A Nike executive and former president of Portland Trail Blazers has admitted killing a teenager more than 50 years ago, which was a secret he kept from powerful friends like Michael Jordan and NBA commissioner Adam Silver.
Larry Miller rejoined the Jordan Brand in 2012 after serving in the Blazers’ front office for five years. Just recently, he revealed his long-guarded secret in an exclusive cover story with Sports Illustrated.
The 72-year-old relayed to SI that he recently came clean to Silver and Jordan that he gunned down an 18-year-old in Philadelphia when he was just 16.
“This was a really difficult decision for me,” Miller said of revealing his criminal past. “Because for 40 years, I ran from this. I tried to hide this and hope that people didn’t find out about it.”
He went public with it in his forthcoming book, “Jump: My Secret Journey From the Streets to the Boardroom,” which is set for release early next year.
The victim, Edward White, was fatally shot on Sept. 30, 1965, with a .38-caliber gun in West Philadelphia. Miller was arrested soon after the slaying. Miller, who revealed he was gangbanging at the time, said the slaying was retribution for a previous killing. He had previously gotten the gun from a girlfriend at that time. He drank a bottle of wine and he and three friends went out hunting anyone affiliated with the rival gang, shooting the first person they saw.
Miller had no clue who the kid was or if he had anything to do with the earlier stabbing. On top of that, he wasn’t even sure if the kid had ties with the gang.
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“We were all drunk,” Miller said during a 90-minute interview. “I was in a haze. Once it kind of set in, I was like, ‘Oh, sh-t, what have I done?’ It took years for me to understand the real impact of what I had done.”
He ended up spending time in juvenile detention or prison until age 30, SI reported. He decided to continue his education while locked up and earned an accounting degree from Temple University about the same time he was released. His past haunted in at an accounting firm later in life, so he promised to never tell anybody about his past.
“I’m never sharing this again,” Miller recalled.
Miller then went on to become vice president of Nike Basketball in 1997 and the president of the Jordan Brand in 1999. He would take his talents to Portland in 2006 before returning as president of the Jordan Brand in 2012.
“It’s great to have Larry return to the Jordan Brand at such an exciting time,” the Chicago Bulls legend said in a statement at the time. “He is a strong leader, knows our brand and understands how to accelerate the growth of a premium business.”
Although he received support for coming clean, he stated he was “definitely nervous” about telling Jordan. Silver told SI he was “stunned” at first by Miller’s disclosure.
“I then went from stunned to amazed that Larry had managed his long and very successful professional career, operating at the highest levels in our industry, with this secret firmly intact, and was ultimately left with a feeling of sadness that Larry had carried this burden all these years without the support of his many friends and colleagues,” Silver told SI in a statement.
Nike remains squarely behind Miller, citing his “influential” role in the company.
“His story is an example of the resilience, perseverance and strength of the human spirit,” Nike CEO John Donohoe told SI. “I hope his experience can create a healthy discourse around criminal justice reform, by helping remove the stigma that holds people and communities back.”
