Mr. Official… the Ubiquitous Mr. Steve Miller, Sir

March 14, 2022

He’s everywhere.

Even if you don’t know Steve Miller, chances are pretty good that you’ve seen him.

Steve is a veteran lacrosse official, and his stripes, flags, and whistle have traveled with him all over Upstate New York and beyond. His 42-year officiating career also took him to NCAA championships, international tournaments, and FIL World Championships.

I had a recent phone conversation with Steve, and he shared stories about his many lacrosse travels and highlighted memories.

I learned that he played lacrosse at Fayetteville-Manlius HS under the tutelage of Coach Tom Hall, his homeroom teacher when he was in 10th grade. Coaching icon Al Vedder was his JV lacrosse and football coach. Upon graduation from F-M in 1969, he attended Ohio Northern University, but transferred to Alfred University after his first year.

Due to NCAA rules at the time, Steve was ineligible to play on the varsity team because of the transfer, so he ended up helping out as an assistant coach for the Saxons’ JV squad. He played for Alfred the following year, but didn’t play his senior year because he had enough credits to graduate and, since he was paying for his own education, he decided to make some money instead.

So in the spring of 1973, Steve took the head coaching position at Bishop Grimes in Syracuse, but he remembered “having to do everything – I was the athletic trainer, the grounds crew, and everything else.” Wanting to stay involved in the game, he looked at officiating instead.

He started reffing scholastic lacrosse in 1975. “The first game I did was a JV game at C-NS. The first call I ever made, I was so embarrassed; I forgot the kid’s jersey number. And I remember really hurting the next day; I was so out of shape.”

Steve moved up to the college level two years later, in 1977. “My first game was, ironically, between Alfred University and a school that doesn’t even exist anymore – Eisenhower College, in Seneca Falls.”

When I started coaching at Oswego State in 1983, Steve was a familiar face anytime and most everywhere we played, but I’ve got to be honest – he was probably nicer to me than I was to him. I’d gripe about this call or that lack of a call, but Steve managed to take the time to come by the coach’s box and patiently explain himself. I may not have demonstrated it very well, but for the 28 years I stood on that O State sideline, he had my respect whenever he showed up to work at our games.  

And, like I said, he seemed to show up all the time.

I’d go to the Dome to watch an SU game and he’d be on the field. I’d go to the Final Four at Rutgers, College Park, or the NFL stadiums in Philly, Foxboro, and Baltimore, and he’d be out there, on those fields, too.

“I did my first NCAA playoff game in ’86,” Steve told me, “and from 1987 on, I always worked at least two playoff games a year. All told, I did seven NCAA championship games, including the 2009 game at Gillette Stadium, when SU came from behind and beat Cornell in overtime.”

“It’s funny,” he continued, “I worked all those great games. I reffed the Gaits, all three Powells – I saw the best of the best! Good thing they went to three-man games by then, because when I started doing games in the Dome, we only had two-man crews! Imagine that!”

He officiated the legendary February 28, 1997 game at the Dome when Syracuse defeated Virginia, 22-21. You remember that one – Casey Powell led all scorers that day with 13 points (7 goals and 6 assists). “Terry Cullen, Jim O’Hara, and I worked that one. It was simply amazing! After the game, our supervisor, Jake Curran, met with us to go over our performance, and he told us, ‘Men, that was the best lacrosse game I’ve ever seen!’ He had nothing more to say to us!”

Steve served on the NILOA (National Intercollegiate Lacrosse Officials Association) Board for 20 years, twice as the organization’s president. NILOA is charged with training and providing the referees for men’s college lacrosse – not only D-I, but D-II and D-III as well. Geography, frequent rules changes, budget constraints, and referee availability provide sizable challenges, but Steve says, “NILOA does a tremendous job!”

He joined fellow officials Clark Mercer, Walt Munze, Jake Curran, Bob Durland, and Terry Cullen at the Lake Placid Tournament in 1992, the third year of the tournament’s existence, and returned to LP for the next 25 years. “I give so much credit to those guys; they devoted their lives to officiating lacrosse, and camaraderie with them and other guys, like Bruce Crawford and Skip Spensieri, was tremendous.”

He also mentioned the years he spent officiating with Tom Abbott. “We partnered together for years, traveling all over the country to work games.”

