Don Miller (American football player, 1902)

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Don Miller
Position (s):
Right Halfback (College) 		Jersey Number (s):
16 (College)
born March 29, 1902 in Defiance , Ohio
died on July 28, 1979 in Cleveland , Ohio
Career information
Active : 1925
College : University of Notre Dame
Teams
Career statistics
Games in the NFL     1
Touchdown at college     22nd
of it through running game     17th
Stats at pro-football-reference.com
Career highlights and awards
College Football Hall of Fame

Donald Charles "Don" Miller (born March 29, 1902 in Defiance , Ohio , †  July 28, 1979 in Cleveland , Ohio), nickname : Midnight was an American lawyer and an American football player and coach. He played in college as a halfback with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and in the National Football League (NFL) with the Providence Steam Roller .

origin

Don Miller came from a football-loving family. All five brothers in the Miller family played American football at the University of Notre Dame . His brother Harry was team captain of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in 1908 and was elected All American in 1909 . His second brother Ray played as the end of the South Bend team in 1911 and 1912 and later became a politician in Ohio, the third brother Walter played fullback in 1917 and his brother Gerry was his later teammate on the college team. His two nephews Tom and Creighton Miller later continued the family tradition and also played at the University of Notre Dame. Creighton was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1976 . Don Miller attended high school in his hometown and played on the football team there. As was customary for the time, Miller played both on defense and offense of his team.

Player career

College career

Don Miller received a place at the University of Notre Dame in 1922, where he studied law . Knute Rockne was the coach of the college football team , the Notre Dame Fighting Irish . Rockne, who had a flair for young talent, built one of the best college football teams of the time around Miller and his three teammates, fullback Elmer Layden , quarterback Harry Stuhldreher and Jim Crowley . Don Miller studied in South Bend until 1925 and was used together with Crowley in the offense as the right halfback of the team. Miller was a fast runner and difficult to stop once he got past the opposing defensive line . Crowley added him as a left halfback, while Layden as a fullback had the task of blocking their way into the opposing end zone. Miller and his three teammates in the offensive backfield of Notre Dame Fighting Irish achieved national fame due to their playful achievements. In 1924, the American sports reporter Grantland Rice reported nationwide on a game of the Fighting Irish and gave the four players the nickname: The Four Horsemen because of their style of play . The four players were shown as riders on a photo made afterwards. Both the article and the photo went down in American press and sports history.

In 1924, the Fighting Irish remained unbeaten in the regular season and could win all of their 10 games. On January 1, 1925, the team also won the Rose Bowl against Stanford University in front of 53,000 spectators with 27:10. Don Miller's team was named national college football champions by the American press . The Four Horseman and two other players on the 1924 team were later inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

On December 12, 1925, after completing their studies, the Four Horsemen played with other former players again for the Fighting Irish. They ran against the Pottsville Maroons , a professional NFL team who had finished the season as runners-up. With this game, the Four Horsemen (unintentionally) went down in sports history again. The Maroons won just under 9-7 and were subsequently suspended by the NFL. Hosting the game in Philadelphia had violated another team's territorial rights, which was prohibited by the NFL statutes. The implications of this game are still controversial in the American sports world today.

Miller and his team won 27 of 30 games during his studies, with two losses and one draw. He himself scored 22 touchdowns and gained 1933 yards by running game. With this achievement he is still in the record books of his college today. Miller was not only an outstanding athlete, he was also recognized as a basketball player by his college, and in 1924 and 1925 he also served as the head of school at his college.

In 1931, the story of the Fighting Irish was portrayed in the Hollywood film The Spirit of Notre Dame . The main actor in the film was Lew Ayres . Miller played himself in the film.

Professional career

Don Miller's professional career was short. Professional football was not very lucrative at the time. The clubs suffered notoriously from lack of money and the players could not live on their professional salaries alone. In 1925, Miller initially hired the Providence Steam Roller , but only played once for the team from Rhode Island . Miller then moved to the Hartford Blues , which were not yet part of the NFL that year. After just a year, Don Miller stopped his professional activity.

Coaching career

After graduating, Don Miller worked as a lawyer in his own practice. In the fall months he also worked as an assistant trainer at the Georgia Institute of Technology . With the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets he won the national college football championship in 1928. After four years as an assistant coach in Georgia , he moved to Ohio State University in the same role . In 1932 he ended his coaching career there.

Activity as a lawyer

Miller successfully ran a law firm in Cleveland after graduating , which ultimately forced him to quit his coaching career. In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed him federal attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, which he remained until 1952. Don Miller is buried in All Souls Cemetery in Chardon , Ohio.

Honors

Don Miller was voted All-American twice during his studies . In 1970 he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. In 1998 the Four Horsemen were honored on a postage stamp by the US Post.

source

Jim Lefebvre, Loyal Sons: The Story of the Four Horsemen and Notre Dame Football's 1924 Champions , 2008, ISBN 9780981884103

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Creighton Miller in the College Football Hall of Fame ( December 2, 2008 memento in the Internet Archive )
  2. ^ Creighton Miller's CV, Family History
  3. ^ Image of the "Four Horsemen" ( Memento from March 19, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ Rose Bowl 1925 ( Memento from December 23, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ^ History of the Maroons
  6. ^ History of the Hartford Blues ( Memento from May 16, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
  7. ↑ US District Attorney website
  8. ↑ Don Miller's grave in Find a Grave
  9. ↑ Postage stamp with the "Four Horsemen"
  10. ↑ Book review of the work of Jim Lefebvre ( Memento of December 27, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Miller, Don
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Miller, Donald Charles (full name); Midnight (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American football player and coach, lawyer
DATE OF BIRTH March 29, 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH Defiance , Ohio
DATE OF DEATH July 28, 1979
Place of death Cleveland , Ohio