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Volume 5017

DENNY MILLER FLASHBACKS
Denny shares anecdotes from his long career in show business
PAGE XVII
.Contents
Bernard Miller: Father Knew Best


Denny and Nancy

"Denny Miller Flashbacks" was an ongoing feature in ERBzine
in which Denny shared a different anecdote each week.
This page is the 17th such anecdote that Denny shared with us.
MAIN CONTENTS PAGE: ERBzine 4550

Denny Miller's dad, Bernard, played basketball while a student at Indiana University
and was a member of the faculty there for a time.
While Mr. Miller was on the faculty at IU
his young son Denny was enrolled in the campus kindergarten class.

Young Denny is on the far right

Dennis Linn "Denny" Miller 1940
dmkinder ~ P0052424
From page 68 (Kindergarten class page) of the 1940 Jordannus yearbook of Indiana University's University School (K-12).
University School (1938) ~ Simon Music Library and Recital Center, Bess Meshulam (1938)
Denny Miller can be seen at extreme right. His father, Bernard Miller, taught at Indiana University. Denny would later play basketball at UCLA and would become the first blond Tarzan playing in 1959's "Tarzan, the Ape Man". Probably Denny's most famous rolls were those of the character Duke Shannon on the television show "Wagon Train"; Wyoming Bill Kelso in "The Party" with Peter Sellers, and Tank Gates on an episode of "The Brady Bunch". He had many other roles on shows such as "Gilligan's Island", "Battlestar Galactica", "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman", "Magnum, P.I.", "MASH", "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century", "Laramie", and "The Rifleman", etc, etc.  He also played the Gorton's Fisherman in television commercials for fourteen years.
EDITOR'S NOTE FOR FANS OF DENNY:
 We thought it might be fun for our readers 
to write anecdotes about the first time they met Denny 
- either via the screen or in  person.
We'd love hear your stories.
Send them to our ERBzine e-mail account:
ERBzine@westman.wave.ca

FATHER KNEW BEST
Bernard Miller at the White House with President Kennedy
A sound mind in a sound body. Or in today's language, "An Affirm Mind in a Firm Body." Both describe the Golden Age of Greece. That was my Dad's goal. He wanted to see that Golden Age happen in the U.S. He thought the way to accomplish that was through education -- in schools and with parents.

To reach his goal, he worked very hard to achieve positions of authority where he could influence teachers, administrators, politicians -- including presidents and community leaders; people of power who could change policy and educational curricula. 

 I think he reached those authoritative posts. You tell me. he was Chairman of the Department of Physical Education at UCLA for over ten years. He served on Presidents Eisenhower's and Kennedy's Advisory Committee on Youth Fitness. He was President of the American College of Sports Medicine and a FEllow of the American School Health Association and the American Public Health Association. Remember this is the work of just one man.

He was President of the American Association for Health, Physical Education and Recreation. His career in  national and international organizations allowed him many opportunities to travel. He visited over eighty countries and was able to gather information about the history of physical education and sport. He created a class on the subject, which he taught at UCLA. He also organized and was a charter member of the North American Society of Sports historians. 

dad gave over two hundred fifty addresses in the U.S.. and abroad, fifty of which were published. He and Mom attended all the Olympic Games from 1932 to 1984. 
I almost forgot: He wrote a book, "PHYSICAL FITNESS FOR BOYS," in 1943d dedicated it to "The Physical Fitness Leaders of American Youth."

Bragging about my dad? -- you bet! -- very! Sad? -- terribly!

After over half a century of dedication and hard work, dad looked at his legacy and this is what he saw:

  • The United States has the fattest population in the world.
  • The youth of our nation are further from being physically fit than ever.
  • Those same youths are starting to have diabetes.
  • Our country is in the midst of an obesity epidemic. The definition of obesity is: "Anyone that is one hundred pounds or more over their healthy weight."
When Dad headed the physical education department (now called the Physiological Science Department) at UCLA, they had over one hundred professors, associate professors, assistants and clerical workers. It now numbers less than twenty people. And, physical education are not a requirement for the general student body.

