“Doc” Miller is acknowledged as WOBA’s 3rd inductee as Lifetime member of the Western Ontario Baseball Association. This recognition is more than well deserved for this fine individual.
“Doc” has been involved in minor baseball for over 50 years; as a player, coach, manager, umpire, league convenor and executive board member within the WOAA association and since the inception of the WOBA.
For over 20 years he has coached mosquito age right through to junior age teams out of Clinton. He also use to organized and host level 1-2-3 umpire clinics on the Kentucky Derby Saturdays, advising the umpire participants that they would be finished their clinic in time to get home to watch the Derby races.
As an athlete himself he was known to be a “heck of a player” in his day and regarded as the team’s best hitter with the quickest reflexes as a 3rd baseman. As a coach he was sharp on the baseball strategy side of things and ahead of what to do "coaching-wise" as compare to other coaches at that time. In 1990 the Ontario Baseball Association awarded “Doc” Coach of the Year at their annual convention in Toronto.
In the late 1990’s Doc and 2 other folks borrowed money and used their personal funds to rebuild the big diamond inside the horse racetrack to a grass infield today known as Clinton Community Park. As baseball enrollment drop in the early 2000’s Doc was instrumental in reviving minor baseball in Clinton and the surrounding area. His goal was to create a “Strong” executive and develop ball fields for the youth so that they could display and improve their skills on. With only 1 team in 2006 Clinton can now boast registration numbers of 220 players on 13 teams. Clinton was also the first centre to experiment with combined centre teams. Even though the first few teams were rough going this model is now a common feature in the rest of WOBA. “Doc” has always respected other locals and has been open to assisting them in accommodating diamond time for tournaments and exhibition games, even on short notice.
In 2017 “Doc” Miller was awarded the Canada 150 medal by the Provincial Government for his contributions to the sport of baseball and community service. He continues to spend his retirement time at the local parks maintain and upgrading the playing fields for upcoming games. Folks often comment that one cannot find a single weed in the outfield of the diamonds at Community Park.
In reaction to the news at Clinton's summer baseball-camp banquet, “Doc” was overwhelmed upon hearing the announcement of his nomination in being recognized by the WOBA alongside Ron Pegg and Doug Wolfe as Lifetime Member.
Going forward the WOBA league's bantam year end championship tournament will be known as the Doc Miller Bantam Tournament.
As a builder, supporter and loyalty to his community of sport “Doc" Miller has demonstrated every reason for deserving this recognition.