AFTER 40 YEARS, HE'S MISSING ONE USC STATMAN MILLER OUT FOR YOM KIPPUR.Byline: RAMONA SHELBURNE Ramona Shelburne is an American sports journalist currently writing for the Los Angeles Daily News. Shelburne was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She attended El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills, California where she was a class valedictorian. Staff Writer The game will go on. And at the end, the statistics sheets will be filed with an accounting of the action. But something will be missing from this evening's USC-Washington State football game. You won't notice it. Pete Carroll Peter C. Carroll (born September 15, 1951, in San Francisco, California) is the current head coach of the University of Southern California Trojans football team, having held that position since 2001. won't notice it. The only evidence will be a small credit at the bottom of the official statistics. For the first time in 40 years, Ned Miller will not do the stats at a USC An abbreviation for U.S. Code. home football game. In his 52 years doing statistics for the Trojans, Miller has missed only two games: one in 1964 to attend a Bar Mitzvah Bar Mitzvah (bärmĭts`və) [Aramaic,=son of the Commandment], Jewish ceremony in which the young male is initiated into the religious community, according to tradition at the age of 13 years and a day. and another in 1967 to attend a school function. He became the Trojans' head statistician in 1975 and hasn't missed a home game since. But this is not a sad story. Miller, 72, is happy to skip today's game in observance of Yom Kippur Yom Kippur [Heb.,=day of atonement], in Judaism, the most sacred holy day, falling on the 10th day of the Jewish month of Tishri (usually late September or early October). It is a day of fasting and prayer for forgiveness for sins committed during the year. , the holiest day of the year according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the Jewish religion. "I feel like I'm gaining something," he said. "It's not a question of sacrifice, it's just doing what I feel is right for me." Still, it will be strange to see someone else running his eight-person stat crew. "I think Ned lit the original flame in the Coliseum Coliseum: see Colosseum. , that's how long he's been around," said Tim Tessalone, USC's director of sports information in his 29th year. "He's an institution. We take it for granted that he's going to be there and do a super job for us at a very difficult thing. It'll definitely be unusual for us not to have him there." It'll be even more unusual for a football game to happen in LosAngeles without him. In addition to his 52 seasons with USC, Miller also did UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX games from 1978-88 and Rams games from 1976-94. He has done five Super Bowls -- the tickets for each are framed and proudly mounted in the den of his Northridge home -- and even one season for the Southern California Sun The Southern California Sun were an American football team based out of Anaheim, California that played in the World Football League in 1974 and 1975. Their records were 13-7 in 1974 and 7-5 in 1975. Their home stadium was Anaheim Stadium. of the World Football League, in 1974. The Raiders tried to lure him away from the Rams at one point, offering him a shorter commute and more pay, but he remained loyal to the Rams. "It's amazing a·maze v. a·mazed, a·maz·ing, a·maz·es v.tr. 1. To affect with great wonder; astonish. See Synonyms at surprise. 2. Obsolete To bewilder; perplex. v.intr. to think how much history he's seen," Tessalone said. He doesn't need the $250 paycheck. At the end of the year, he donates the $1,500 USC pays him to a scholarship fund at the school. Aside from the birds-eye view of the No. 1 team in the country, he doesn't get many special perks perk 1 v. perked, perk·ing, perks v.intr. 1. To stick up or jut out: dogs' ears that perk. 2. To carry oneself in a lively and jaunty manner. . He has met Carroll only once, two years ago, when the coach posed for a photo with him during his 50th season. But once Miller is done totaling the stats each game, he doesn't cruise by the locker room or go down on the field. Keeping score is enough for him. Stat keeping has always come easy to Miller. It's an ability he was born with. He's a numbers guy. Pick a number, any number and ask him to multiply or divide it by any other number. He'll come up with the answer faster than you can type it into a calculator to check him. "When we were first going out, I'd test him all the time. He was never wrong," said his wife Lori, who was on his stat crew for about 20 years. "He's just a whiz." If you can multiply 24 by 29 in two seconds, it's not all that hard to figure out how many yards a pass from the USC 24-yard line to the Washington State 29 covers. Miller never has, and never will, own a calculator. He has worked a football game on Yom Kippur before, though. The last time the holiday fell on a home game day, he left services early to make it to the Coliseum in time for the game. But about a dozen years ago, he became a lot more serious about his religion. Since then, he has known this day would eventually come, and soon, another day might come where he'll give up doing the games altogether. With games on the Sabbath (Saturdays), Miller has become conflicted about balancing his religious beliefs with his longtime love of USC football USC football refers to either of two NCAA Division I-A college football programs:
"It's hard," he said. "I love it. And I'm just not ready to give it up. I feel like if I give it up, I will regret it. Maybe one day. But I'm not ready yet." ramona.shelburne@dailynews.com (818) 713-3607 CAPTION(S): photo Photo: "It's not a question of sacrifice, it's just doing what I feel is right for me," USC statisician Ned Miller said. Photo contributed |
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