Cheryl Miller: Basketball

American Star of the Women’s International Sports Hall of Fame

Photo: http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/cheryl-miller-at.htm

Cheryl Miller is a hall of fame basketball player and commentator for Turner Sports. She was born January 3, 1964, in Riverside, California, into a family of very talented athletes. In fact, you may have heard of some of her four brothers. Her older brother, Darrell, played Major League Baseball for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and her younger brother, Reggie, was a National Basketball Association (NBA) superstar for the Indiana Pacers. This inherited athletic prowess does not even mention her oldest brother, Saul Jr., whose father, Saul, felt was the most talented of all the Miller children.

Growing up, her gifted brothers were not easy on Cheryl when it came to sports. “They’d throw me a ball, tackle me, pile on, mangle me,” Cheryl recalls.1 She would benefit tremendously from this tough love, and as with many of the athletes found in the pages of this book, the experience of practicing so much with her male counterparts would prepare Miller to dominate her peers. She got so good that she would usually beat Reggie, who was a year younger, in their frequent one-on-one games. However, as the two siblings got older, and taller, little brother Reggie became not so little, or beatable, blossoming to a height of 6 feet, 6 inches. Fortunately, Cheryl grew to a height of 6 feet, 2 inches. The best brother-sister combination in basketball history began benefiting from their skills while they were in high school. The two would hustle on their local playground when Reggie, with Cheryl out of sight, would approach unsuspecting twosomes and ask if they wanted to play him and his sister for $10.

Needless to say, the offer was accepted and Cheryl would emerge to their competitors’ chagrin. Also needless to say is where the $10 on the table would end up.

Miller was part of the first generation that benefited from Title IX, which led to a never before seen equal opportunity for women in sports, and in turn a realistic future in basketball for Miller. Many of the women athletes who competed before Title IX did not have the advantage of playing in high school or college, receiving an education through an athletic scholarship, or being drafted to any of the numerous leagues for women that emerged as a result of this act. Fortunately for basketball fans, Miller, one of the greatest players of all time, did have this opportunity.

Miller began taking full advantage of her athletic opportunities in high school at Riverside Polytechnic High School, where she had a remarkable career. Miller led her high school to four straight California State Championships while averaging 32.8 points and 15 rebounds per game. Her four state titles, during her four years in high school, coincided with her four straight All- American honors from Parade magazine—an unprecedented accomplishment for any player, male or female. Other achievements in high school include setting a California state scoring record averaging 37.5 points per game one season, being named Street & Smith’s National High School Player of the Year in 1981 and 1982, receiving the Dial Award for being the high school scholar-athlete of the year in 1981, and leading her team to an incredible 84-game winning streak. Her team finished with a 132-4 record during her high school career, an average of just one loss per year. Unbelievably, these are not even the accomplishments that made Miller most famous. During her senior season, playing against Norte Vista High School, Miller scored a record 105 points, a girl’s high school basketball record that would stand for more than 20 years before Epiphanny Prince scored 113 in a game in 2006. Even more newsworthy to many, during that same game, Miller dunked the basketball, which was an unprecedented feat for a female in organized play.

Coming out of high school as, perhaps, the greatest female ever to play the game, Miller was recruited by 250 colleges. She chose to stay close to home and attended USC. Her impact on its women’s basketball program was immediate. During her freshman year, she led the Lady Trojans to a 30-2 record and a comeback victory against top-ranked Louisiana Tech in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship game. Miller had 27 points, four blocks, nine rebounds, and four steals in the game, and was named the tournament’s MVP for her effort. Astonishingly, she repeated this feat her sophomore season, picking up her second tournament MVP award while leading her team to back-to-back NCAA championships by defeating the Tennessee Lady Volunteers 72-61 in the title game.

The 1984 Summer Olympic Games were in Miller’s college town of Los Angeles, California, and she was recruited to play for the U.S. women’s basketball team. She played for none other than the head coach she had just defeated for the 1984 NCAAWomen’s Championship, Coach Pat Summitt, the winningest NCAA basketball coach of all time. Miller was the team’s leading scorer and led them to the gold medal. Quite understandably, she considers this accomplishment one of the greatest in her career.

Miller returned to USC for her junior year, and despite having one of her greatest statistical years, averaging 26.8 points and 15.8 rebounds per game, the Lady Trojans lost nine contests and were unable to “three-peat” by winning the title for the third consecutive year. Miller would lead the team back to the title game her senior season, but this time they were defeated by the top-ranked University of Texas Lady Longhorns. Miller finished her career with USC with a pristine 112-20 record; she was also a four-time All-American and a three-time recipient of the Naismith Award. For her accomplishments, Miller was honored as the first USC basketball player, male or female, to have her number (31) retired. Miller also excelled in the classroom, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in sports information.

Upon graduation, Miller was drafted by several basketball leagues, including the United States Basketball League, a men’s league. However, with the creation of the Women’s National Basketball

Association (WNBA) still a decade away and no real strong opportunity for women in professional basketball, Miller began an illustrious broadcasting career with ABC Sports. She returned to the court in 1986 to lead the U.S. women’s national team to another gold medal at the Goodwill Games in Moscow. She was also selected to play for the 1988 Olympic team, but just before the Games, Miller suffered a career-ending knee injury.

Despite the injuries, Miller has continued to impact the game of basketball. In 1993, at just 29 years old, she returned to her alma mater as the head coach of USC. In two seasons, Miller led the Lady Trojans to a more-than-respectable 44-14 record and a 1994 Pac-10 conference title. In 1995, she joined her current employer, Turner Sports, where she does basketball commentary for TNT and TBS. In November 1996, she added to her list of firsts for women, becoming the first female analyst to ever cover a nationally televised NBA game. She took a four year leave of absence from in front of the camera to take a position as head coach and general manager of the Phoenix Mercury, a team she led to the 1998 WNBAFinals. She resigned from that post after the 2000 season, returning to Turner, and has never looked back. Cheryl Miller has used her diverse talents to bring positive attention to women’s basketball, and has blazed trails for women in not only the sport itself, but sports business as well.

Note

1. J. Kelly, Superstars of Women’s Basketball (Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers,

1997), 38.