Of course, the Upstate Chapter of US Lacrosse Hall of Famer (2004) would still hear the occasional chirp from coaches near and far. “I won’t say who it was or where we were, but the coach called out to me, ‘I can’t believe you traveled 2,000 miles to make that (lousy) call!” he laughed.

Steve worked NLL (National Lacrosse League professional box lacrosse) games for 13 years, and worked the MLL outdoor league, too – “pretty much from start to finish,” he said. He was invited to officiate at international lacrosse tournaments, and he was selected to ref at the FIL World Games at Johns Hopkins in 1998 and the U-19 World Games at Towson in 2002.

On a personal note, my sons Brian and Eric really started their unique “privileged” lacrosse experiences when they were in high school, working the score tables and setting up and tearing down the Maxwell Park fields during the heyday that was the UOLL (Upstate Outdoor Lacrosse League), where they quickly established first-name relationships with not only many of Upstate’s best lacrosse players, but also most of CNY’s best lacrosse officials.

Mr. Miller was one of those officials, along with the likes of John Zagata, Tom Abbott, Curt Lingenfelter, Greg Norris, Joe Catalano, and so many others.

So imagine Brian’s surprise when he was working at The Canyons ski resort in Park City, Utah years later, after graduating from SUNY Brockport, and who does he meet on the slopes?

Yup – the ubiquitous Steve Miller.

What you may not know about Mr. Miller is that he is not only passionate about skiing; he is also a long-time professional ski instructor, teaching at both Toggenberg Ski Mountain in CNY and Deer Valley in Utah. Among his students at Deer Valley were celebrities and their family members. He even took his officiating role out West with him, and helped coordinate referee clinics in Utah and Colorado.

But he also has the bigger picture in mind, too.

In 1996, Steve attended a fundraiser at F-M and won a silent auction bid for an interview with and an article by Syracuse Herald-American sportswriter Bud Poliquin. Steve’s topic of choice? Well, Poliquin’s article was entitled “Parents set a bad example.” Steve commented on the growing trend of parents ruining the coaching - and refereeing - experiences. Steve was quoted by Poliquin: “What you have is a coach who doesn’t look at the kid the way a parent does. And the parent is on the coach’s case because the kid isn't playing as much as the parent wants him or her to play. And you’ve got the coach who sometimes has given 25 years of his or her life, saying, ‘Hey, what do I need this aggravation for anymore?’ And he or she is going to quit.” He went on to talk about the disturbing behaviors of parents at a local youth indoor lacrosse league, where he has had to remind parents that there are no trophies, no standings, and no championships.

“That was how many years ago now?” Steve said to me. “And it hasn’t gotten any better.”

Besides skiing, his other hobby or interest is golf, though he tries to avoid playing against his wife Anne, who coached the F-M girls’ golf team for years. “I found that you needed the same composure officiating as you do when your wife beats you in golf.”

They have two grown sons, Brian and Jeffrey. Brian played lacrosse at Colgate, while Jeffery played at Washington & Lee. Steve and Anne have two grandchildren – Finley and Tatum. “My goal is to teach them lacrosse,” Steve says proudly. 

These days, Mr. Miller is the coordinator of officials for six D-II and D-III conferences in New York and Pennsylvania, and sub-contracts with four other conferences. He is constantly looking for new college lacrosse officials, as the shortage of referees has forced more and more games to be played on non-traditional days like Fridays and Sundays. “And just when I get some good ones, Tom Abbott goes and takes them as D-I officials!” he laughed.

He told me, “A good lacrosse referee is like a waiter at a fine, fancy restaurant. You serve the meal, you get your tip, and then you go home.”

“I met some friends at a New York State Thruway rest stop one year on my back from working a game . They said, ‘Wow! What a great game!” and I agreed. Then they asked me, ‘Were you there?’ I laughed and told them that I had refereed the game. They hadn’t even noticed. That’s when you know you did a good job.”

See? Thruway rest stops. Park City, Utah. Maxwell Park in Dewitt. FIL World Games. NCAA Final Fours. New York State Championship Games and, up until just a few years ago, any random high school game in your neighborhood… That's where you have probably seen Mr. Official, Steve Miller.

Thanks for sharing your stories with me, Steve… sir. And thank you, readers, for going along for the ride once again this week.

Please, drive carefully, everyone. Donate blood. Get vaccinated, and get your booster. Mask up if asked. Volunteer.

But most importantly, stay safe, stay smart, and stay kind.

- Dan Witmer

daniel.witmer@oswego.edu