Pat Miller

Growing up in the Rumford / Mexico area it was natural that Pat Miller would begin skiing at an early age. He started in the fields behind his family’s home in Mexico was competing and winning by the time he was ten years old. At Mexico High he lettered in skiing all four years and competed in the Junior Nationals in 1965 and 1966, winning the National Junior Cross Country Title in 1965.

From an early age Pat and his brother Jim were constant competitors skiing out of the Chisolm Ski Club. The brothers were companions in all ways, encouraging and pushing each other to greater heights and both credited the coaching provided by the Broomhalls and the support of club as an important factor in their success.

Miller’s performances in high school and junior skiing earned him a skiing scholarship at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado where his high level skiing continued. During his four years on the team from 1967 to 1970, he earned All America honors in 1970 while helping the raiders to a third place finish in the NCAA Championships. In addition to college competition he was also a member of the US Nordic Ski Team from 1968 to 1974 and was chosen as an alternate on the American squad for the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan.

His successful competitive career was followed by even greater success in coaching. From 1974 to 1999, Miller was the key to building the University of Utah ski team into one of the top NCAA programs in the country. He served as an assistant ski coach from 1974 to 1976, taking over as head men’s ski coach in 1976, adding women’s head coaching duties in 1978. Under his direction the Utes won eight combined men’s and women’s national championships in 1983, 84, 86, 87, 88, 93, 96 and 97, and an additional men’s title in 1981. From 1983 to 1988 Utah dominated the college ski scene by winning five national titles and a runner up finish in six seasons. During Pat’s tenure 251 Utah skiers earned All America honors. Eleven of his skiers went on the Olympics including Maine’s own Marcus Nash. He was twice named coach of the year at the University.

While serving as Director of skiing for Utah, he also made time to serve on the Utah Ski Archives Executive Board, as President of the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association, on the Utah Sports Hall of Fame Board, the United States Collegiate Ski Committee and numerous other boards and committees involved with intercollegiate skiing competition. Immediately after his graduation from Fort Lewis he served two years in the US Army in Anchorage, Alaska.

On his retirement from coaching Pat was recognized as the most successful coach in the history of men’s and women’s college skiing and in any sports program at the University of Utah. Through a lifetime Pat Miller has devoted his time and energy to the sport of skiing in countless ways and earned a place in the Maine Ski Hall of Fame.