Fred D. Miller, the 250-pound Pro Bowl deal with who was the anchor of the Baltimore Colts’ defensive position and helped them attain two Super Bowls, died Sunday of respiratory failure at Brightview Senior Living in Timonium. The former longtime Carroll County farmer was 82.
“Fred was just a rock, and was consistent on and off the field,” stated Ernest W. “Ernie” Accorsi Jr., former Baltimore Colts public relations director and normal supervisor.
“And I remember the great [Colts guard] Danny Sullivan saying, ‘I don’t think Fred ever had a bad day.’ He was a steady, solid player, who was always there,” Mr. Accorsi stated. “I can’t think of a better character and a great human being than Fred Miller.”
Bruce A. Laird, a security and kick returner, performed for the Colts from 1972 to 1981.
“I was a rookie and he was in his last year. Rookies are seen and not heard. You kept out of their way because guys like Fred Miller were part of a cast of characters and were gods to us,” Mr. Laird stated. “And right here I’m, a 21-year-old long-hair dude in summer time coaching camp fearful about being despatched house.
But right here was Fred, this Southern man, and consummate gentleman. He was a staff man and never a me man.”
Fred David Miller, son of Will T. Miller, a sharecropper, and Lorenia Miller, a nurse, was born and raised in Homer, Louisiana.
It was a hardscrabble life, as he was raised in a stark picket cabin with out electrical energy or plumbing, and wore drawstring pants and shirts that his grandmother usual from cotton and hen patterned feed baggage.
When he graduated from Homer High School in 1958, townspeople chipped in and bought a swimsuit that Mr. Miller might put on to commencement
But soccer would finally be the way in which out.
“Fred worked the nearby cotton fields, shaping the steel will that would steady him in football and beyond,” wrote The Sun in 2011. “Come harvest, he’d pick cotton at 6 a.m. before going to school.”
“His work ethic was legend. As a kid, after chores — splitting wood or picking corn or plowing the sandy clay soil — Fred would wipe his brow and head for the woods, his training ground for football,” based on The Sun. “He did chin-ups on tree branches and ran through grassy field firebreaks amid the scrub pines, pushing ahead until he collapsed. Then he’d pick up a rock, mark the spot, intent on running farther next time.”
During his tenure at Homer High, he was a four-year letterman, taking part in soccer for the Homer Pelicans, the place he led the staff — generally known as the “Iron Men” — to the 1957 state championship recreation.
Even although the Pelicans misplaced, 19-7, Mr. Miller’s efficiency caught the eye of scouts, and with various faculties providing soccer scholarships, the 6-foot-3, 210-pound lineman, selected to play for Louisiana State University.
At LSU, he added 30 kilos, made All-American and led his staff to consecutive Orange and Cotton Bowl victories.
He was a junior when the Baltimore Colts chosen him within the seventh spherical of the 1962 NFL draft, which gave the staff his rights till he accomplished school.
In 1963, LSU completed with a 10-1 report that included a shutout of Texas within the Cotton Bowl. He graduated that 12 months with a bachelor’s diploma in agriculture.
In addition to his soccer life at LSU, he met and fell in love with a classmate, the previous Charlene Coco, and so they married in 1963.
“He is considered a surefire bet to make good in the pro ranks and he thus was one of the gridders the club felt was a ‘must’ to further its rebuilding plans,” The Evening Sun wrote on the time of his signing.
His first Baltimore Colts recreation was the one one through which he didn’t begin throughout his whole Colts profession.
During his years with the Colts he, “won Pro Bowl recognition three times — 1967 through 1969; played in three world championships games: the 1964 NFL championship game against the Brown, Super Bowl III against the Jets, and Super Bowl V against the Cowboys,” based on a household biographical profile.
“Fred would stop runners in their tracks,” Dan Sullivan, who performed with Mr. Miller for a decade, advised The Sun in 2011. “He was quick to learn and strong as a bull, though I don’t think he ever lifted a weight in his life.”
News accounts stated that Mr. Miller was impervious to ache and would carry on taking part in.
“It was Super Bowl V and I was standing next to Fred. It was the last two minutes and everything was hysterical,” Mr. Accorsi recalled. “A lot of players turned their backs to the field but not Fred. He stood there tall and calm. I never saw him change moods the entire time he was with us.”
Talking in regards to the Super Bowl V win over the Dallas Cowboys, Mr. Miller recalled in a 2009 interview, “That was one of the hardest-hitting games I ever played. The next morning, when I got up for breakfast, I could hardly lift my arms to cut my pancakes. First time that ever happened.”
In 1973, Mr. Miller was traded to Washington.
“No I’m not bitter about the trade or for that matter with Joe Thomas [former Colts’ general manager and coach]. Football has been too good to me to ever be bitter,” Mr. Miller advised The Sun on the time. “I have too many memories of 10 years of good things and bad, like losing the Super Bowl, to ever be bitter.”
“Football is the reason I got an education,” he advised one other reporter. “It’s the reason I met many, many people. I’ve had lunch at the White House. I’ve met a lot of folks in politics, and movies, and everything else. It’s been a good life.”
He was inducted into the LSU Hall of Fame in 1964, the Louisiana State Athletics Hall of Fame in 1990 and the Southeastern Conference Football Legends Class in 2010.
When his skilled taking part in days ended, he and his spouse retreated to Angel Acres, their 46 acre farm in Upperco the place they raised beef, pork and poultry.
While Mrs. Miller tended an acre vegetable backyard and canned a lot of the produce, he saved busy tending the fields, caring for a spring-fed pond filled with bass and catfish and repairing a goose pit for fall searching.
They bought the farm in 2011.
Mr. Miller was Mrs. Miller’s caregiver as a result of her having scoliosis. A stroke later left her principally bedridden till her demise in 2017.
Refusing to place his spouse in a nursing house, he advised The Sun in 2009, “Our marriage vows read, ‘In sickness and in health.’ This is what it meant.”
“He loved focusing on his family, sports, hunting and fishing,” stated a son, David W. Miller of Westminster. “These were the things he was most passionate about.”
Mrs. Miller was a religious Roman Catholic, whereas her husband was a Baptist, however a number of years in the past, he transformed to Catholicism.
“They were both amazing and such a great couple. I thought the world of them. He’d bring me a goose and Charlene was a wonderful Cajun cook,” stated the Rev. Michael J. Roach, former pastor of Saint Bartholomew in Manchester. “Fred had a great heart and knew the Lord.”
A funeral service might be held at 10 a.m. immediately at Saint Bartholomew Catholic Church, 2930 Hanover Pike, Manchester.
In addition to son David W. Miller, he’s survived by three different sons, Daniel J. Miller of Ocean Pines, Jacob P. Miller of Finksburg, and Luke P. Miller of Towson; 11 grandchildren; and a great-grandson.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com