The second conversation with Miller aired a few months after the first. I don’t have the actual show, but was able to take out a portion of it from the unedited conversation. He  had been nice enough to come back to the studio a second time to add material to fill out the second show, and most of that is what’s missing here.

That part of the conversation included more about his career at the Star, such as the first time he was fired and the reason he became a columnist willing to rip some of the people he covered. If I remember correctly, it was because he realized there was no reward for being a virtual PR arm for an organization, as he had been with the Pacers — until he wrote his infamous story on Rick Mount.

Miller is responsible for the most shocking headline in the history of the Star sports section, even to this day: “Mount Fed Up with Leonard’s Excuses.” Miller was a fan of Mount’s, and sympathized with his frustration over not playing more, so he wrote an article in support of the former Mr. Basketball in 1972. He even got an anonymous teammate to support Mount (cough * Mel Daniels * cough).  It created an uproar, to say the least, and Leonard was allowed a full rebuttal. We’ll talk about it detail here.

Miller fell out with Leonard for a couple of years after the article was published, but they’re close today. Miller never hesitates to take up a cause, and he had T-shirts and sweatshirts printed up with Leonard’s caricature on them to honor Leonard’s Hall of Fame induction. That’s another part of the episode that’s missing here. Miller is usually the first to organize a retirement party for people he knows, such as the one for former Star editor John Bansch. Somehow, he came up with a midget transvestite to dance at the party at a downtown bar.

Only Robin Miller could have pulled that off.

First aired 2011

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Tagged with: Indiana Pacers, Rick Mount, Robin Miller