The first college basketball game that I ever saw was an Oklahoma-Nebraska game in Lincoln where I lived in the early fifties. A friend of my father's had been a Nebraska football All-American, and he took us to a game. Having been born in Oklahoma, I cheered for Oklahoma, not having even heard until about that time that there was a University of Oklahoma. The point guard for Oklahoma in that game was Lester Lane.
Occasionally, we heard a little about Lester Lane who had played with the AAU team in Wichita. At that time, the members of the AAU teams were about as likely to be in the Olympics as the collegiate stars since the pros could not play. Lane was pretty good. But, you really didn't hear about him except for some reference to AAU basketball, which was rare.
I had pretty much forgotten about Lester Lane until a summer when I was a TA in graduate school. At the time, enrollment for summer school was done by going to the office of the department for the course in which you wanted to enroll. The department set up a coffee table in the hall outside the door of the department office, and I enrolled the summer school attendees in zoology.
It had become rather quiet one day when a very nice looking young man, a few years older than I, came to the table. He said his name was Lester Lane, and he was wanting to enroll in (I don't remember what). I looked at him and asked if he was the Lester Lane who had played at OU. He indicated that I had a great memory, his years having been about twenty years in the past. I told him that I had seen him in my first game.
He was back to get his master's because he had decided he wanted to coach in college if possible. He sat down, and we discussed his past for just a moment. Then, he talked about what he wanted to do. He was about as nice of a young man as I have ever met. He was enthusiastic, well-mannered, and intelligent. He had a few ideas about what he wanted to do with a team.
I wasn't the teacher in his course, whatever it was. I only saw him a couple of times that summer in the hall, and he always gave a friendly wave. I guess it was that someone remembered. But, I didn't hear anything from him after that summer. Then, a few months later, he was hired as the coach at OU.
I was elated. This was an excellent choice, and intelligent young man with extreme enthusiasm and energy, a native Oklahoman. This would be the kind of man that Oklahoma could build a basketball tradition on. This was the promised land.
Only a month or so later, he died. It was a shock. How can such a healthy young man die of a heart attack? How can such enthusiasm be taken from us so early? I barely knew him, but I felt a real loss.
I often wonder what might have been.
