DSU’s Miller honored by media

• Ramon Miller

Ramon Miller

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MINOT — Bruce Anderson and Jerry Lyon have closed the book on their careers in the world of athletics. Ramon Miller is ready to add a new chapter to his.

All three are recipients of this year’s North Dakota Associated Press Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association’s Special Achievement award. The award is the organization’s highest honor.

Miller was a standout for the Dickinson State University track and field team, winning three NAIA national outdoor titles as a senior.

But Miller’s biggest career highlight of 2008 came at Beijing Olympics, where he was a member of the Bahamas 1,600-meter relay team that garnered a silver medal.

“It was great to go to the Olympics and earn a silver medal,” Miller said. “It’s more than I could have asked for. I’m blessed.”

Miller completed his career with the Blue Hawks with 11 national championships.

“There’s no doubt he’s one of the best we’ve had and we feel we’ve had some really great ones,” DSU head coach Pete Stanton said. “Ramon had the special qualities you look for in an athlete. He’s very talented but he’s very hard-working. He’s not only talented, but he put that talent to use and that’s what made him special.”

Primarily an 800-meter runner when he arrived on the campus of DSU, Miller quickly became one of the best 400-meter runners in the nation. The transition came when he started training with fellow Bahamian sprint standouts Derrick Atkins and Aaron Cleare.

“I think part of it was some of our other runners before him,” DSU head coach Pete Stanton said. “He got in with those two and really wanted to train and do some of the things that they had done. It kind of happened because of training with those guys. We as a coaching staff saw him improving and wanted to keep him there.”

Miller is heading for the Bahamas National Games this weekend. If he finishes in the top six in the 400 meters there, he will run for the Bahamas in both the individual 400 and the 1,600-relay team at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin in August.

Miller hopes that those competitions work as a springboard into more international opportunities, and ultimately another trip to the Olympics, the 2012 games in London.

“Those will be my two stepping stones this year, hopefully,” he said. “(Returning to the Olympics) to run the individual 400 meter is one of my main goals. That’s what I’m working on for the next three years. I know it’s not an easy goal, but I’m up for the challenge.”

Anderson coached high school basketball for 37 seasons, including 30 as head coach of the Minot High School girls program. He retired following the 2007-08 season.

Anderson began his coaching career in Grenora, where he guided both the boys and girls programs for five of his six seasons there.

“Those were some great memories,” Anderson said. “I always think of the great rivalry we had with Watford City. It’s funny how time does fly by. I can still remember the day I walked into the Grenora school for the first time.”

He said his state championship with the Majettes in 1978 was a high point, but he enjoyed coaching overachieving teams just as much.

“The things I remember that were the most fun was when you weren’t picked to win and you maybe upset someone along the way,” he said.

His teams won eight regional championships and finished state runner-up three times. Anderson was named Coach of the Year nine times and was selected as a National Coach of the Year finalist for girls basketball in both 2003 and 2008.

Anderson won 612 high school basketball games as a head coach, including 526 in girls basketball.

While Anderson enjoyed the competitive part of coaching, he said the relationships he built were the most lasting part of the job.

“The thing you remember is the kids who played for you and were good players and worked hard,” he said. “When you’re gone (from coaching), basically all you have is the memories. The kids you worked with and the big games you participated in. After 30-some years, it’s the memories that carry on.”

Anderson said when he began coaching, he would have never imagined that he would have continued to coach for nearly 40 years.

“After 37 years, it becomes the fabric of your life,” he said. “It seems like yesterday (that I started). I never would have dreamed I would have coached 37 years. It went fast and I enjoyed it, but all of the sudden, it’s ‘where has the time gone?’ ”

Lyon coached an unprecedented 65 seasons of tennis at Minot High School, 33 boys seasons and 32 with the MHS girls.

Lyon’s teams won eight state titles — three boys and five girls. He was named North Dakota’s Tennis Coach of the Year seven times and was honored as the National Tennis Coach of the Year in 1998. He retired following the 2008 girls season.

“To name any one specific highlight, Holy McEnroe, I’ve got a whole book of them,” Lyon said with a chuckle.

He initially coached boys basketball and swimming at Memorial Middle School on the Minot Air Force Base before taking the head boys tennis job at MHS in 1976. Lyon had a history in tennis. He was a four-year letterwinner at Minot State University.

Lyon’s MHS teams competed in 21 championship matches. His teams won nearly 800 duals as his boys teams compiled a record of 450-86 while his girls program went 328-135. Lyon coached a number of individual state champions over the years, many of whom went on to compete at the NCAA Division I level. Lyon’s boys teams won 21 West Region championships and his girls teams earned eight.

“I’ve had some incredible tennis players over the years,” he said. “They were some tremendous players to coach.”

He said his win-loss record wasn’t the most important record he took from his career — it was his flawless driving record.

“The win-loss record is in black and white,” he said. “The most important thing in my opinion — I was the bus driver — I figured I drove 130,000 miles in my career. I delivered every kid home safe and sound. That’s the only thing I’ll brag about.”

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