 |
 When
John Miller
retired as Blackhawk High School basketball coach in
2005, he was asked to name some of the best players he
ever coached. His first mention was Dave Vetica – high praise
considering some of the stars Miller coached, like Dante Calabria
(who went on to North Carolina), Brandon Fuss-Cheatham (Ohio State),
and his two sons, Sean Miller (Pitt), and Ryan Miller (NC State).
It was at Riverside that Miller coached Dave, who became one of the most prolific
performers in Beaver County basketball history: he graduated from
Riverside as the school’s all time scoring leader (1536 points),
averaging 14 points per game as a sophomore, 23 as a junior, and 34
as a senior, when he led the state in scoring. As a senior, he set Riverside’s
scoring records for a season (718 points) and game (52 points). A 6’-3” swing guard, Dave
amassed all these points before high schools adopted a three point line. Dave was named
Section 17B MVP and first team All State, then accepted a
scholarship to Florida State University (a top 25 program at the
time), but only played one season before transferring to Cameron
University, a NAIA school in Oklahoma. While there, Dave switched to
point guard and as a junior his team was No 1 in the NAIA before
being upset in the national quarterfinals; a year later, though, the Aggies won the NAIA title. In 2007 Dave was honored by Riverside for
his basketball accomplishments, and presenting the plaque was his
old coach, John Miller.
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