How sad for our country. How sad for Dad. Before he passed on, he saw a society that could be called, The Golden Age of Grease." He said when a future Darwin chroniclers our time here on earth he'll name it, "Survival of the Fattest."

The information in my fitness book, ME TARZAN! YOU TRAIN! NO PAIN! is knowledge about fitness that is available to us all. This knowledge is backed by hundreds of studies made by physical educators, medical doctors, physical therapists and nutritionists who are not selling anything but fitness. These people are not in anybody's pocket. They are independent researchers.

Fitness is no big mystery. It's not hard to understand how to be fit. My Dad tried his best to yell it from the rooftops. I've tried to follow his advice and in my seventies I know being fit has made my life more enjoyable, more productive and more rewarding. I'm sure Dad would want me to pass the word along.

Thanks Dad! I'm glad I listened. You were right. You still are.

.

BERNARD MILLER PHOTOS :: INDIANA UNIVERSITY YEARS

Bernard Miller - Basketball - 1930 or 1931
From the 1930-1931 basketball manager's book.
He was the basketball season's Balfour Award winner.
City: Bloomington
miller05 ~ P0046898
 
 
 

.

The 1929 - 1930 Basketball Team
Scanned from the 1929-1930 basketball manager's book.
This image appears on page 105 of the the 1930 Arbutus yearbook.
(Front Row, L to R) Donald Cooper, James Strickland, Paul Jasper,
captain Emmett R. "Branch" McCracken, James Gill, Joseph Zeller, Bernard Miller.
(Second Row) Claron Veller, Lucian Ashby, Leonard Miller,
Bill Blagrave, Victor Dauer, and Maurice Massy.
(Back Row) manager Joe Smith, coach Everett S. Dean, Clark,
Henry, Jacob Bretz, and trainer Jesse Ferguson.
miller01 ~ P0020349
.
Bernard Miller 1928 or 1929
Scanned from the 1929-1930 basketball manager's book.
Also appears in the 1928-1929 basketball manager's book.
This image appears on page 110 of the 1929 Arbutus yearbook,
page 109 of the 1930 Arbutus yearbook,
and page 127 of the 1931 Arbutus yearbook.
miller02 ~ P0046693
.
The 1928 - 1929 basketball team
This image scanned from the 1928-1929 basketball manager's book.
This image appears on page 107 of the 1929 Arbutus yearbook.
(Front Row, L to R) Jay Campbell, Claron Veller, Lucian Ashby,
Donald Cooper, James Strickland, and Bernard Miller.
(Back Row) coach Everett S. Dean, James Gill, Emmett R. "Branch" McCracken,
Paul G. Jasper, Leonard Miller, and Carl Scheid.
miller03 ~ P0020348
.
The 1930 - 1931 basketball team
This image scanned from the 1930-1931 basketball manager's book.
This image appears on page 126 of the 1931 Arbutus yearbook.
(Front Row, L to R) Clark, Henry, Victor Dauer, Maurice Massy, Lucian Ashby,
Bernard Miller, Joseph Zeller, Claron Veller, and Jacob Bretz
(Second Row, L to R) trainer Jesse Ferguson, Costas, William Bernard Dickey,
Bill Blagrave, Taylor Hoffar, Glendon Hodson, Henley, and coach Everett S. Dean
(Back Row) Alfred Campbell, George Reed, Edmonds,
Tiernam, Gerald Oren, and Franklin Rainbolt.
miller04 ~ P0020350


Our Thanks To:
Bradley D. Cook - Curator of Photographs
Office of University Archives & Records Management
Indiana University
Herman B Wells Library E460
1320 East Tenth Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47405
812-855-4495
bcook@indiana.edu
www.libraries.iub.edu/archives



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