Redlands Connection is a concoction of sports memories emanating from a city that once numbered less than 20,000 people. From the Super Bowl to the World Series, from the World Cup to golf’s U.S. Open and the Olympics, plus NCAA Final Four connections, NASCAR, the Kentucky Derby and Indianapolis 500, Tour de France cycling, major tennis, NBA and a little NHL, aquatics and quite a bit more, the sparkling San Bernardino County city that sits around halfway between Los Angeles and Palm Springs on Interstate 10 has its share of sports connections. Long before those NFL’s Los Angeles Rams came to Redlands for pre-season training, I-10 never existed. – Obrey Brown
When I got hold of him around the summer of 1993, Richard Lane was living in Detroit, where he’d once worked for the Lions and, eventually, with city youth programs.
“Whew,” said Lane, who died in 2002, 28 years after he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
“Red-lands! You’re talking about a long time ago. All I can remember about Redlands was that I needed a ride to get out there. I didn’t know how to get there.”
Richard Lane, better known to the pro football world as Dick “Night Train” Lane knew what to do when he arrived. Redlands was the spot he had to prove his value to Rams’ coaches. He wasn’t yet known by his nickname, “Night Train.”
Dick “Night Train” Lane remembered trying to make the Los Angeles Rams at his first NFL training camp in Redlands, 1952 (photo by Wikipedia Commons).My job was to track as many “Redlands” Rams as I could. For a 12-year period between 1949-60, the Los Angeles Rams trained at a far older version of a University of Redlands stadium. This was historical. Imagine such an event taking place today. That little city probably couldn’t handle the notoriety. Then again, you never know.
Years later, Lane remembered the tiny little city.
“I got out of the service,” said Lane, who was 6-feet-2, 210 pounds. “My first connection, my first real connection with the Rams was in Redlands. I had to make the team there.”
Not drafted. Not scouted. Just signed. In Redlands.
Lane attracted the attention of Rams’ coaches. He played receiver. Split end? Not with the Tom Fears and “Crazy Legs” Hirsch tandem still operating as the NFL’s top pass-catching duo in what was considered one of the most potent attacks in league history.
“You know,” Lane said, “I hate to say this, but I think I could’ve been a little better (receiver) than what they had there” – referring to Fears and Hirsch.
Fears, Hirsch and Lewis were each a Hall of Famer.
Said Lewis – or “Night Train”: “I covered them in practice. That’s how they noticed me on defense. That’s their thinking then: ‘If I could cover Tom and ElRoy, then I deserved a place on the team.’ ”
In one of Joe Stydahar’s final moves as Rams’ coach, one perhaps aided by defensive coach Hampton Pool, Lane was switched to defensive back. It was in that season that Lane picked off a record 14 passes over what was then a 12-game NFL schedule.
“Joe quit a game into the season,” said Lane. “I didn’t really get to know him that well. Both guys (Stydahar and Pool) … I give credit to my making the team.”
Which enemy QBs did he fleece?
“I intercepted Johnny Unitas,” said Lane. “Otto Graham was another guy. Uh, Bobby Layne … (Y.A.) Tittle … got a long (return) against (Babe) Parilli when he was with the Packers … (Charlie) Conerly. A lot of guys.”
Parilli? With the Packers? This was before, of course, Bart Starr arrived in Green Bay.
By 1954, Lane, who came up with 68 career interceptions, those Rams traded him to the Chicago Cardinals. “I don’t know why I was traded. It’s hard to have the kind of season like I had that first year. I’m pretty sure they felt I slacked off somewhat.”
While Lane’s career was just beginning, another was concluding.
Coming off a National Football League championship one season earlier in 1951, the Rams seemed to be the hot team. It would be the final season for Hall of Fame quarterback Bob Waterfield. Norm Van Brocklin, another Hall of Fame QB, had been drafted out of Oregon.
Lane, the incoming wide receiver, had little chance of making this team. By 1952, Hirsch and Fears were the best tandem of split ends in that far back NFL.
“Don’t ask me to pick between them,” said Lane, referring to the QB tandem. “Bob retired after my rookie season, though. Both men were great. Both were great quarterbacks. I couldn’t pick between them.”
It was all taking place right in Redlands; the scheming of Lane, who kept his split end jersey No. 81 while switching to cornerback. History was being set on that old University of Redlands field.
“I was only with the Rams for a couple years,” he said. “I moved on. Too bad.”
These were just a portion of the stories engaged at the Rams’ pre-season training camp.
“Night Train,” he said, referring to his nickname. “Ah, man. It was that song (by Buddy Morrow).”
Whoops. He made a mistake. “No, not Buddy Morrow. It was Jimmy Lester. Tom (Fears) gave it to me. Started calling me that.
“No one called me Dick or Richard,” he said. “I had the Necktie nickname, too. I got guys by their neckties. They outlawed that kind of tackle, the clothesline.”
Night Train Lane, however, stuck – all the way to that Hall of Fame.
Night Train was the hot song.
There were plenty of hot nights in the Redlands dorms, Lane recalled.
“I swear, if they’d invented air conditioning back then,” he said, “they wouldn’t have given it to us. They wanted us to sweat.
“Ha-haaaaa,” he said. “That’s what I remember about Redlands. Sweating a lot.”
