John Kane attended Baylor University in Waco, Texas, where he played basketball and football. On January 22, 1927, he was traveling with the basketball team to a game when their bus was struck by a train in Round Rock, Texas, killing 10 of the 22 people aboard; Kane escaped with minor injuries. Those killed became known as the “Immortal Ten”, and a homecoming ceremony in their memory has become a Baylor tradition. The son of a Baptist minister, “Killer Kane” became a legendary World War II Bombardment leader. He was one of five men (and one of only two survivors) to received the Medal of Honor for actions in the historic August 1, 1943, low-level bombing mission against Ploesti. He retired in 1954 as a U.S. Air Force Colonel.