Longtime Detroit baseball coach and former player Bob Miller will be honored with the prestigious John Conti Letterman of Distinction Award from the UDM Athletic Department, Saturday Feb. 5 at Calihan Hall during the men's basketball game against Loyola.  Miller is a 1979 inductee into the Titan Sports Hall of Fame and a 1999 Michigan Sports Hall of Fame honoree after skippering the Titans for 36 years.

As a player, Miller starred as a pitcher for two years at U of D.  Following his sophomore season, he signed a professional contract with the Philadelphia Phillies and pitched 10 seasons, accumulating a 42-42 record in 69 starts. Miller finished second in the 1950 Rookie of the Year voting as he was part of the National League Pennant winning team. He was part of a group of 12 players on the Phillies dubbed the “Whiz Kids” due to their youth (all were 20-25). He started 22 games and finished 11-6 with a 3.57 ERA while also throwing two shutouts that season.

After four years out of baseball, Miller was lured back to campus and served as an assistant coach for two seasons, beginning in 1963.  He would take the head job in 1965, becoming just the fourth head baseball coach at the school and amassing 896 wins before retiring in 2000.  

"Any award you get is an honor, but to get one with John Conti's name on it is special," Coach Miller said.  "John and I go way back to the 1940's in intercollegiate athletics.  It was an unexpected honor and I couldn't be happier for it to be associated with my life-long friend."

The John Conti Letterman of Distinction Award was established by Anheuser-Busch to honor its long-time employee upon his induction into the Titan Sports Hall of Fame in 1984. Conti was the captain of the 1949 U-D football team that won the Missouri Valley Conference Championship. At 6-1 and 300 pounds, he was an Honorable Mention All-American and the biggest man in college football. His spirit and charitable enthusiasm have always seemed to be even larger. In tribute to that spirit, the John Conti Letterman of Distinction Award is presented to former Titan varsity athletes who go above and beyond at work and in the community.

Miller will receive his award at halftime of the televised game on Feb. 5.  The Titan men play Loyola in the "Horizon League Game of the Week", which airs locally on WADL-TV.