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Setting the pace

Written by Jerry Rice, Turner Broadcasting photos

Reggie Miller wasn't supposed to play basketball.

He was born with a hip deformity and wore leg braces until he was 5. When he did start playing sports, baseball was his game. It wasn't until Miller attended Riverside Poly High School that he took up basketball — and a career was born.

During 18 seasons with the Indiana Pacers, he was an NBA All-Star five times and still holds the caeer record for three-pointers four years after playing his final game.

Those are some of the accomplishments that will land Miller in the Riverside Sport Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony is May 18 at the Riverside Convention Center.

Perhaps Miller's greatest on-court achievement came during Game 1 of the 1995 Eastern Conference semifinals when he scored eight points in the final 8.9 seconds to lead the Pacers to a 107-105 victory over the New York Knicks.

As much as his NBA exploits excited fans, Miller himself has been energized by basketball ever since his days at Poly. He even enjoyed playing road games.

"It was a big deal if you traveled to San Bernardino or Pomona," he says. "And if you had a tournament in Los Angeles, it was like you were going to New York City and playing the big boys."

The competition was equally in awe of Miller.

"You could tell back then that he was going to be a great ballplayer," says Rich Stalder, who retired in 2001 after a lengthy career as a coach and athletic director at rival John W. North High School. "I was impressed by his skills and self-confidence."

Miller needed both to make his mark in a family that included sister Cheryl, one of the best female basketball players ever; and brother Darrell, a star catcher and outfielder with the California Angels during the 1980s.

Family always has been important to Miller, who regularly returns to Riverside to visit his father, Saul. His mother, Carrie, died two years ago.

Growing up in the Canyon Crest area, Miller would often go out with his siblings or buddies for pizza and then catch a movie at a local theater.

"It really was the best time," he recalls. "It was the simple life before BlackBerrys and PDAs. You had your family and your friends. It was more one on one. Nowadays you can text an entire relationship."

Today, Miller works as an NBA analyst for TNT and has launched a film production company, Boom Baby Productions. The name was inspired by a trademark phrase from Bobby Leonard, the Pacers’ TV and radio commentator, who would regularly say "Boom, baby!" after successful three-point shots.

Miller made 2,560 shots from beyond the three-point arc during his NBA career. Every one of them added up to quite a trip.

"If you told me how far basketball would take me — overseas and to just about every state — I wouldn’t have believed it," he says.

Riverside Sport Hall of Fame
What: Induction and awards dinner honoring Mike Bartee, Amy Harrison, Bobby J. Jackson, Barry Meier, Reggie Miller, Greg Myers, Ralph Polson, Del Roberts and others.
Where: Riverside Convention Center, Fifth and Orange streets
When: May 18; 5:30 p.m. reception, 6:30 p.m. dinner and induction ceremony
Cost: $65 for members, $75 for non-members
Information: 951-274-3587, www.rshof.com

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