Jim Miller worked his way through the University of Colorado preparing salads in the kitchen of a sorority house.
It is just a conversation piece in his story compared with his super- athlete achievements. Or his later exploits as a trial lawyer and an administrative judge for the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission based in Washington, D.C.
Miller’s path began at Palmer High School in Colorado Springs, where he excelled in just about everything involving athletics. He was among the state’s best in football as a halfback and impressed CU coach Sonny Grandelius enough to earn a scholarship. He played ice hockey and was Palmer’s MVP in 1961. He wrestled for a year and showed promise of being a championship contender. He lost interest in basketball when he missed practice time because of blisters on his feet.
But it was in track and field where Miller made his mark, winning seven individual state championships. He owned the state championship meet in 1961, winning the 120-yard high hurdles, 180-yard low hurdles and the 100-yard and 220-yard dashes. His times in both hurdle events were state records.
Bill Westbay, Miller’s football and track coach at Palmer, believed his star also would have won the long jump if not restricted to four individual events.
“He wasn’t long and lanky like most hurdlers,” Westbay said. “He was well-built, and at first glance you wouldn’t think he was a hurdler.”
Westbay also believed Miller had the talent to play football in the pros, but his football career got derailed at CU.
Miller arrived in Boulder as the Buffaloes went undefeated in the Big Eight Conference and earned an Orange Bowl berth, where they lost 25-7 to LSU. But the bowl game was just the beginning of his problems. Miller looked on as CU’s football program was put on probation and Grandelius was fired. Bud Davis was brought in to coach for a year.
However, Grandelius and Miller already had parted ways.
“I decided to concentrate on track and field,” Miller said recently as he looked back 45 years from his home on the East Coast. “I know I would have played if I had stayed with football. Coach Grandelius was very angry with me. He wouldn’t speak to me.”
But CU track coach Frank Potts welcomed Miller. Miller hit his stride in 1963, winning the Big Eight title in the 330-yard intermediate hurdles, with a national collegiate and American record time of 36.2 seconds. He earned the Outstanding Athlete Award that year at the 38th annual Kansas Relays.
Over the next two seasons, Miller ruled many of the hurdle events in the indoor and outdoor seasons. He earned a place on the NCAA All-America track and field team in 1965 and went on to win the National AAU pentathlon title.
After giving up his football scholarship, Miller had to work his way through college. His primary employment duty was working with trainer Lloyd Williams in CU’s training room, but he also put in time as a hasher in the Greek houses.
Williams remembered Miller as an athlete comparable to Bill Toomey, who won the Olympic decathlon championship in 1968 after leaving CU.
“Jim Miller and Bill Toomey were the kind of athletes who come along only once in a while,” Williams said. “They could walk on at the college level in any sport they picked and make the team. They might not be All-American in every sport, but they’d letter.”
Miller graduated from Howard University’s law school and entered a legal career where he was employed by the federal government for 35 years before retiring a year ago. He has maintained ties with CU through contact with Williams, Bill Harris, CU’s alumni C Club director, and Don Meyers, who came out of Palmer High School a few years before Miller and went on to become CU’s track and field coach from 1969-75.
During is professional career, Miller also became involved in a hobby that might be considered as out of character as preparing salads. He started riding motorcycles.
“When I first started riding, I thought it would be just weekends with the Blue Knights law enforcement group,” Miller said. “But I started riding home to Colorado Springs in the summer. I may ride out again this summer when CU hosts the Big 12 track and field meet.”
If there was a disappointment, it was missing the Olympics, but he did compete in several international events. He’s comfortable with the resume as he looks back.
“I’d like to go to Greece, put on the white linens and look out on the Aegean Sea,” Miller said.
If he closed his eyes, he still could see himself clearing those hurdles as if they were just minor bumps in the road.
Irv Moss: 303 954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com
Miller bio
Born: April 14, 1943, Colorado Springs
High school: Colorado Springs Palmer, 1959-61
Advanced education: University of Colorado, 1961-66; Howard University Law School, 1966-69; George Washington University, 1971.
Family: Wife Jacqueline Daughtry-Miller; sons Osei Miller and Jared Miller.
Activities: Golf, fishing and some travel. He would like to revisit locations in Europe where he competed in track.
