Bill Dow
| Special to Detroit Free Press
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Ray Lane, one of the most versatile and respected broadcasters in Detroit sports history, died at age 95 on Saturday, Sept. 27, from complications after a recent fall at his home in Farmington Hills, according to his daughter Deanne Lane.
Lane served as sports anchor and director on Detroit television at WJBK-TV (Channel 2 in Detroit) and WKBD-TV (Ch. 50) but is best remembered for doing play-by-play with Ernie Harwell on Detroit Tigers radio broadcasts from 1967-72. That came after pairing with George Kell for two seasos of Tigers broadcasts.
During a broadcasting career that lasted more than six decades, Lane also served as a color analyst on Detroit Lions radio broadcasts, called games for Michigan State, Michigan, the University of Detroit and the Cincinnati Reds, provided pre- and postgame reporting for the Detroit Pistons, and was the Detroit Red Wings‘ TV on-air host for 16 seasons, beginning in 1985, earning the affectionate nickname of ‘Razor.’
In the late ’90s and early 2000s, he also filled in on Tiger broadcasts again.
Lane was inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 1997 and named NSMA Michigan Sportscaster of the Year twice (1969, 1980). He was a past president and an honorary lifetime member of the Detroit Sports Broadcasters Association, which gave him the Ty Tyson Award for Excellence and the Ernie Harwell Lifetime Contribution Award.
While at WJBK, Lane encouraged and helped former Lion Wayne Walker and former Tiger Jim Price become sports broadcasters.
“Ray was a close friend and a beautiful man,” said Jim Brandstatter, the longtime voice of Michigan football and a color analyst on Lions radio broadcasts.
“After the ’67 riots, the Tigers’ ’68 championship season was magical and Ray was a big part of that magic broadcasting those games,” Brandstatter said. “I thought he was one of the best baseball play-by-play guys ever, and he was so versatile broadcasting all the sports,” he says. “He was also one of the leaders of the golden age of local broadcast news. He helped me in my career. When we went to the same press conferences and postgame interviews, just watching him do his job was very helpful. The players and coaches trusted him.”
After the Tigers won the 1968 pennant, the National Bank of Detroit released a popular 33 RPM album, “The Year of the Tiger ‘68,” featuring key calls by Harwell and Lane. In 2018, when the Tigers celebrated the 50th anniversary of the ’68 World Series title at Comerica Park, Lane spoke to the crowd about his thoughts on the team just before Al Kaline spoke.
At home with a laugh
Lane was known by many as a man who was fun to be around and a practical joker.
“When we were out socially with him like at the Lindell AC bar, behind those eyes was fun mischief,” Brandstatter said. “He was the only guy to get (legendary weatherman) Sonny Eliot to break up live on the air. When Sonny went over to Channel 2, they tried to break each other up. One time while Sonny was doing the weather, off to the side at the news desk, Ray slowly slid down in his chair and disappeared. Ray then sticks just his leg up with a bare foot and a lit cigarette between his toes. Sonny just lost it. Sonny told me he couldn’t finish the weathercast. Ray was a guy’s guy, a great father and husband, and he also loved his work.”
Longtime Red Wings announcer Bruce Martyn was a close friend for over 60 years.
“It’s a difficult time because he was one of my best friends,” Martyn said. “My wife Donna and I did a lot with Ray and his late wife Carolyn and we had a lot of fun with a group of us we called ‘The Motley Crew.’ One time Ray put a “Darkness with Harkness” bumper sticker on my car during the ‘Dead Wings’ era when Ned Harkness was the coach and later GM. When I came out, I knew right away who did it, and he owned up. When we golfed together, he would hit it long, but chances are the ball would go into the trees or the water and he would scream, ‘It’s outta here’ just like he called home runs. We had a lot of laughs.”
Raised on the Detroit airwaves
Born in Detroit in 1930, Lane told the Free Press in 2021 that he grew up listening to Tiger broadcasters Harry Heilmann and Ty Tyson.
“Tyson was a little dry but I especially liked Heilmann for the stories that he would tell,” said Lane. “Sometimes I would go down to the movie house on Woodward Avenue called Telenews because for away games, Heilmann would broadcast there sitting behind plexiglass and recreate the game by reading the printouts from the teletype machine. Sometimes he would say, ‘We could really use a big hit here,’ knowing full well having read the ticker that there was going to be a big one. It was a lot of fun. Late at night, I would also listen to Paul Dudley from Cleveland and Bob Prince from Pittsburgh, both favorites of mine.”
Lane was a baseball and basketball star at Mackenzie High in Detroit and there he also expressed an interest in broadcasting.
“As a freshman we had a small radio unit and it was run by our wonderful speech teacher, Glendora Forshaye, who had worked on the Green Hornet and Lone Ranger radio shows,” Lane said in 2021. “She was very helpful and really encouraged me. When I was in summer-league games playing in the outfield, I would do my own little play-by-play. My teammates would tease me, and they thought I was a little crazy, but I loved doing it.”
A pure Michigander
Lane graduated from Michigan State, where he played baseball while earning a degree in communications.
After briefly playing baseball in the low minors in the Chicago White Sox organization, he worked at radio and TV stations in Cadillac; Waterloo, Iowa; and Saginaw. He started his Detroit career in 1961 as a house announcer at WJBK.
Lane told the Free Press in 2021 that his favorite job was doing play-by-play for the middle three innings and extra innings in the booth he shared with Ernie Harwell.
“When I went to work with Ernie, he called me right away and said, ‘Welcome aboard, partner,’ ” Lane said in 2021. “He said, ‘I have a lot of baseball materials for references and you’re welcome to use them anytime.’ Before the games, he would go out of his way to introduce me to opposing players. Working in the booth at Tiger Stadium was paradise because you were so close that you felt like you could reach out and touch the field. My first year we didn’t have a screen and we were always dodging foul balls. We didn’t have a bathroom either but we had a small sink and sometimes a bucket that we sometimes had to use. Otherwise, you had to really hurry to go to the restroom between innings.”
Following the 1972 season, Lane left the Tigers booth to become the sports director at WJBK after Van Patrick became ill.
“I had three kids at home and I could make more money in that position rather than being the second guy in the broadcast booth,” Lane said. “I would have loved to have stayed on doing play-by-play but there were also days when I questioned myself about being away from home so much.”
Lane was very active supporting numerous local charities, including the Boys and Girls Club of Metro Detroit, where he served on the board for many years, the United Foundation, and the Sanctuary in Royal Oak.
At the end of his 2021 interview with the Free Press, Lane reflected on his good fortune as a sports broadcaster.
“I am very proud that I was able to work my way up and establish a career in my hometown with such great sports fans. I turned down job offers from other cities because I enjoyed Detroit so much even though it may have held me back a little bit from taking some chances.”
Lane was married 50 years to his Mackenzie High sweetheart, Carolyn (Loose), who died in 2004. He is survived by three children: Greg, Deanne and Jeff, four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
This story will be updated.