Lane Crockett

Who is Lane Crockett?

Lane Tyler Crockett is the retired entertainment writer and theater/arts critic of the Shreveport Times, the largest newspaper in north Louisiana. While he was at The Times, Gannett syndicated Crockett for a decade as a film and television writer. Crockett, sometimes called the "prince of performance critics", still writes entertainment articles for The Forum News, an Internet and print magazine which circulates throughout northwestern Louisiana and east Texas.

He was born to businessman D.B. Crockett and the former Wanda Lane of Ballinger, the seat of Runnels County northeast of San Angelo in west Texas. With a 2000 census population of some 4,200, Ballinger calls itself "The Greatest Little Town in Texas." Crockett is descended from David M. and Bertha Hambright Crockett and R.F. "Ike" and Mary E. Houghton Lane, all of Ballinger. Crockett graduated from Ballinger High School in 1960.

Crockett obtained bachelor's degrees in 1964 in both journalism and history from Texas Tech University in Lubbbock. He was the entertainment editor for Tech's student newspaper, The Daily Toreador for three years. After graduation, he entered the United States Air Force for four years during the Vietnam War.