NEWS
Michigan HBPA president Miller dead at 75
Posted: Monday, August 07, 2006
Robert Miller, owner, breeder, trainer, and Michigan Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association president died Monday at Beaumont Hospital in Detroit after a long battle with cancer. He was 75.
A longtime fixture on the Michigan racing scene, Miller along with his wife Delphine, campaigned stakes winners such as That Gift, Monetary Gift, and Beau Classic under the DelRob Stables colors.
A graduate of the University of Virginia, Miller was drafted by the Detroit Lions and played tackle on three World Champion teams—1952, '53, and '57. Prior to the end of his football career in 1958, Miller had started an auto parts business in Detroit and eventually became a race horse owner. In 1980, after retiring from his auto parts business, Miller took out his trainer's license at Detroit Race Course and began conditioning his own stock. In his training career he had 870 wins from 4,790 starts, including 59 stakes winners.
Miller attended Norwalk High School in Norwalk, Connecticut, graduating in 1947. Among the members of his graduating class was jazz musician and composer Horace Silver. Both Miller and Silver were later inducted into the school's hall of fame.
Known as a tough negotiator as the leader of the MHPBA, Miller was blunt and direct when it came to the welfare of Michigan horsemen, but was always quick with a joke or kind comment as he patrolled the backstretch in his truck during training hours.
"He was a great contributor to not just the HBPA, but all of Michigan racing," said MHBPA Executive Director Gary Tinkle. "He will be sorely missed."—Greg Forde
