VALE JAMES LANE
1953-2014
On Wednesday 5th November 2014, James Lane collapsed and died in the offices of the City of Sydney Basketball Association (CSBA). Although James had been battling a serious heart condition for several years, he always remained positive, he continued to work and his death was a shock to family, friends and colleagues.
James was born to his father Columbus and his mother Queen, and grew up with his brothers Marshall and Junior and sister Mary in Stormont, Virginia in the USA, and in 1971 (at 18 years of age) he joined the US Air Force where he rose to the rank of Staff Sergeant. James was stationed to the US Air Force Unit at Richmond Air Base in Australia in 1973. It was during this period in Australia he met his wife Sue and commenced playing basketball with Eastern Suburbs Basketball Association which is now part of CSBA. James stayed in Australia until 1979, when he was transferred to Boise Idaho, with wife Sue and children Damion, Travis and Amber. Then in 1980 James was posted to Anchorage, Alaska. This posting was relatively short as in 1981 he was sent to Wheeler Air Force Base, Hawaii. After 3 years in Hawaii the next posting saw James and the family move to Ramstein Air Base, Germany where they stayed for 7 years.
In 1991 James returned to Australia with his family and his career in basketball administration began. During the 1990s James coached and worked at various Sydney Basketball Associations including Bankstown and CSBA and also at the KGV centre. In 2001 James and Sue moved to Queensland where James worked as a Recreation Officer before returning to full time work at CSBA as our Competition and Office Manager in 2004.
During the time James worked at CSBA he strived to satisfy and serve all of the clubs and teams who play in our competition. This was not an easy task and James did it with dry humour and an overriding passion for the sport of basketball. He enjoyed the work he did and never seemed to be at a loss to come up with solutions for the problems that arise constantly when overseeing a program consisting of 275 teams. The CSBA owes James Lane a debt of gratitude because it is due in large part to his efforts that our Association is a successful and strong one.
He will be missed. Our thoughts are with his wife Sue and surviving children Travis and Amber.
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