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Former Wrestler Stan Lane Of "Fabulous Ones" Alive And Well, Despite Obituary

Posted: Mar 12th 2011 By: CMBurnham

Like many things in wrestling, you can't always tell what's real and what's fake.

But Stan Lane, once a member of the Fabulous Ones tag team, is alive and well contrary to a Thursday obituary in The Commercial Appeal for 65-year-old Samuel P. Ticer.

"This is the alive Stan Lane," the real wrestler said Friday from his home in Greensboro, N.C. "This is just outrageous. ... It's crazy."

The confusion regarding Lane's reported death was borne from Ticer's obituary, which stated he was "a professional wrestler for 13 years under the name of Stan Lane of the Best Tag Team ever to hit Memphis and Mid South Coliseum as The Fabulous Ones with partner Steve Keirn."

Efforts to reach Ticer's wife, Anna Marie Ticer, for an explanation or a picture of her husband were unsuccessful Friday. Services were held earlier in the day for the Bartlett man, who died Monday after a short illness.

Lane and an adviser, Sal Corrente, said they talked to Mrs. Ticer on Thursday night at Family Funeral Care, which handled the services. They said she stuck by her story.

"She insisted that her husband was Stan Lane of The Fabulous Ones and that she has pictures to prove it," Corrente wrote. "I told her: 'I don't know what you have, but I have the real Stan Lane.'"

Jim Cornette, who acted as Lane's manager in other tag teams, called the wrestler when he heard the rumor.

"I talked to him (Lane) Thursday, and he picked up the phone and said: 'Corny, I'm not dead.'"

The facts about Lane wrestling with Keirn, their popularity in this area and on drawing crowds to the Mid-South Coliseum are true. What is not true is that Ticer was "Stan Lane."

Lane and Keirn were introduced as the Fabulous Ones tag team in 1982. The story went that "The Fabulous One" Jackie Fargo hand-picked Lane and Keirn to represent his style and toughness in battling the heels of local wrestling. A video introduced the blond, muscular pair with bow ties, top hats and tuxedos, reminiscent of Fargo's early wrestling days.

Lane was born in 1953, making him seven years younger than Ticer. The real Lane grew up in Greensboro, N.C., never lived in Memphis, didn't attend Humes and did not serve in Vietnam as stated in the obituary submitted by the family to the newspaper. And unlike some in the entertainment business, Lane performed under his own name.

Corrente said they first got wind of Lane's reported death Thursday.

Then the phone calls, e-mails, and Internet posts started mourning Lane's passing. "You realize then how it spreads," Lane said. "It's like a disease."

Even his 90-year-old mother heard the reports, he said. Because he left wrestling 15 years ago, and talks to few people in the business other than Jim Cornette and Corrente, "People were saying: "Yeah? We haven't seen him in awhile,'" Lane said.

In paid obituaries, the family of deceased individuals provide information to the funeral homes, which in turn submit it to The Commercial Appeal for publication. Joseph Lane -- no relation -- who handled the funeral for the Ticer family, said it is "very rare" for anyone to challenge an obituary, and they have no reason to distrust the family.

He said in his 29 years in the funeral business, this is the first time he could recall a provided obituary drawing this kind of attention.