At the age of 13, Miller joined the Cedar Avenue gang in West Philadelphia. Three years later, in 1965, his friend, also a member of this group, was stabbed to death during a fight with another local gang.
Miller decided to take revenge on the offenders. He took a .38 caliber pistol, got drunk, and went with his friends to look for someone connected to a rival gang. As a result, he shot and killed a bystander who had nothing to do with any of the gangs.
Soon after the incident, he was arrested and sent to prison. While serving his sentence, he returned to school and trained to be an accountant.
According to Miller, he never lied, either in his job application or during the interview that he was convicted, but decided to leave the past in the past. For example, when he was hired by a soup company, Campbell Soups, they only asked if he had been arrested or convicted in the past five years.
In 1997, he became Vice President of Nike Basketball, and two years later, President of the newly formed Jordan Brand. In 2006, he took over as head of the Trail Blazers brand, and in 2012 returned as head of the Jordan brand. All this time, according to Miller, he was tormented by constant anxiety that his past would be revealed.
A Nike top executive says revealing this secret freed him and now he feels “free to be himself.” Now Miller plans to expand his work to help prisoners. He also wants to help restore some of the educational programs that allowed him to get his degree in prison.
Nike is an American multinational company specializing in sportswear and footwear. The headquarters is located in the city of Beaverton.
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