
Lane's family was well accommodated, his father was the owner of the first national bank of Atlanta, which was, and is based in Savannah, Georgia. Lane, however, had other aspirations, so he went to the United States Marine Corps, where he graduated with honors. He became a boxer while with the Marines, winning the Marines' Welterweight title. After leaving the Marines, he kept on studying in college and he became NCAA Welterweight champion. He turned professional as a boxer while still in college.
Lane graduated as a lawyer, and later on became a prosecutor. 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's Middleweight championship with a 15 round draw against Marvin Hagler. Lane would go on to participate in more than 100 world championship bouts as a referee.
In 1982, he coined the phrase Let's get it on!!, a phrase which would later become a household phrase. He first used it during the instructions before the Larry Holmes-Gerry Cooney world Heavyweight championship fight.
Lane began to become a household name all over the United States the night he refereed the rematch between world Heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield and his challenger and former world champion Mike Tyson in 1997. After Tyson bit Holyfield twice, Lane disqualified him. Lane's shirt got stained with blood and it was sold by him to a memorabilia collector for a large amount of money on the same night. In 1998, his show Judge Mills Lane debuted on national television, and it lasted until 2001. In addition to that, the producers of MTV's show Celebrity Deathmatch approached him about having his character and voice in their show, as the referee of their plasticine figure matches. Lane accepted the offer, also becoming an MTV personality.
Lane retired from boxing as a referee soon after. He now lives in New York City with his wife and two sons, in The Dakota Building. Lane suffered a debilitating stroke in 2002 which left him partially paralyzed. He has a great deal of difficulty speaking. His adopted city of Reno, Nevada celebrated him on December 27, 2004, proclaiming it "Mills Lane Day". On this date, Lane made his first public appearance in many years at the dedication of a new courthouse which will bear his name upon its completion.