Steve Miller is an American athlete, coach and businessman from Chicago.

Early life

Born in Chicago, Miller attended college in his home state of Illinois at

Bradley University Bradley University is a private university in Peoria, Illinois. Founded in 1897, Bradley University enrolls 5,400 students who are pursuing degrees in more than 100 undergraduate programs and more than 30 graduate programs in five colleges. Th ...

in Peoria and

Governors State University Governors State University (Governors State or GOVST) is a public university in University Park, Illinois. The campus is located south of Chicago, Illinois. GSU was founded in 1969. It is a public university offering degree programs at the und ...

in University Park, earning respectively Bachelor of Science degrees in English literature and

physical education Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement explorat ...

and a

Masters of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

degree in contemporary English literature. He relocated to San Luis Obispo, California to receive a Master of Science degree from California Polytechnic State University.

Athletics

In 1965, Miller played professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

with the NFL team Detroit Lions, a career path that ended with an injury to his knee after only four exhibition games. After ten years teaching track and English at suburban Chicago's Bloom Township High School, Miller became head coach at California Polytechnic State University until 1981, moving into the same position at Kansas State University until 1987. After a year as president of the

Special Olympics Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities and physical disabilities, providing year-round training and activities to 5 million participants and Unified Sports partners in ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, Miller returned to Kansas State University to serve for four years as

Athletic Director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches an ...

. During his time as the Athletic Director at Kansas State, Miller was responsible for hiring Hall of Fame football coach

Bill Snyder William D. Snyder (born October 7, 1939) is a retired college football coach and former player. He served as the head football coach at Kansas State University from 1989 to 2005 and again from 2009 to 2018. Snyder initially retired from the p ...

Business

When Miller left his position at Kansas State, he entered the world of business. He spent nine years with

Nike Nike often refers to: * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine give ...

, from June 1991 to September 2000, serving successively as Director of Athletics, Director of Global Sports Marketing, Director of National Sports Marketing, Director of Sports Marketing Asia Pacific and Director of Global Sports Marketing Relations. He relinquished his position with Nike following conflict with

Phil Knight Philip Hampson Knight (born February 24, 1938) is an American billionaire businessman. He is the co-founder and chairman ''emeritus'' of Nike, Inc., and was previously chairman and CEO of the company. As of October 3, 2022, Knight was ranke ...

. In 2000, he took the position of director of the

Professional Bowlers Association The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) is the major sanctioning body for the sport of professional ten-pin bowling in the United States. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, the PBA membership consists of over 3,000 members worldwide. Member ...

(PBA), a position he retained until 2005. During his time with the PBA, where he "was hired to make bowling relevant" according to

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...

, Miller stood as a primary focus for the documentary film ''

A League of Ordinary Gentlemen ''A League of Ordinary Gentlemen'' is a documentary film about ten-pin bowling that was released on DVD on March 21, 2006. It was written and directed by Christopher Browne and stars PBA Tour players Pete Weber, Walter Ray Williams Jr., Chris ...

'', which spotlighted his efforts to transform the PBA "into a slicker, more colorful media-friendly package". He is a faculty member at the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

, serving since 2005 as a senior analyst and adjunct professor at the Lundquist Business School and Warsaw Sports Marketing Center.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Steve Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American sports businesspeople Cal Poly Mustangs track and field coaches Detroit Lions players Kansas State Wildcats athletic directors Kansas State Wildcats track and field coaches Nike, Inc. people University of Oregon faculty Bradley University alumni California Polytechnic State University alumni Governors State University alumni Professional Bowlers Association Track and field athletes from Chicago Cal Poly Mustangs cross country coaches Kansas State Wildcats cross country coaches