The Lane Way: Family, Faith, and Fifty Years in Basketball

Whether you’re a Transylvania University basketball fan or not, if you’re a Kentuckian, you know Don Lane.

As a coach and educator, and also through his popular basketball camps, Coach Lane has taught, counseled, and encouraged thousands of young people to become what he calls “builders,” making a positive difference in the world by living useful and happy lives.

Now, in The Lane Way, Coach Lane takes readers through his own extraordinary life. Starting with the work ethic he learned in the tobacco fields with his father and brothers, and guided by a strong belief in the power of education and an unwavering faith in God, he built an outstanding career over more than three decades at Transy. With insight, wisdom and humor, Coach Lane relates stories about his players, his strategies, his coaching style and philosophy, and the triumphs and setbacks of each season. He also generously shares with us the life lessons he’s drawn from 80 years of a life truly well lived.

Testimonials

"Don tells the story we know, and he tells it well, but he shares so much more. I especially liked the chapters where he steps out of his chronological account to go into detail about someone who inspired him, or about his beloved family, or about his strong Christian faith. This creates a book that anyone – not just basketball fans or Transy alums – can enjoy and benefit from."

—Coach John Calipari, University of Kentucky Wildcats

About the Author

Don Lane grew up in Woodford County, Kentucky, where he learned basketball skills from his brothers and started playing at the high school varsity level while still in middle school. That early love of the game led him to a long and successful career as a coach at both the high school and college levels, culminating with a 26-year tenure as head coach of the Transylvania University men’s basketball team. Coach Lane also proudly served for many years at Transylvania as a faculty member, teaching and mentoring students, and ran Don Lane’s Transylvania Basketball Camp, which helped thousands of young people develop and nurture a love of the game. The Lane Way is his first book.

Sarah Jane Herbener has been helping people preserve their life stories through her personal history service, First Edition Memoirs, since 2015. A Lexington native, she is the author of The Torqués: A History, published in 2018, and has co-written and/or edited dozens of books, both fiction and nonfiction. Sarah Jane also works as a copywriter and editor in the marketing department at Alltech in Nicholasville, Kentucky.