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UF's Miller Follows Big Brother's Example
Miller family photo
Florida senior center Drew Miller, left, grew up idolizing brother Chad, who is six years older. Chad, who has Down Syndrome, is an accomplished Special Olympics powerlifter.
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Published: December 27, 2007
Updated: 12/28/2007 12:11 am
LAKE BUENA VISTA - The youngest Miller boy would watch the oldest through the window behind the front desk at strength coach Rich Lansky's training facility in Sarasota. Occasionally, the little guy - who, even at age 11, wasn't so little - would yell through the window while his big brother lifted.
"I could do that," Drew Miller would say.
Drew probably didn't understand then how much powerlifting meant to brother Chad, six years Drew's senior. Back then, Drew wanted to slap some weights on a bar so he could be cool like his big brother. More than 10 years later, Drew knows lifting changed Chad's life.
"He never had a chance to play like we did," said Drew, a center who will play his final game at the University of Florida when the Gators face Michigan on Tuesday in the Capital One Bowl.
Now, when Chad visits Drew at practice, those unfamiliar with the Millers assume he is Drew's younger brother. People with Down syndrome often look younger than they are. Chad is 28, but he could pass for 16.
Those with Down syndrome are born with an extra copy of the 21st chromosome. The condition causes stunted growth and mental retardation. According to the National Down Syndrome Society, one of every 733 live births is a child with Down syndrome.
The condition hasn't kept Chad off the medal stand. He won five powerlifting state titles in Special Olympics competition, and as soon as Drew finishes his career at Florida, Chad - who lives with his parents and attends a school in Venice for disabled young adults - plans to begin training to win more. His biggest fan will be the 6-foot-5, 304-pound little brother who used to yell at him through the weight-room window.
"It's inspiring," Drew said.
Shortly after he moved to Sarasota from Kentucky in the mid-1990s, Randy Miller wanted all three of his boys to try weightlifting. A Special Olympics rule forced Chad, who had competed in race walking and the softball throw, to wait until his 16th birthday to begin lifting. Randy took Chad to Lansky, who at the time ran the Special Olympics lifting program in Sarasota County.
Lansky discovered Special Olympics while competing as a powerlifter a few years earlier. He watched the lifters - all of whom had a developmental disability - and was amazed. They took so much joy simply from competing. Meanwhile, the able-bodied lifters suffered through their training. Lansky called Special Olympics officials to inquire about coaching lifters in Sarasota. He was told the program had been scrapped, but a new coach could revive it.
"The Special Olympics athletes have allowed me to become a better coach," said Lansky, who coached Special Olympians from 1993-2000. "I actually encourage coaches to work with Special Olympics in their career. It gives you a joy for coaching. It shows you what coaching is really all about."
Chad was a natural. Randy said that at his peak, Chad could dead lift 400 pounds, bench press 250 and squat 275 - more than most people born with 46 chromosomes.
"When Chad wants to - and when he's having fun - you can't hold him back," Lansky said. "He'll get up there to get his medal, and you can't get him off the platform if he had a good day. ... If all my athletes were like that, I think I could coach 20 hours a day."
Randy Miller liked Lansky so much, he sent his other two boys to train with him. Middle brother Jay, now 25 and a certified public accountant in Sarasota, and Drew began lifting alongside their older brother. At first, Lansky said, the young one with the big head, long body and thick glasses needed to adjust to his growing body.
Once Miller did, Lansky could tell he had an elite athlete in his gym. Drew Miller dominated in powerlifting (dead lift, bench press, squat) and Olympic-style lifting (clean-and-jerk and snatch), but he dominated even more on the football field at Sarasota Riverview. Soon, college coaches all wanted to meet him, a fact that would ignite one of the all-time great sibling scuffles in the Miller house.
Chad grew up a Florida State fan. He had an authentic Seminoles helmet in his room, and he couldn't believe his luck in January 2004 when he learned FSU coach Bobby Bowden intended to come to his house to recruit his little brother. Bowden was supposed to come on a Wednesday, and Chad intended to get that helmet signed by the head Nole himself. Two days before Bowden's visit, Drew committed to Florida. He told Bowden not to bother coming.
Then he had to tell Chad.
"He was pretty upset," Drew said Thursday. "But he's a man. He could take it."
The FSU paraphernalia has since disappeared. It has been replaced by orange and blue, including some of Drew's No. 67 jerseys. Chad adopted the Gators as his favorite team while spending the past four years cheering on his brother. Now, with Drew trying to advance to the NFL, Chad will try to recapture his powerlifting form and win more medals.
Of course, that begs one question. Since both brothers have achieved athletic success in their own arenas, who is better?
"I have to give the edge to Chad," Drew said. "He's my older brother. He's always got me."
Reporter Andy Staples can be reached at (352) 262-3719 or astaples@tampatrib.com.
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