Westlake Duo Know Well the Route to a Passing Grade : Receiver: Early in the game, Billy Miller caught on to his father’s edict that education comes first.

Fear consumed Billy Miller three years ago as he looked into the eyes of his father. The Westlake High freshman, then 14, trembled as he heard the words: “No football.”

Miller hoped he had misunderstood, but knew he had not.

He could have made things worse by asking his father to repeat himself. Wisely, he just picked up his helmet and quietly followed Ronald Miller off the practice field at Westlake.

The boy’s mistake?

He had received a grade of D in a math class on his final report card while in junior high. Ronald did not find out until several months later.

“The day he found out, he just yanked me right out of practice in front of everyone,” Miller said. “The season started in four days. It was bad--real bad.”

Ronald didn’t care that his son’s high school grade-point average was unaffected by the D . . . that Billy’s high school grades were fine so far . . . that Billy was expected to start for the freshman football team. Education comes first in the Miller household, and Billy knew the rules: no grades, no play.

It was time to pay.

Ronald, however, relented the day before Westlake’s first game against Buena. Billy returned home from school that afternoon to find a note taped to the TV in his room. The note read: “Go ahead and play your game tonight, Billy. Just don’t let it happen again.”

Now a junior, Miller, 16, has taken care of business in the classroom ever since. He has applied the same dedication to athletics and is one of the state’s leading receivers as well as one of Ventura County’s best athletes. Miller, 6-foot-3, 205 pounds, is one of only three area players with 1,000 or more yards receiving. He is also among the state’s leaders in receptions.

Thanks to his father, Miller said, he will never again stray from the right academic path.

Miller hopes to lead Westlake over visiting Santa Barbara on Friday night at Thousand Oaks High in the opening round of the Southern Section Division III playoffs. Kickoff is 7:30.

“I tried to go off into the wrong things a lot of times, but my dad always set me straight again,” Miller said. “I can’t even explain how much I appreciate him doing that.”

Miller was not always so grateful.

For many years, he could not understand why his father kept hounding him about the books. He often wondered why his father seemed so unlike many of the fathers of his friends. None of them called their sons’ teachers for weekly progress reports like his dad.

Besides, Miller thought, he was not long for school. Professional basketball or football would give him everything he wanted.

He already was one of the best on the playgrounds. Athletics came easily for him and it always would, Miller figured. Dad was all wrong, not him.

Ronald knew better. No matter what his son thought, life is not that simple.

“Life isn’t about that limelight crap,” Ronald said. “He’s going to have an education. He can have an athletic career if he wants, but it’s not going to be in place of an education.”

Miller occasionally tested his father. There were times he concentrated on schoolwork just enough to avoid Ronald’s wrath. Sometimes he would blow off the books altogether if he thought his father would not find out.

That all changed thanks to a D.

“My dad means what he says, so I thought that was it,” Miller said. “I thought I was never going to play football again. I was lucky.”

Said Ronald: “He disappointed me because I trusted him to do the right thing. He hasn’t slipped or tested me on this issue since.”

Miller said he has maintained a 2.6 overall GPA--with no Ds, of course--in high school. His GPA this semester is 3.0.

He has attended summer school the past two years and will again this year. Miller will take his first crack at the Scholastic Aptitude Test in December.

“It’s funny, but now I’m into the books,” Miller said. “My dad staying on me all those years made me understand that sports won’t always be there. I know I’ve got to do the job in the classroom.”

Miller does a good job on the field too. He is a two-year varsity starter at receiver and defensive back. Miller is ninth in the state in receptions with 66 for 1,108 yards (a 16.7-yard average) and 10 touchdowns. Miller simply overpowers most defensive backs.

“He could be the best athlete (in Ventura County) next year if he wants to be,” Newbury Park Coach George Hurley said. “He has that type of talent.”

Westlake Coach Jim Benkert needs no convincing. Benkert recalls a freshman football game three years ago that was decided when a tall, skinny tailback leaped from the five-yard line into the end zone despite a fierce mid-air collision with a defensive player. Right then, Benkert said, he knew Miller was special.

“His size really sets him apart,” Benkert said. “He draws double coverage all the time, but he’s so tall and strong that it doesn’t hinder him.”

That size has helped Miller throughout life. While growing up, he was sometimes the target of racial slurs by other kids because of his family background (his father, Ronald, is black and his mother, Brenda, is white). Not many kids, however, said things in his presence.

“I was always one of the biggest guys, so nobody really said too much stuff to my face,” Miller said. “Some of the stuff got back to me, but I didn’t let it get to me too much.”

His mother helped on that front. Miller and his mother are very close. They often talk about the ignorant things some people say and how to cope.

“I tell my mom a lot of things that I guess most people wouldn’t think is cool to tell their mothers,” Miller said. “I love my dad a lot, but he is kind of the strong, silent type. I can talk about all kind of things with my mom.”

The entire Miller clan (Ronald, Brenda and Billy’s younger brother, Tyrone, and younger sister, CheVonne) comes together weekly to watch Billy play. Westlake quarterback Kevin Crook expects everyone in the stands this Friday to learn firsthand about Miller Time.

“Billy is a big-play guy,” Crook said, “and this is a big-play game.”