Miller, who coached the Spartans from 1973-2005, joins a fraternity that includes more than 300 former amateur baseball coaches spanning the high school ranks to all levels of collegiate baseball. Miller becomes just the fourth HBCU coach to be inducted, following Bob Braddy (Jackson State, 2003), Wilbert Ellis (Grambling State, 2007) and Roger Cador (Southern, 2021).
Miller won 718 games over his 32-plus seasons as Spartans head coach. He is the winningest coach in CIAA history, with 584 victories, and led the Spartans to 17 CIAA championships during their tenure in the league. Miller’s teams made 12 NCAA or NAIA postseason appearances. He was a 15-time CIAA Coach of the Year and was once voted MEAC Coach of the Year after NSU moved to the Division I level. Miller was also named the 1980 NAIA District 19 Coach of the Year after leading NSU to the district championship.
Twenty-two of Miller’s former players signed professional baseball contracts. In 1997, NSU honored Miller by building the Marty L. Miller Baseball Field.
After his retirement as NSU baseball coach early in the 2005 season, Miller served as NSU’s athletics director for nearly 16 years.
A native of Danville, Virginia, and the first NCAA baseball All-American in NSU history, Miller has already been enshrined in numerous halls of fame. They include the NSU, CIAA, Virginia Interscholastic Association (VIA), Hampton Roads Sports, Hampton Roads African American Sports and Virginia Sports halls of fame. He is the only two-time inductee into the NSU Athletics Hall of Fame, having been enshrined as both a player and as a coach/administrator.
“I am excited and proud about receiving this prestigious award. I was informed that my induction means that I am considered one of the ‘best of the best’,” Miller said. “Being regarded as one of the best college baseball coaches of all-time is a blessing. I never envisioned becoming a hall of famer or being considered a baseball legend for playing and coaching a game that I love.”
Miller and the rest of the 2022 inductees and the 2021 induction class will be honored at the annual ABCA convention in Chicago in January. Tickets go on sale Sept. 1. Log onto www.abcahalloffame.org for more information.
Founded in 1945, the ABCA is the primary professional organization for baseball coaches at the amateur level. Its nearly 13,000 members represent all 50 states and 33 countries. Since its initial meeting of 27 college baseball coaches in June 1945, Association membership has broadened to include eight divisions: NCAA Division I, II and III, NAIA, NJCAA, Pacific Association Division, high school and youth. The ABCA Hall of Fame began in 1966.
Courtesy of Norfolk State Athletic Department