Another View
First of two parts
As a young girl growing up, to enjoying a successful academic career as a Black woman serving as Hamline University’s president, sports have been important to Dr. Fayneese Miller in so many ways. Recently, while sitting in her office, she shared with the MSR her fondest memories of sports and their impact on her.
She humbly attributed her love of sports to her father. “My dad loves sports,” said Miller. “I’m the youngest girl. So, when you get four siblings older than you, sharing time with your dad is precious,” explained Miller, who is the middle child among seven siblings. “I think it was spending time with my father that I liked.”
“I’m this little girl sitting next to my dad. I don’t know what in the world is going on. Dad is enjoying it, happy when he’s cheering even though I’m not quite sure why.”
Miller also accompanied her dad to baseball games. “My father was a big baseball fan.”
As a youngster, she recalls, “I was a cheerleader in middle school. I was a cheerleader in high school, but wasn’t good enough. I tried out [for] the cheering squad my first year in college,” but saw it was too dangerous and dropped the sport, admitted Miller.
There was no Title IX when she was in high school—no competitive prep sports for girls. “You could do it recreationally because I played softball all the time. I played volleyball. All those things…but Title IX came afterward.”
When Miller later became a mother and a wife, she used sports as a bonding experience as well.
“My son was actively involved in sports,” said Miller. “I decided to play golf because I wanted to have a sport that I could play with him. I wanted something that I could really do with him and do well. He was in elementary school when he and I started playing golf together.”
Miller recalled when her son, who was about four years old at the time, was watching Tiger Woods win his first Masters. “My son saw an athlete that he said looked like him…and he wanted golf lessons. I got him into golf and I followed him shortly thereafter.
“It was a way to bond. Most of the time he and I would be the only people of color, [just] the two of us. But we really didn’t care. Just fun time for us.”
Miller was hired as Hamline’s 20th president in 2015, the first Black and second woman to be named president there. But she didn’t isolate herself in the proverbial ivory tower like many college presidents, keeping her distance from athletics.
Instead, Miller bonded with her Hamline students as much as possible. Throughout her presidency, she maintained an open-door policy for student-athletes.
“I know all the football players. I worked out not too long ago with the women’s basketball team. The coach had me working out with them in an actual practice. I was awful, but it was fun.
“That’s the kind of relationship I have with the students. They know I care about them. Not superficial. I want them to do as well as they possibly can, to give it their all.
“Watching them, seeing them grow, seeing them enjoy the love of the sport. They do it because they love it, because they’re not on scholarship. That’s what I take great pride in.
“These are my kids. These are my babies. And I’m going to miss them,” said Miller.
In April she announced her retirement as Hamline president, effective next June. In next week’s View, Miller talks about her upcoming departure from the St. Paul school.
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