MILLER, Reginald Wayne ("Reggie")

(b. 24 August 1965 in Riverside, California), basketball sharpshooter who became the first player in National Basketball Association (NBA) history to make 2,000 three-point shots.

When Miller was born, doctors doubted he would ever have the skills to walk, much less become a three-point wizard on the basketball court. The fourth of five children born to Saul and Carrie Miller, Miller had a hip deformity that caused his legs and ankles to turn in. As a youngster he wore leg braces and could get around only with the help of crutches or a wheelchair.

Miller overcame his troubles by learning discipline from his father, a chief master sergeant in the Air Force, and optimism from his mother, a nurse. He remembers being trapped inside the house while his siblings played outside. In his book, I Love Being the Enemy, Miller said his mother's encouragement made all the difference. "My mom would see me looking out the window and say, 'Don't worry, honey. You'll be out there soon. Your legs just got to get stronger, that's all.'"

When Miller turned four, the braces came off and he made up for lost time. However, he spent most of his days being smacked around the basketball court by his sister Cheryl. Older, taller, and more skilled, Cheryl easily blocked his shots. Day after day, she kept beating him. His life's goal became "Beat Cheryl."

Eventually, Miller found a way to score against his sister. He moved back—back beyond the confines of his family's basketball court and into his mother's rose garden, twenty-five feet from the basket. When his mother wasn't watching, he worked on that shot. He practiced relentlessly, taking 500 to 700 shots a day.

Once Miller could nail shots from the back of the court, it did not matter how tall his opponents were, whether his sister or the neighborhood boys. Instead of driving toward the basket, Miller backed up and drilled his loopy launchers right over their heads. The shot he mastered in his youth with the goal of beating his sister turned him into an NBA three-point standout.

Although Miller played basketball as a child, his first love was baseball. He tore up the Little League. He wanted to be a professional baseball player like his older brother Darrell, a catcher for the California Angels. All that changed during Miller's freshman year at Riverside Polytechnic High School. Standing in the outfield one day, Miller decided baseball was too quiet and slow for him. He turned to basketball and began fighting the shadow of his sister, who also played basketball for Polytechnic High. Miller returned home one evening bragging that he had scored 39 points, only to find that his sister had scored 105 in her game. Cheryl Miller later led the 1984 women's U.S. basketball team to an Olympic gold medal and became a highly successful coach at the University of Southern California. She was also the first head coach of the Phoenix Mercury of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA).

As a junior, Miller led his team to the state high school championship. In his senior year he averaged thirty points a game and helped his team to another state title. He graduated from Riverside Polytechnic in 1983.

That fall Miller entered the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). During the 1984–1985 season he led UCLA to the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) championship and was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player (MVP). In his junior year he averaged twenty-six points per game, the fourth-highest tally in the nation. When he graduated in 1987 Miller had scored 2,095 career college points, at the time making him UCLA's second-leading scorer in history, behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Miller entered the 1987 NBA draft and was picked eleventh by the Indiana Pacers. At six feet, seven inches tall, and 185 pounds, Miller was gangly by NBA standards, and no one paid him much attention. He averaged only ten points per game his first season. During his third season, however, Miller began to stand out, proving himself one of the most dangerous scorers in the game, able to drill three-pointers from the outside or drive to the hoop. In that season, 1989—1990, he averaged 24.6 points per game and made the All-Star team. In 1992–1993 he led the NBA with 167 three-pointers. He also scored 57 points in one game.

Miller's enormous potential and talents have often been overshadowed by his on-court antics—his trash talking. When he is on the road, he plays the role of the outlaw, the rebel. He ridicules other players and the crowd until they boo him. Then he eggs the crowd on more, cocking his head to the side and placing his hand to his ear, pretending he cannot hear them. Then he nails a killer three-pointer.

Miller says his trash talking is all in fun. He says it builds him up, gives him security. "I don't think my messing with a player, talking a little trash, demeans the game. I don't go after a player's race, religion, or family. Those things are off limits. Hell, half the time when I'm talking on the court, I'm talking to myself. I'm trying to get myself pumped up, to get a mental edge. But people see it and say, 'Oh, there he is again, talking trash.' But that's not always what I'm doing."

Those who know Miller say he has spent a career on the court cultivating an image of himself that is far removed from his actual personality. They say he's the nicest guy you'll ever meet.

While Miller talks the talk, he has also proved he can walk the walk. While facing the New York Knicks during the 1994 playoffs, Miller scored twenty-five points in the final period. His feat is considered one of the greatest shooting performances in NBA playoff history. Also in 1994, as cocaptain of the U.S. "Dream Team II," he led the United States to a gold medal in the World Basketball Championships in Toronto, Canada.

On 29 August 1992 Miller married Marita Stavrou, an actress and model, whom he met at a benefit dinner in Los Angeles. They separated in August 2000 and later divorced.

On the court Miller continues to stack up records. During the 2000–2001 season he became the 21st player in NBA history to score 21,000 points. What he wants most, however, is to win an NBA championship, and he plans to play until he does. As he notes in his book, "No matter how many points you score, none of it's worth fifty cents unless you get that ring."

Miller's I Love Being the Enemy: A Season on the Court with the NBA's Best Shooter and Sharpest Tongue (1995), written with Gene Wojciechowski, details his 1994–1995 NBA season, although throughout he talks passionately about his upbringing and his love for his family and the game. Among the more informative short biographies are Ted Cox, Reggie Miller: Basketball Sharpshooter (1995), and Barry Wilner, Reggie Miller (1997). Also see Jack McCallum, "Heroic Measures: Having Bulked Up His Body (Well, a Little) and Embellished His Game, Reggie Miller Is Trying to Carry the Pacers to Their First Finals Appearance," Sports Illustrated (22 May 2000).

Lisa Frick