A00151 - Len Miller, R. I. P.
Those who receive my yearly Season's Greetings Cards or my rather frequent emails will recall the influence that Len Miller had in the less than one year that I had him as a coach during my first year (my sophomore year) at Victor Valley Senior High School. Today, while reading the Los Angeles Times, I happened upon this obituary:
I will always cherish the moments I spent with Coach in February of 2022 at his house in Las Vegas. It was a special time.
God willing, I will be in Irvine on May 15, 2023. It too will be a special time.
Peace,
Everett "Skip" Jenkins
Fairfield, California
May 7, 2023
P.S. This what I wrote on Coach's Memory Page:
In 2022, I had a number of reunions. The second memorable reunion came on February 20, at the Aliante Golf Course in Las Vegas. On that day, my girlfriend, Ping, and I played golf with one of my high school track and cross country teammates, Commodore Wayne Stamper and his wife Becky. I had not seen Wayne since our 30th Year High School Reunion in 2001. We had decided to meet up in Las Vegas in hope of having dinner with our soon to be 85 year old cross country and track coach, the legendary Len Miller. Ping, Becky, and Wayne all enjoyed their round of golf. I managed to shoot an adventurous round of 119. After the round of golf, I treated the victors to a nice seafood dinner and Wayne shared the treasured cross country meet notes from our Golden League Junior Varsity Champion campaign of 1968. Wayne, who is an actual retired Navy Commodore, had kept the meet notes that Coach Miller wrote up after each cross country meet in 1968. On each sheet, Coach would make an assessment of notable individual performances and improvements. Coach would stress the need for dedication, discipline, and desire not only in athletics but in all aspects of life. Reading Coach's notes for the first time in some fifty-three years was almost like being 14 again. I almost wanted to go out and run two miles again, but, of course, that was never going to happen...never, never again.
Wayne and I had planned on meeting with Len Miller for dinner that weekend, but Coach was delayed. Wayne and Becky could not stay beyond the weekend, so Ping and I stayed the entire week and had dinner with Coach on Friday, February 25. Coach's home was adorned with memorabilia from his coaching glory years when he was the long time coach for America's greatest miler, Steve Scott.
We talked about many things that evening but I had to remind Coach that I was never the world class athlete. I had two memorable moments as a high jumper, one was when I amazingly set the Class C school high jump record in May of 1969 and the second when I jumped over six feet for the first time in competition at the Glendale Relays in March of 1970. Coach had left Victor Valley by then, but he was at the Relays with his new Laguna Beach team. Somehow, I could hear Coach Miller cheering me on during the high jump competition as I was engaged in a duel with the hometown favorite, another skinny kid, by the name of Dwight Stones. The competition came down to me and Dwight. I cleared six feet on my first try that night, Dwight needed two tries. However, when the bar went up to 6' 2", I could not clear the bar. Dwight cleared the bar on his second try and won the competition. The next year (1971), Dwight grew to be 6'5" and won the State Championship, clearing 7'1". The year after that (1972), Dwight won a bronze medal at the Munich Olympics. And the year after that (1973), Dwight set the world high jump record at 7'6".
Dwight would go on to have a stellar career as an athlete. After his competitive days were over, he became a broadcaster where he would be the field event commentator for NBC for the Olympic Games for the next thirty years.
As for me, that night in Glendale was really my last big moment in high school track and field. For my performance that night, I received the silver medal and my Victor Valley coaches gave me a small plaque for being the Field Athlete of the Meet. However, I would never go any higher. It was as though without Coach Miller being around, I just did not have the motivation to excel in sports. As I told him that evening, in his Las Vegas home, he was the Wind Beneath My Wings and without him being around, I just was not able to fly.
Rest in Peace, Coach. You will be in my heart forever.
Everett "Skip" Jenkins
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