THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 16, 1995 TAG: 9508150100
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 18 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LEE TOLLIVER, BEACON SPORTS EDITOR
LENGTH: Medium: 100 lines
NOTHING MAKES BOB Lane happier than the look in a child's eyes when meeting an idol face-to-face for the first time.
After years of working with children in area athletic programs, Lane has had plenty of experience with such moments.
But over the past couple of NFL football seasons, he has taken his joy one step further - borrowing a page from the Make-A-Wish Foundation with his plans to take terminally ill or extremely sick children and their parents to each and every Washington Redskins home game.
This is the first year his program appears to be taking solid hold, and thusly he is calling the program ``Redskins Superkids.''
``I've taken a few kids over the last couple of years, but I want to expand this year to take a kid and his family to all the home games,'' said Lane, 52, a Redskins fan since he was 13. ``My ultimate goal is to fund enough money to be able to go up on Friday, set up a dinner with a player, then do the Smithsonian (Institution) thing on Saturday, and then the game on Sunday before coming home.''
Over the years, Lane has made several important contacts with the Redskins organization, enabling him to also take the particular child down on the field during warmups and then into the locker room after the game.
Money and tickets have - as they usually do - gotten in the way of his doing more. But this year, he is making strides in the fund-raising scene and his goals appear reachable. In fact, he recently put his old body on the line in a one-on-one basketball game against a much younger opponent from the Virginia Beach Department of Parks and Recreation - raising almost $600 in the best-of-five, first to 30 points a game series.
And he often sells Krispy Kreme Doughnuts in area neighborhoods to raise money.
``Raised $187 on the first sale,'' he said proudly. ``(Regional Krispy Kreme manager) James Brumsey has been fantastic in helping with that and I've got another sale lined up for next week.''
Lane's idea first came to him about four years ago and it has many twists and turns.
His son - a North Carolina state trooper - had stopped Bill Bowden of the Metro D.C. area police who works on Sunday as a security officer for the visitors' locker room. The budding friendship between the two has proven invaluable.
That same season, Lane saw a newspaper article about a kid from Chicago - Josh Vallee - who had cancer. His biggest wish was to have a Redskins blanket and his mother couldn't find one anywhere.
Through connections like his with Bowden, Lane arranged to get some cards signed for the child. But it went better than expected and Lane - in the locker room to get the cards signed - talked to then-coach Joe Gibbs and actually got Gibbs to call the child at home the following week.
``It was unbelievable what he did for that kid,'' Lane said. ``That's when the idea really started to sink in.''
That same season, he took another child to the Redskins-Dallas game and the child was taken by Gibbs into the Dallas locker room.
``He hadn't said much the entire day, but when he got out of that locker room, he thanked me so much,'' Lane said.
Since then, Lane has taken several children to games and has made contact with people at the Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters to help find children to take to the games.
To meet his goal of taking kids for the entire weekend, Lane needs to raise about $5,000 for things like tickets, hotel rooms and food.
He found out Monday that transportation in a custom Chevy van was being donated by R.K. Chevrolet general manager Tom Bates as part of his ongoing relationship with the Bruce Smith Celebrity Golf Tournament, its association with the Hampton Roads Community Foundation and the foundation's charitable works.
``It's a very generous offer and is certainly appreciated,'' Lane said. ``It eliminates one of the steps to making this happen and it is greatly appreciated. In an effort to support this worthy project, it's great to have people in Tidewater that recognize these worthy causes and so generously support them.''
Lane is obviously excited about the prospects of making his vision come true. Not for his own reward, but for the sake of the children.
``My mom died of cancer,'' Lane said. ``I have four children and seven grandchildren and none of them are sick. I'm so very grateful about that.
``I just don't understand why kids get sick and this is an opportunity for them to have a good day when they have so few.
``Everyone that's been helping me - from the people making donations right up to the football players - they're all just great. There has never been a player who wouldn't drop his gear and stop and spend time with one of these kids when I take them up there. It's just great to see all the support and I can't thank everyone enough.'' MEMO: Editor's note: Anyone interested in making a donation can contact Lane
at 486-3507 or make a deposit in the Redskins Superkids account at Life
Savings Bank.
ILLUSTRATION: Photo by LEE TOLLIVER
Bob Lane takes terminally ill kids to home games of the Washington
Redskins. He hopes soon to be able to take the whole family. The
trip would include dinner with one of the players and a tour of the
Smithsonian Institution.
by CNB