Andrew Markley "Mack" Miller (October 15, 1931 – February 16, 2020) was an American

cross-country skier Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreation ...

, trainer, and high school teacher. He represented the United States twice at the Winter Olympics. The son of a children's fiction writer (and of a newspaper editor who died young), he was a topic of one of her books and of a later book by another author.

Career

Miller studied at

Western State College of Colorado Western Colorado University (Western) is a public university in Gunnison, Colorado. It enrolls approximately 2,600 undergraduate and 400 graduate students, with 25 percent coming from out of state. Western offers more than 100 undergraduate areas ...

. He represented the university in various cross-country skiing tournaments. Miller was the national champion in cross-country skiing of 1955 and represented the United States in the

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

of 1956 and 1960. In 1955, he was the highest-ranked American cross-country skier in the Nordic Championship. Along with Sven Johansson from Anchorage, Mack Miller was the most prominent American cross-country skier of his era. (Sven Johansson, however, could represent the United States only in the 1960 Olympics because of his naturalization process.)

Highlights

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim ...

–– Competed in Olympic Men's 4x10 km Cross-country Ski Relay, ranked 12th with personal time in the 2nd leg of 0:37:22 and total team time of 2:32:04. Relay teammates were Ted Farwell,

Larry Damon Lawrence "Larry" Snow Damon (born December 8, 1933) is a retired American cross-country skiing (sport), cross-country skier and biathlete who competed in the 1956 Winter Olympics, 1956, 1960 Winter Olympics, 1960, 1964 Winter Olympics, 1964 and 1 ...

and Marvin Crawford.

Family and legacy

Miller was born in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

. He is the son of

children's fiction Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

author

Helen Markley Miller Helen Catherine Knapp Markley Miller (December 4, 1896 – November 1984) was an American writer of historical and biographical fiction for children taking place in the Western United States. Biography Helen Markley Miller was born in Cedar Falls ...

. Mack and his sport formed the inspiration for Helen's sixth novel, ''Ski fast, ski long'' (1960). He is also featured in the 2012 book ''Brundage Mountain – Best Snow in Idaho'' by Eve Chandler. Miller and his wife Rita lived in

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

. They had a son, Ralph, and a daughter, Karla. Miller died on February 16, 2020, at the age of 88.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Mack 1931 births 2020 deaths American male cross-country skiers Cross-country skiers at the 1956 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 1960 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiing coaches Farmers from Idaho Olympic cross-country skiers for the United States Skiers from Salt Lake City Sportspeople from Idaho Western Colorado University alumni