Hi Bay-Bee,
Many have never heard of Dick "Night Train" Lane, but as the NFL season is upon us, I felt it was apropos to relate his story for Max. Born in Austin, Texas, Richard Lane was raised by Ella Lane. Ella had found Richard in a dumpster. Ella found Richard in a dumpster! He grew up in a loving environment and proceeded through school. After graduating high school and a year of community college, he enlisted in the Army. He spent four years there and even played on the Fort's football team. As a wide receiver, he had 18 TDs in one year against admittedly weak competition.
After the Army, he started working at an airline manufacturing factory. Every day, he would ride the bus to work. On the way to work, he would pass the training camp facility of the Los Angeles Rams (now the St. Louis Rams). He would do this daily. He would ride in his bus sometimes seeing the players working out and sometimes just gazing over the empty football field. He knew his passion was there. He knew he belonged there. He knew he had to get to work. So he showed up day after day at the airline plant, a dirty and monotonous place to work.
Then one day, Dick Lane decided to get off the bus. He showed up at the training facility for a tryout. I imagine the conversation went like this.
Dick Lane (you have to understand that he had a VERY DIFFICULT Texas/Louisiana accent): "I'm har ta play ball."
LA Ram official: "What?"
Dick Lane: "I'm har ta play ball."
LA Ram official: "You're here to play football?"
Dick Lane: "Yap."
LA Ram official: "You want to tryout? Okay, well, we're getting ready to get started. What position do you play?"
Dick Lane: "Racaver."
LA Ram official: "Receiver? Wide Receiver? Just so you know we have two of the best wide receivers in the league (future Hall-of-Famers Tom Fears and Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch). Still want to get out there?" (This would have been a great opportunity for Dick to exit semi-gracefully).
Dick Lane: "Shore."
So Dick practiced that day with the LA Rams. He practiced at wide receiver for half the practice until Coach Joe Stydahar decided to try him at defensive back defending wide receivers. In practice, he had the opportunity to defend against Fears and Hirsch. He started out getting beat repeatedly, but he was living his passion. He was playing a game he loved. He felt fortunate that he was getting dirty and grimy at football instead of getting dirty and grimy at the airplane factory.
In his rookie season (1952) he set an NFL single season record for interceptions with 14, which stands to this day. And he did it in 12 games! Today's seasons are 16 games (and could be 19 with a Super Bowl team) and nobody has even come close to touching his record. ESPN just listed Lane's rookie season as one of the Top 10 Greatest Seasons of All Time.
From 1954 to 1963, Lane made the All-Pro team 6 times and was selected to 7 Pro Bowls. He recorded 3 interceptions in all but 4 of his 14 NFL seasons. He was particularly noted as a hard hitter, who liked to tackle by the head and neck (a technique outlawed today). This tackle was sometimes called a Night Train Necktie.
Lane was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1974. In 1969 he was named the best cornerback of the first fifty years of pro football. In 1999, he was ranked number 19 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Football Players, making him the highest-ranked defensive back.
An incredible story. Dick "Night Train" Lane went from being found in a dumpster to being one of the most dominant defensive players in history. But I go back to one moment for the lesson:
What if he didn't get off that bus?
Don't you think he would have lived a life of regret? What kind of fears do you think he had when he got off that bus? He knew he would probably lose his job and income at the airplane plant. As an African-American, he wouldn't get a second shot at the factory. He was walking away from that income, that security, and that stability and walking up to a risk, a chance, a long-shot. Not only that, but as a black man, jobs were hard to come by and he'd probably be without income for 6 months. But he did it. He overcame his fears to step into the unknown. Would you have done that?
Let me ask you: Would you rather overcome your fears or live a life of regret? Where are you struggling with fears when you know that conquering your fear would give you a better life? What are you holding onto that is preventing you from getting what you are really wanting?
There is a story of the research team in Africa who was trying to catch spider monkeys. There was a rampant upswing in the numbers of spider monkeys and they were causing a tremendous amount of trouble for the area's animal population, tribes, and water supply. The research team tried an assortment of a traps without luck. They tried bait, nets, and pits to no avail. The spider monkeys were just too smart, too quick, or too strategic. Then, a young researcher had an idea. The spider monkeys loved macadamia nuts. He took Coke bottles and put a macadamia nut in the bottom of it. He then secured the Coke bottle to a tree. It worked.
The spider monkeys would smell the nut and get curious. They would reach into the bottle and grab the nut. When they balled their hand into a fist to hold onto the nut, they couldn't get their hand out of the bottle. Researchers would find spider monkeys who had died with their fist inside the bottles. And all they had to do was what? All they had to do was LET GO. All they had to do was let go of the nut and they would have survived.
What do you need to let go of to live the life you've always imagined?
