Miller’s Mentor Was Really Old School

Ralph Miller, the former Oregon State basketball coach who died this week at 82, was often called an “old school” coach by his players, assistants and fans.

But really, what else would you expect from a guy who knew and learned from the man who invented the game, James Naismith?

Miller was a University of Kansas gym rat in the late 1930s, when he played basketball for Phog Allen and was a quarterback on the football team.

Naismith, who in 1891 had nailed peach baskets to the walls at the Springfield (Mass.) YMCA and called his new game “Basket-Ball,” was Kansas’ first basketball coach, spending 38 years there. When the retired Naismith visited the athletic department, Miller often sat with him and listened to his advice.

Miller, a prickly sort to the end, was asked last summer about basketball theory.

“We had two things to do,” he said. “My players had to learn the backdoor play and the high-low power play. And if you couldn’t learn those two things, then you were too damn dumb to play for me.”

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Trivia time: Who holds the major league record for triples?

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Hold the phone: Planning to attend the 2002 Army-Navy game? First make sure you know where it will be played, advises the Washington Post.

The game is scheduled Dec. 7 at Philadelphia’s Veterans Stadium. But a medical convention will be taking place in the city, and the resulting hotel room crunch threatens the game, the Post reported.

“We’ve been informed there may be some issues in 2002,” an unnamed source told the paper.

“We’re working diligently to resolve the problems, but as it stands now there could be a serious problem.”

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Fight mob: If Felix Trinidad ever fights Roy Jones Jr., the bout could draw 60,000-70,000 to Yankee Stadium, Madison Square Garden boxing officials are saying.

So reports Mike Katz of https://HouseofBoxing.com, who adds that the 18,235 Trinidad drew for his recent victory over William Joppy at Madison Square Garden was the arena’s biggest non-heavyweight fight crowd since the building opened in 1968.

Yankee Stadium’s largest fight crowd? According to “The Ring” record book, it’s 88,150, for Joe Louis-Max Baer, in 1935.

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Call the PGA: Trent Dilfer has a Super Bowl ring but he doesn’t have a football job.

On the other hand, who needs one if you can shoot consecutive golf rounds of 68-62?

That’s what Dilfer did in the recent Stan Humphries Celebrity Classic at Rancho Santa Fe.

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Add golf: Tiger Woods, whose mother is Thai, has triggered a youth golf boom in Thailand.

The number of youngsters entering golf academies there has jumped 50% this year, and 10 junior golf schools are scheduled to open this year.

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Trivia answer: Wahoo Sam Crawford (1899-1917), 312.

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And finally: Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe spotted this item in the newspaper’s lonely hearts classified section: “Sarcastic SWM, 30, looking for someone who doesn’t take life or herself too seriously. Must like dancing all night, sleeping late, dining out and must be a Red Sox fan. Yankee fans, don’t waste your time.”