Hall of Fame
Boxing (1960-61)
Winner of national NCAA championship in 1960, the last year the NCAA sponsored boxing, Mills Lane came to Nevada after serving in the U.S. Marine Corp where he took up boxing and became the All-Far East welterweight champ. The Yamesse, S.C., product won the NCAA welterweight title in the tournament in Madison, Wis., in 1960 and was also named the winner of the LaRowe Trophy as outstanding college boxer. His overall amateur record was 45 wins with only four losses. He was honored as Nevada’s Athlete of the Year in 1960. He turned pro while in college, eventually earning a 10–1 record as a professional. In the US Olympic Trials in San Francisco for the 1960 Summer Olympics, Lane was defeated by Phil Baldwin in the semifinals.
A scholar-athlete, Lane graduated with a degree in business administration from Nevada in 1963 and then earned his law degree at the University of Utah in 1970. 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.
Lane continued his affiliation with the sport, officiating several major heavyweight championship boxing matches in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, including the 1972 Ali-Foster fight and the infamous Tyson vs. Holyfield bout in 1997. He also starred in the syndicated court show Judge Mills Lane from 1998-2001.
Lane's adopted city of Reno proclaimed December 27, 2004, as “Mills Lane Day,” while in May 2006, the courthouse in Reno was dedicated in his honor. The Mills B. Lane Justice Center houses the Reno Municipal Court and the Washoe County District Attorney's Office. In addition to the Nevada Athletics Hall of Fame, Lane was inducted into both the International Boxing Hall of Fame and the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame in 2013.
