Night Train Lane

Youth Lane was born in Austin, Texas, in April 1928. When he was three months old, he was abandoned by his birth parents, a prostitute and pimp. He was found, covered in newspapers, in a dumpster. Lane later recalled, "My father was called Texas Slim. I never saw him—I don't know if he's the one that told my mother to throw me away. A pimp told my mother I had to go. They put me in a trash can and took off. Some people heard me crying. They thought it was a cat." Lane was adopted and raised by Ella Lane, who also had four other children. He also helped his mother with a laundry business she ran out of the home. Negro league baseball After graduating from high school, Lane lived for a time in Council Bluffs, Iowa, with his birth mother, Etta Mae King. She had visited during Lane's youth, and the two reconciled. His mother and a man had opened a tavern in Council Bluffs. While in Council Bluffs, a baseball scout signed Lane, and he played for a time with the Negro league Omaha Rockets, a farm team for the Kansas City Monarchs. He received second-team All-Army honors in 1949 and first-team honors in 1951. After his discharge from the Army, Lane worked in an aircraft plant in Los Angeles, lifting heavy sheets of metal out of a bin and placing them into a press. ==Professional career==

Los Angeles Rams Signing and nickname While working at the aircraft plant in Los Angeles, Lane passed the Los Angeles Rams offices on his bus ride to work. He was recommended to the Rams by Gabby Sims and signed as a free agent. In the Rams' first scrimmage on August 3, 1952, Lane drew praise as "the outstanding player in the scrimmage by a country mile" due to his "ferocious" approach to the game and his speed in chasing down Elroy Hirsch. After the scrimmage, Rams head coach Joe Stydahar said, "Lane came out here to make the ball club. Well, last night he got himself a job." On December 7, 1952, he intercepted three passes in a 45–27 victory over the Green Bay Packers, including an 80-yard return of a pass from Tobin Rote. The following week, he intercepted three more passes in a 28–14 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers, including one that he returned 42 yards for a touchdown. However, he sprained an ankle after making his third interception against the Steelers and was lost to the Rams for their playoff game against the Detroit Lions. The NFL later prepared a list of the greatest single-season performances of all time and ranked Lane's 1952 season fourth on that list. 1953 season After Lane blocked two field-goal attempts during a July 1953 scrimmage, Rams coach Hamp Pool said, "Night Train has the reflexes of a cat. It just doesn't seem possible that a man can come in from so far out and get in front of the ball in a matter of a couple of seconds." During the 1953 season, Lane appeared in 11 games for the Rams, but he intercepted only three passes. Chicago Cardinals Lane had signed with the Rams for $4,500. After the two seasons he had with the Rams, he was offered a $2,500 salary increase. He then said it wasn't enough money in his view and that they should trade him. Not long after, in January 1954, the Rams traded Lane to the Chicago Cardinals in a three-team deal that also involved Don Doll. During the 1954 season, Lane appeared in all 12 regular season games for the Cardinals and again led the NFL in both interceptions (10) and interception return yards (181). Lane remained with the Cardinals for six seasons from 1954 through 1959, appearing in 68 games and intercepting 30 passes. Lions great Joe Schmidt later called it "one of the greatest trades that will ever be made in any sport." In the Lions' first win of the 1960 season, a 30–17 victory over the Baltimore Colts, Lane intercepted a Johnny Unitas pass and returned it 80 yards for a touchdown, quickly becoming a fan favorite in Detroit. In his first two seasons with the Lions, Lane intercepted 11 passes for 175 return yards. In early July 1963, Lane married jazz singer Dinah Washington and began serving as her business manager, leading to reports that he might not continue his football career. However, he signed a contract with the Lions in late July. Lane intercepted five passes and recovered two fumbles in 14 games for the 1963 Lions. Lane ultimately appeared in seven games for the 1964 Lions, managing only one interception, the lowest total of his career up to that point. When no other team claimed him, Lane returned to the Lions as a taxi squad player. He was returned to the active lineup on October 20, 1965, appearing in seven games with no interceptions for the first time in his career. The following year, the NFL adopted a rule prohibiting the grasping of an opponent's face mask. Lane's practice of tackling opponents about the head and neck, which was then a legal technique, was sometimes called a "Night Train Necktie". It later became known as a clothesline tackle and prohibited. He later explained the rationale for his practice of necktie tackling:My object is to stop the guy before he gains another inch. ... [I]f I hit them in the legs they may fall forward for a first down. ... I grab them around the neck so I can go back to the bench and sit down. rendering the quarterback unable to remember any of the Giants' plays until after halftime. Career accomplishments and honors During his 14 years in the NFL, Lane recorded 68 interceptions, 1,207 interception return yards, and five touchdowns on interception. He also recovered 11 fumbles, returning them for 57 yards and one touchdown. From 1954 to 1963, he was selected as a first-team All-NFL player seven times and played in seven Pro Bowls. Lane's 68 career interceptions ranked second in NFL history at the time of his retirement(The Giants' Emlen Tunnell had more, with 79) and still ranks fourth in NFL history as of the end of the 2023-24 NFL season. His 1,207 interception return yards also ranked second in NFL history when he retired(Also behind Tunnell, who had 1,282) and still ranks sixth in NFL history. His 298 interception return yards in 1952 was three yards short of the NFL record at the time(The Lions' Don Doll, who had 301 return yards in 1949) and remains the seventh best single-season total in NFL history. Lane has received numerous honors for his contributions to the sport. His honors include the following: • In September 1969, Lane was one of 16 players named to the all-time All-Pro team selected by the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was also named to the NFL's 1950s All-Decade Team in August 1969. • In February 1974, Lane was named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. At the induction ceremony in July 1974, Lane was introduced by his high school coach W. E. Pigford. In his speech, Lane spoke out against the NFL's treatment of African Americans as "stepchildren" and added, "I hope the black players will band together to deal with the problem of no black coaches, no black managers and few black quarterbacks in pro football." • In January 1988, Lane was named to the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame. At the time, he said, "I was feeling a little put out about having to wait more than 10 years after getting into the pro Hall of Fame to get into the state, but I'm happy that I'm finally in." • In August 1994, he was named to the National Football League 75th Anniversary All-Time Team selected by a 15-person panel of NFL and Pro Football Hall of Fame officials, former players, and media representatives. He was the only former Detroit Lions player so honored. • In August 1999, Lane was ranked number 20 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Football Players, making him the highest-ranked defensive back, the Cardinals' highest-ranked player and the Lions' second highest-ranked player after Barry Sanders. • In 2001, Lane was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame. • In August 2006, Lane became one of eight charter inductees into the Arizona Cardinals' Ring of Honor. • In 2020, Lane was named to the NFL's 100th Anniversary All-Time Team. ==NFL career statistics==

