Greg Miller reflects on what he learned from his dad News Utah Jazz

One thing became very evident during an interview the Deseret News recently conducted with Greg Miller: The new Jazz boss loves his dad very much. During the 23-minute Q-and-A session in late January, the younger Miller often turned the conversation toward Larry H. Miller, who a week before had his legs amputated 6 inches below his knees and had nearly died for the fifth time since having a heart attack and a multitude of type-2-diabetes-related health issues last summer. It was quite the touching tribute from Greg Miller, who shared several stories that showed how much he cares for his late father. Here are a few: ?

? ? For one of the questions, Greg Miller was asked to name his favorite Jazz memory. Truth be told, it was anticipated that he would reminisce about the excitement surrounding the famous shot by John Stockton against Houston ? you know, the one that sent Utah to its first NBA Finals in 1997. His answer indeed included Stockton, but it wasn't about "The Shot." It was, rather, "The Re-entry." Miller remembered a game back at the Salt Palace in the late '80s or early '90s. During the action, the Jazz point guard was hurt and had to be taken to the locker room. A concerned Larry H. Miller followed him out of the arena. The Jazz's lead also departed. "You could just kind of feel the air leaving the building. It was like, 'Oh, we're losing,'?" Greg Miller said. "I just remember this sense of kind of being in a tailspin." About 15 minutes later, Stockton returned into the arena and jogged back to the bench. The elder Miller was right behind him. Greg Miller has never forgotten that comforting moment. "I just (had) that feeling of 'OK, we're in good hands again. Not just with John, but with my dad,'?" he said. "Just having that leadership and that presence back in the room. It kind of took the weight off and it's like, 'All right. Everything's going to be OK.'?" Interestingly, Miller can't recall if Utah pulled out the win. It really doesn't matter, either. "I don't even remember if we won the game or not, but I just remember for me that was a great lesson in leadership and examples and how you carry yourself and the value of reputation and hard work." Things the Jazz community definitely got from his dad and from Stockton. ? ? ? Greg Miller really likes the Miller Motorsports Park, which he ran before taking over the reins of the Jazz from his dad. But he really has a soft spot for the family's Toyota store in Murray. "If I were to list the entities in the organization that I had a fondness for in my heart, MMP would be one of them, but it wouldn't be at the top of the list," Miller said. "I would probably put our Toyota store in Murray at the top of the list just because I was there the day my dad made the deal to buy it. That was the first store that my dad bought." Larry H. Miller's first automobile dealership opened nearly 30 years ago ? on May 1, 1979. "If you liken the organization to a tree, that's like the trunk of the tree," Greg Miller explained. "And everything that this organization is now, including the Jazz and the racetrack, are branches of that trunk. They were opportunities that came to us through our success through the Toyota store, so I would list that at the top." And the biggest reason he loves the race track? His dad, of course. "As far as MMP, I think part of the reason I like that so much is because I know how much it means to my dad. That was certainly a project that he loved and was involved in at a very detailed level from the outset. It was a place for him to exercise his love of cars, and he's developed a pretty cool collection of old Cobras and GT40s over the years. "Before his eyesight got too bad, he had an opportunity to go out there and run those cars a little bit." Their times together at the Tooele track will always be cherished. "For me, it's not so much from a business standpoint, but just the experiences more like father-son experiences with my dad," Miller said. "The first year the track was in operation I spent a lot of time with my dad just kind of wandering around out there and driving around on the golf cart and being with him as he would stop and engage in conversation with total strangers ... "As teams were working on their cars in the Grand Prix garages, he'd just walk in and introduce himself and say, 'What are you doing?' Say, 'How fast is this?' and start asking technical questions, and it was really an environment that he could have a lot of fun in. "And when he's having fun, I'm having fun. It's nice to see him relax because we all know he spent many years putting himself and his enjoyment on the back burner and working hard for all of us to have these opportunities that we enjoy now." ? ? ? Greg Miller doesn't sugarcoat everything about his dad. He even admitted that Larry H. Miller could occasionally boil over. "I don't think it's any secret my dad had a temper," he said. The son learned a lesson from his dad's emotions ? something that's helped him control his own temper. "I don't even really think I have a temper," Greg Miller said. He then looked over at his son, who attended the Spurs game with him the night of this interview, and asked, "Do I, Bryce? I mean it's there, but you've got to push pretty hard to find it." Bryce laughed. "Yeah," he said, "you just have a look." Greg Miller was thankful to his dad for helping him learn from both the good and the bad in how to be a dad. "Nobody's perfect, but by watching what I liked and what I didn't like in my dad has helped me become a better father to my kids." E-mail: jody@desnews.com