To Your Success,
Bay-Bee's Papa (Michael)
Many have never heard of Dick "Night Train" Lane, but as the NFL season is upon us, I felt it was apropos to relate his story for Max. Born in Austin, Texas, Richard Lane was raised by Ella Lane. Ella had found Richard in a dumpster. Ella found Richard in a dumpster! He grew up in a loving environment and proceeded through school. After graduating high school and a year of community college, he enlisted in the Army. He spent four years there and even played on the Fort's football team. As a wide receiver, he had 18 TDs in one year against admittedly weak competition.
After the Army, he started working at an airline manufacturing factory. Every day, he would ride the bus to work. On the way to work, he would pass the training camp facility of the Los Angeles Rams (now the St. Louis Rams). He would do this daily. He would ride in his bus sometimes seeing the players working out and sometimes just gazing over the empty football field. He knew his passion was there. He knew he belonged there. He knew he had to get to work. So he showed up day after day at the airline plant, a dirty and monotonous place to work.Then one day, Dick Lane decided to get off the bus. He showed up at the training facility for a tryout. I imagine the conversation went like this.
Dick Lane (you have to understand that he had a VERY DIFFICULT Texas/Louisiana accent): "I'm har ta play ball."
LA Ram official: "What?"
Dick Lane: "I'm har ta play ball."
LA Ram official: "You're here to play football?"
Dick Lane: "Yap."
LA Ram official: "You want to tryout? Okay, well, we're getting ready to get started. What position do you play?"
Dick Lane: "Racaver."
LA Ram official: "Receiver? Wide Receiver? Just so you know we have two of the best wide receivers in the league (future Hall-of-Famers Tom Fears and Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch). Still want to get out there?" (This would have been a great opportunity for Dick to exit semi-gracefully).
Dick Lane: "Shore."
So Dick practiced that day with the LA Rams. He practiced at wide receiver for half the practice until Coach Joe Stydahar decided to try him at defensive back defending wide receivers. In practice, he had the opportunity to defend against Fears and Hirsch. He started out getting beat repeatedly, but he was living his passion. He was playing a game he loved. He felt fortunate that he was getting dirty and grimy at football instead of getting dirty and grimy at the airplane factory.
In his rookie season (1952) he set an NFL single season record for interceptions with 14, which stands to this day. And he did it in 12 games! Today's seasons are 16 games (and could be 19 with a Super Bowl team) and nobody has even come close to touching his record. ESPN just listed Lane's rookie season as one of the Top 10 Greatest Seasons of All Time.
From 1954 to 1963, Lane made the All-Pro team 6 times and was selected to 7 Pro Bowls. He recorded 3 interceptions in all but 4 of his 14 NFL seasons. He was particularly noted as a hard hitter, who liked to tackle by the head and neck (a technique outlawed today). This tackle was sometimes called a Night Train Necktie.
Lane was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1974. In 1969 he was named the best cornerback of the first fifty years of pro football. In 1999, he was ranked number 19 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Football Players, making him the highest-ranked defensive back.
An incredible story. Dick "Night Train" Lane went from being found in a dumpster to being one of the most dominant defensive players in history. But I go back to one moment for the lesson:
What if he didn't get off that bus?
Don't you think he would have lived a life of regret? What kind of fears do you think he had when he got off that bus? He knew he would probably lose his job and income at the airplane plant. As an African-American, he wouldn't get a second shot at the factory. He was walking away from that income, that security, and that stability and walking up to a risk, a chance, a long-shot. Not only that, but as a black man, jobs were hard to come by and he'd probably be without income for 6 months. But he did it. He overcame his fears to step into the unknown. Would you have done that?
Let me ask you: Would you rather overcome your fears or live a life of regret? Where are you struggling with fears when you know that conquering your fear would give you a better life? What are you holding onto that is preventing you from getting what you are really wanting?
There is a story of the research team in Africa who was trying to catch spider monkeys. There was a rampant upswing in the numbers of spider monkeys and they were causing a tremendous amount of trouble for the area's animal population, tribes, and water supply. The research team tried an assortment of a traps without luck. They tried bait, nets, and pits to no avail. The spider monkeys were just too smart, too quick, or too strategic. Then, a young researcher had an idea. The spider monkeys loved macadamia nuts. He took Coke bottles and put a macadamia nut in the bottom of it. He then secured the Coke bottle to a tree. It worked.The spider monkeys would smell the nut and get curious. They would reach into the bottle and grab the nut. When they balled their hand into a fist to hold onto the nut, they couldn't get their hand out of the bottle. Researchers would find spider monkeys who had died with their fist inside the bottles. And all they had to do was what? All they had to do was LET GO. All they had to do was let go of the nut and they would have survived.
What do you need to let go of to live the life you've always imagined?To Your Success,
Bay-Bee's Papa (Michael)
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