Richard Lane

Richard Lane was born on April 16^th in 1927 and passed away on January 29th in 2002. He was an American football player who was a cornerback for fourteen years in the NFL. Lane played for the Los Angeles Rams from 1952 to 1953, the Chicago Cardinals from 1954 to 1959, and then for the Detroit Lions from 1960 to 1965. He became known as Dick Lane or Dick Night Train Lane.

When he was still a rookie in the year 1952, Richard had fourteen interceptions which is still an NFL record today. He played in the Pro Bowl seven times, chosen as a first-team All-NFL player seven times from 1956 to 1963. In total throughout his entire NFL career, he made sixty-eight interceptions, which ranks second in NFL history when he retired.

Today, it still ranks fourth in NFL history. Richard was one of the most ferocious tacklers in all of football and inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the year 1974. Then, in 1969, inducted into the National Football League 50^th Anniversary All-Time Team in 1969. He was also inducted into the 75^th Anniversary All-Time Team in 1994, and to the NFL 100^th Anniversary All-Time Team in 2019. In 1999, he ranked number twenty on The Sporting News’ list of the top one hundred Greatest Football Players.

Richard has received some amazing rewards, including the ones listed below.

Richard’s Awards

In September 1969, Richard was one of 16 players named to the all-time All-Pro team selected by the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Named to the NFL’s 1950s All-Decade Team in August 1969.

In February 1974, inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. At the induction ceremony in July 1974, W.E. Pigford introduced him. In his speech, Richard spoke out against the NFL’s treatment of African Americans as “stepchildren” and added, “I hope the black players will band together to deal with the problem of no black coaches, no black managers, and few black quarterbacks in pro football.”

In January 1988, named to the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame. At the time, he said, “I was feeling a little put out about having to wait more than ten years after getting into the pro Hall of Fame to get into the state, but I’m happy that I’m finally in.”

In August 1994, Richard was named to the National Football League 75th Anniversary All-Time Team selected by a fifteen-person panel of NFL and Pro Football Hall of Fame officials, former players, and media representatives. Richard is the only former Detroit Lions player.

In August 1999, Richard ranked number twenty on The Sporting News’ list of the 100 Greatest Football Players, making him the highest-ranked defensive back, the Cardinals’ highest-ranked player and the Lions’ second highest-ranked player after Barry Sanders.

2001, Richard was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.

In August 2006, Richard became one of eight charter inductees into the Arizona Cardinals’ Ring of Honor.

In 2020, Richard was named to the NFL’s 100th Anniversary All-Time Team.

Here are his NFL stats.

General         Interceptions

Year    Team  GP       Int       Yds      TD       Lng

1952  LAR     12       14       298     2          80

1953  LAR     11       3          9          0          8

1954  CHC    12       10       181     0          64

1955  CHC    12       6          69       0          26

1956  CHC    12       7          206     1          66

1957  CHC    8          2          47       0          33

1958  CHC    12       2          0          0          0

1959  CHC    12       3          125     1          69

1960  DET     12       5          102     1          80

1961  DET     12       6          73       0          32

1962  DET     14       4          16       0          13

1963  DET     14       5          70       0          33

1964  DET     7          1          11       0          11

1965  DET     7          —        —        —        —

Career           157     68       1,207 5          80