Jeffrey J. Miller

Jeffrey J. Miller (born 1961) is an American author and historian, best known for his work focusing on the history of professional football. His books include Game Changers: The Greatest Plays in Buffalo Bills Football History^[1] (co-written with Hall-of-Fame coach Marv Levy), Rockin' the Rockpile: The Buffalo Bills of the American Football League,^[2]Buffalo's Forgotten Champions: The Story of Buffalo's First Professional Football Team and the Lost 1921 Title,^[3] and The Icemen Cameth: The History of the Natural Ice Industry at Lime Lake, New York, 1880–1925^[4] In 2004, the Professional Football Researchers Association presented Miller with the Ralph E. Hay Award for "Lifetime achievement in professional football research and historiography.^[5]" He lives in Western New York with his wife and son.

Books

Miller's first book, The Icemen Cameth, was published in May 1996. It told the story of the natural ice industry that flourished in the small community of Lime Lake, New York (the author's hometown) in the late 1800s and early 1900s. This book is now out of print.

Buffalo's Forgotten Champions was published in August 2004. This book chronicled the history of the Queen City’s first National Football League team—the Buffalo All-Americans (1920–23), Bisons (1924–25, ’27, ‘29), Rangers (1926). The All-Americans are significant in the annals of pro football not only for being charter members of the league, but also for having claimed the American Professional Football Association (as the NFL was known in its first two seasons) championship in 1921. The title was later stripped and awarded to George Halas’ Chicago Staleys. This incident can be seen as the first link in the chain of events that brought Buffalonians such gut-wrenching moments as “Wide Right,” “No Goal,” and “The Music City Miracle.”

In August 2007, Miller’s third book, Rockin’ the Rockpile, was published by ECW Press. Weighing in at nearly 600 pages, this book is a comprehensive history of the Buffalo Bills’ AFL era. Over 60 former players, coaches and front office personnel, including owner Ralph Wilson, head coach Lou Saban, Hall-of-Fame guard Billy Shaw (who wrote the book's foreword), quarterback Jack Kemp, linebacker Mike Stratton, cornerback Butch Byrd, kicker Pete Gogolak, and wide receiver Elbert Dubenion were interviewed for this project.

Miller collaborated with Marv Levy, the Bills' Hall-of-Fame coach, for Game Changers: The Greatest Plays in Buffalo Bills Football History, which was released in October 2009. Published by Triumph Books, Game Changers focuses on 36 of the most memorable plays in Buffalo Bills history. Coach Levy concentrated on the plays that occurred during his tenure as the team’s head coach, while Miller tackled the great plays that happened during the pre- and post-Levy years.

October 2012 saw the release of Miller's fifth book, "100 Things Bills Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die," also published by Triumph. Marv Levy wrote the foreword.

Miller is currently working on a biography of Glenn "Pop" Warner, the legendary coach of the Stanford, Pittsburgh and Carlisle football teams. The book will be published by McFarland & Company, due in the fall of 2015.

References