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Dr. Mel Miller

All Around ∙ New Brighton

In the mid 1930s, New Brighton High School had one of the prized student-athletes in the area: Melvin Raymond Miller. Mel’s athletic achievements were not only noteworthy but quite broad: how else could you include a horseshoe tournament championship that he won as a high school senior? But Mel made a name for himself in basketball and football and had an especially good senior season in both sports: he was named All County as a football end and was All County and All WPIAL on the basketball hardwood. Mel chose to continue his education at Westminster College and again participated in football and basketball. He was a starter all three seasons on the Titan football team, but a fractured wrist in his junior year ended his gridiron days. Mel was a four year starter on the basketball squad and was named to several All Opponent teams and in 1939 was selected to the Pittsburgh District College All Star team. Mel was captain of the Hardwood Hoopsters and president of the Block W Society academic club and was presented the Sphinx Award by the Men’s Honorary Society for the 1939-1940 school year. Mel continued his education at Geneva and the University of Pittsburgh and earned his doctorate but remained close to athletics. He was head basketball coach at New Brighton for 12 years and won two section titles. He also managed the New Brighton American Legion baseball team for two years and served as recreation director for eight years. He was New Brighton athletic director for three years and assisted in football for six years. In 1945, five years after college graduation, Mel tied for second place in a national foul shooting contest. A longtime superintendent of schools of New Brighton, Mel was inducted into the New Brighton Sports Hall of Fame in 1975.