Lane Crockett

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Lane Tyler Crockett
Born	1942 Ballinger, Runnels County, Texas USA
Residence	Shreveport, Caddo Parish, Louisiana, USA
Nationality	American
Occupation	Newspaper entertainment editor and national columnist
Spouse	Single
Notes Entertainment columnist syndicated by Gannett

Lane Tyler Crockett (born 1942) 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 (1915-2007) and the former Wanda Lane (1919-2004) 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.

In 1968, Crockett, at twenty-six, moved to Shreveport, the seat of Caddo Parish, to join the staff of the defunct Shreveport Journal under then publisher Douglas F. Attaway. In 1977, after Attaway had already sold The Journal to businessman and professor Charles T. Beaird, Crockett joined the staff of the Shreveport Times, where he remained until his retirement in 2004. Crockett resides in Shreveport, where he Crockett is involved in various cultural activities and is a strong supporter of the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra and the Shreveport Arts Council. A Shreveport blogger writes that Crockett "has the ability to touch upon all aspects of a performance, from book to players to the scene. His writing has a conversational flow but demonstrates deep background. While his critical remarks are moderate - focus on what he omitted to get the full tale - they fulfill a distinct need."