F. Don Miller

Francis Donald Miller was born April 9, 1920, in Racine, Wis. He graduated from St. Catherine's High School in 1939 and then earned a physical education degree from the University of Wisconsin.

While at the University of Wisconsin, he won the 1943 national collegiate boxing title at 155 pounds. He coached the United States boxing teams in the 1951 Pan American Games and 1956 Olympic Games.[1]

Earning the rank of second lieutenant in ROTC program at the University of Wisconsin, Miller entered into active service and commissioned as an officer at Fort Benning, Georgia, in April, 1943. During European combat in World War II he served as a company commander for the 313th Infantry Regiment, 79th Division. On November 24, 1945, he was wounded by enemy fire while leading a 7th Army platoon into the city of Strasbourg, France. He was awarded the Silver Star, two Bronze Stars, and two Purple Hearts. Upon his return from overseas in 1948, he was assigned chief sports instructor of the U.S. Special Services School, Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, in charge of the boxing program. In 1949 he was assigned to the U.S. Army sports and recreation director at the Pentagon in Washington D.C.. From 1953 to 1955, he served as assistant Special Services Officer for the Eighth U.S Army in Korea. In 1954, his team won the Far East Command title. In 1955 he was assigned as the supervisory officer of the Fourth Army boxing team, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, that team won the All-Army Championship.[2] In 1961, he was assigned to the Adjutant General's office at Fort Amador, Panama. In his later years in the Army, he was head of the Army sports programs and a member of the USOC board of directors[1]

After retiring from the Army, Miller devoted the remainder of his life to the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and America's athletes. He served in a variety of positions for the USOC, starting in 1969, when he was brought into the USOC executive structure by William E. Simon, former Secretary of the Treasury, and named director of fund-raising and assistant executive director. Miller became executive director in 1973 when Arthur G. Lentz was not rehired and remained at that position until 1985.[3] As executive director, Miller oversaw the movement of USOC headquarters from New York to Colorado Springs, helped organize the National Sports Festival and introduced a sports medicine program for U.S. athletes.[4] He was President of the U.S. Olympic Foundation from 1985 until his passing in 1996.

In 1984, during the Los Angeles Olympics, Juan Antonio Samaranch, the I.O.C. president, presented him with the Olympic Order. He was made a Knight of Malta in 1965, and in 1985 he received the prestigious Board of Governors' award[5] from the Touchdown Club of Washington.[1] He was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame of the National Association of Sports and Physical Education. On April 8, 1995, he was awarded the Olympic committee's Centennial Trophy.[6]

Miller's last public appearance for the Olympic committee was on Dec. 4, 1995, in Colorado Springs for the ground-breaking ceremonies for the five new facilities being constructed at the U.S. Olympic Complex. Among those is a residence hall named for him.

He left behind his wife, Katherine, of Colorado Springs; a sister, Nancy Moes of Racine; a brother, Myron Miller of Tucson; two daughters, Pamela Wagner of San Antonio, Texas, and Donna Blume of Alexandria, Virginia; and five grandchildren.[6]

1965 - Knighted into the Order of Malta

1983 - awarded the IOC Silver Olympic Order

1984 - inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame

1985 - presented the DC Touchdown Club's Board of Governor's Award

1985 - awarded The Olympic & Paralympic Torch Award

1995 - awarded the IOC Centennial Trophy

1997 - F. Don Miller residence hall dedicated

2001 - inducted into the St. Catherine's H.S. Hall of Fame

United States Army Decorations

	Combat Infantryman Badge
	Army Distinguished Service Medal
	Silver Star
	Bronze Star with oak leaf cluster
	Purple Heart with oak leaf cluster
	Army Presidential Unit Citation
	World War I Victory Medal
	American Defense Service Medal with one bronze service star
	American Campaign Medal
	European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal
	Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal
	World War II Victory Medal
	Army of Occupation Medal
	National Defense Service Medal
	United Nations Korea Medal

• https://www.teamusa.org/Hall-of-Fame/Hall-of-Fame-Members/F-Don-Miller
• https://usopm.org/f-don-miller/