“He was very good,” said Frank Case, who like Lane was from New York City and was a sophomore at Dayton when Lane was a senior. “He was the kind of player who saw the whole floor. He was just as happy making an assist as scoring. He’d always hit the the free man. Anybody open could count on him getting the ball to them.”
Lane averaged 3.2 points in 21 games in his first season. The Flyers, led by seniors Bill Uhl and Jim Paxson, finished 25-4 in the 1955-56 season and lost to Louisville in the NIT championship game.
A year later, Lane played a bigger role and ranked third on the team in scoring (11.7). The Flyers finished 19-9 and lost to Temple in the NIT quarterfinals.
In Lane’s senior season, Dayton again advanced to the NIT championship game but lost 78-74 in overtime to Xavier. He averaged 12.8 points, ranking behind only fellow senior Jack McCarthy (14.6). Lane was one of 10 players named to the Catholic College All-America team after the season. McCarthy and Bucky Bockhorn, another senior that season, received honorable mentions.
Si Burick, of the Dayton Daily News, pushed for Lane to make an All-America team in February that season.
“If shooting ability, guarding skill, rare quickness, clever dribbling, general trickiness and proven ability to rise to the occasion in the most serious emergencies aren’t All-America qualities, then what is?” Burick wrote. “Don has the advantage of playing with a winner and playing a vital role in making the team a winner.”
The New York Knicks drafted Lane in the fifth round in 1958. Lane did not play in the NBA but stayed in basketball as a coach. According to his obituary, he started his teaching and coaching career at Mansfield St. Peter’s in 1958 and then coached at Lima Central Catholic. In 1964, he and his family moved to Cuyahoga Falls.
Lane spent 29 years at Cuyahoga Falls High School and coached the boys basketball team for 13 years, compiling a 176-95 record. He is a member of that school’s hall of fame and is also a member of the Summit County Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame.
Lane served as commissioner of the Metro Conference and the Western Reserve Conference for 15 years and worked an observer of basketball officials at Kent State in the Mid-American Conference from 1994-2010.
According to his obituary, Lane is survived by his wife Joyce, seven children and 13 grandchildren. The family will receive friends from 4-7 p.m. Friday at the Anthony Funeral Home in Cuyahoga Falls. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at St. Eugene Catholic Church in Cuyahoga Falls, and an internment will follow at Chestnut Hill Memorial Gardens.
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