Lester Lane should be in Hall

Lester Lane was an amazing Oklahoma athlete who should be in the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame.

Lane was a three sport All-Stater in high school at Purcell.

He was also a three-sport letterman at the University of Oklahoma.

While at OU he pole vaulted and scored 1,180 points playing basketball (a record that stood for 11 years).

He was a four-year starter in basketball and played defensive back for Bud Wilkinson.

Lane was named All-Big Eight first team for basketball in 1954-55.

He played on the United States Olympic Gold Medal  basketball team in 1960 after playing for the National Champion AAU basketball team, the Wichita Vickers, 1959.

How many Olympic Gold Medalists hail from Oklahoma?

He also played in the NBA. Lane coached the Mexico Olympic basketball team which finished fifth in the 1968 Olympics, their highest finish ever at the time.

He was head basketball coach for the Sooners when he died at age 41 from an apparent heart attack after playing a pickup game at McCasland Fieldhouse during lunch.

He’s already a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

We hope the committee will give careful consideration to his selection as he is one of the most decorated athletes in Oklahoma history. It’s past time he’s inducted into Oklahoma’s Sports Hall of Fame.