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August 13, 2000

Miller time lives on in Notre Dame football lore

Editor's Note: Notre Dame's many contributions to the College Football Hall of Fame include 38 players, five head coaches and several players who became coaches at other schools. Of the 38, there are 23 deceased. A series of stories on the 15 living Irish Hall of Famers begins with Creighton Miller -- Editor.

Coach Frank Leahy frequently called Creighton Miller "the greatest running back I have ever coached."

For a coach who worked with at least six other backfield All-Americans, this was high praise indeed.

Miller was not discovered by Leahy. Creighton was already on campus when Leahy arrived in 1941. And unlike most of the players on the freshman squad in 1940, Miller was not even recruited, nor did he receive an athletic scholarship to play until his career was almost finished.

Not recruited?

That's not exactly accurate. Creighton and his older brother (by two years) had been "noticed" by one of the all-time Notre Dame great backs, their father Harry "Red" Miller of the great 1909 "Champions of the West" team.

"Neither Tom nor I had a choice of colleges to attend," says Creighton with a smile, "My father simply told us what time the train left for South Bend. And he added, 'and you better be on it.' "

Harry Miller was the first of five Defiance, Ohio, brothers to attend and play for Notre Dame. Last was younger brother Don, who became one of the memorable Four Horsemen for coach Knute Rockne. Unlike the other Millers, Creighton and Tom did not come from Ohio, but from Wilmington, Del., where father Harry was an attorney for the DuPont Corp.

When the Millers moved to Delaware, they both played at Alexis I. DuPont school, where Tom earned 10 letters and Creighton 13 in four sports.

"I don't think either of us would have been highly recruited or 'blue chip' athletes," said Creighton.

Creighton was listed as a fullback as a freshman. And, as it turned out, he was one of only four of coach Elmer Layden's freshmen to move up and play in the undefeated (8-0-1) season of 1941.

Creighton Miller was not one of Leahy's favorites, because he couldn't pass the physical due to high blood pressure. That meant he missed spring football. But after a doctor's OK in August, Creighton joined the team.

He played little in 1941 as a fullback in the Notre Dame box formation. When the Leahy staff switched to the T-formation in 1942, Creighton became a left halfback and a great threat with the quick-hitting bursts off tackle.

Father Harry Miller was paying the bills for sons Tom and Creighton, but after many Leahy pleas, father Harry relented and Creighton became a scholarship player. That meant he was at the beck and call of the football staff and couldn't take off on spring afternoons to play golf.

Miller insists that his golfing afternoons were exaggerated by his teammates, but Leahy later insisted that "Creighton became a much better player when he had the full measure of spring and fall practice. He was so quick that he would get to the hole before it opened when he was a junior, but with practice, his timing became almost perfect."

Actually, Creighton did not practice in the spring of 1943. He was drafted into the Army, but by August, the Army decided the high blood pressure was too much of a risk. And Creighton came back to campus.

Football plans for 1943 were in a state of flux because of military call-ups. Leahy actually didn't know who would be available. Eventually, Angelo Bertelli was available for six games of the season, and Jim Mello was back at fullback.

Creighton was the top ball carrier in the nation with 911 yards in 1943 and the Irish won Leahy's first national championship, despite a last-minute loss to Great Lakes.

The big game was against No. 2 Michigan in Ann Arbor. And with father Harry cheering on every one of the 159 yards (in 10 carries) by Creighton, the Irish won easily. Harry had been the star in 1909, in the preceding N.D. visit to Ann Arbor.

Player Creighton then became coach Creighton as an assistant under interim leader Ed McKeever in 1944. And McKeever sent Creighton to Great Lakes to scout and become familiar with Paul Brown, who was coaching at Great Lakes.

The two Ohioans hit it off and Brown and Miller became friends. Creighton was hired by Mickey McBride, the founder of the new Cleveland Browns entry in the All-American Football League.

One of Creighton's duties for the new team was to seek out a coach. Brown, Leahy and a couple of others were on Creighton's list. And Brown expressed an interest and became the new coach.

Creighton, although still unofficially with the Browns, entered Yale Law School and assisted Howie Odell, the Yale head coach. Creighton received his Yale law degree in 1947 and returned to Cleveland.

Later, Abe Gibron and George Ratterman sought out Creighton to help organize a players' association. And a bit later, Creighton helped veteran player Frank Gatski in a retirement contract squabble with Brown.

"I think this caused Brown to have me removed from an earlier Browns team photo," Creighton laughed.

Miller has been a Cleveland attorney for more than 50 years, and one of his clients through the years has been George Steinbrenner, the shipping magnate who later became owner of the New York Yankees.

Creighton stays active (mostly as a golfer) in NFL Alumni affairs, and has been a regular at College Football Hall of Fame activities since his induction in 1976.

Creighton's great 1943 season has dropped out of the Notre Dame record books, but no one can doubt his starring role in the great years of Irish football in the 1940s.