After retiring from professional football, Lane worked for the Detroit Lions in various administrative positions. He was the first African American to work in the Lions' front office. In February 1972, Lane quit his job with the Lions to become an assistant football coach at Southern University, a historically black university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He left Southern University in June 1973 to become an admissions counselor and assistant football coach at Central State University, a historically black university in Wilberforce, Ohio. In January 1974, he resigned his position at Central State to accept a job in Los Angeles as a bodyguard and personal assistant for television star, Redd Foxx. In October 1975, Lane was hired to manage Detroit's Police Athletic League. He remained in charge of the program for 17 years and oversaw its expansion to 16 centers with 20,000 participants. He retired from the post at the end of 1992. ==Personal life and death==

Lane was married three times. He married his first wife, Geraldine Dandridge, in April 1951. The couple separated in August 1962 and was divorced in January 1963. On December 14, 1963, Lane discovered Washington dead at their home at 4002 Buena Vista Street in Detroit with a bottle of prescription pills on the night stand beside her. In 1964, Lane married school teacher Mary Cowser, They had a son, Richard Ladimir Lane, who was born in 1965. The marriage ended in divorce after ten years. In 1994, Lane moved from Detroit back to his hometown of Austin, Texas. He died there from a heart attack in January 2002 at age 73, after playing dominoes and while listening to jazz in his room. ==Notes==