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This past weekend we got to spend some time with the 1969 State Championship team as we celebrated the 40th year anniversary of their great season. I wish I could have spent more time with them. What impressed me about this group was their enthusiasm for each other, for the reunion itself, and for T.R. Miller High School. It was not hard to imagine them achieving such a thing as a state championship. After all of these years, they still had spirit. Because football is such an emotional game, spirit plays a large part in the success of any team. But I imagine that many of the players from the 1969 team use spirit in their lives on a daily basis, whether at home or in their jobs or out in their communities. Spirit can be a hard thing to define, but we all know someone with spirit when we see them. God created us as spiritual beings and it gives us a special power that allows us to do incredible things some times. Put together a whole group with spirit, and the possibilities are endless.
We have had a special spirit associated with football at T.R. Miller for a long time. We have had so many players who had this great spirit about them….a dedication to their school and teammates and a willingness to keep striving for victory when common sense tells you that victory is no longer possible. When I see many of those guys now I can still see the fire in their eyes as they ask me about the team. I know that they use that same spirit daily to better their lives. And I know that they are influencing others with the same Miller spirit where ever they go.
We have a big game Friday night with an undefeated Luverne team. They have a great football team. After seven football games we are battered up and tired. We need something to sustain us and to give us hope. That something is the Miller spirit. I am excited about the game not because I think we are going to play great or be the victors or anything like that. But because I have seen Miller spirit in our players this week. The same spirit that I saw from the 1969 team just a few short days ago. The look in the eyes of two different generations of Miller football is the same. It is the common bond that links us together.
I don’t know if we are going to win the game. I believe we are going to try real hard. But I do love to watch our players get ready for a big game and to watch that Miller spirit flow out of them as they play. When our players finish their football careers, they will take with them a jersey, some work ethic and many lessons learned. But if they can take the Miller spirit with them, they will win many more battles in the years to come.
Regardless of the generation, WE ARE ALL T.R. MILLER!
