Jim Kane

Who was Jim Kane?

Jim Kane was a Nebraska high school football, basketball, track and cross country coach, and was named the state’s “Coach of the Year” in 1983, and was posthumously named to the state’s High School Hall of Fame.

Jim “Killer” Kane was born in West Point, Nebraska; but he grew up in Wisner, Nebraska, where Jim became an athlete. He remains the Wisner High School all time leader in points scored in basketball, and led the school’s baseball team to a state championship. In 1980, Nebraska sports historian Jerry Mathers named Kane as Wisner's best all around athlete ever.

After graduating in 1954, he attended the University of Nebraska and played for the Cornhuskers’ baseball team. He earned All-Big Seven Conference recognition as a catcher in 1957 and 1958 before signing with the New York Yankees. Kane played three years in their farm system, but failed to make it to the major leagues because of the presence of Yogi Berra and Elston Howard on the parent squad.

Kane was part of a successful pitcher/catcher combination with childhood friend Charles Ziegenbein. They played together through grade school, high school and through college at Nebraska. Ziegenbein, too, was signed by the Yankees in 1958, but did not remain with the organization, opting to pursue a business career instead. Ziegenbein died of cancer in 1972.