Westmont Athletics has plans to honor Mark Miller ('77) of La Verne and Casey Roberts ('80) of Santa Barbara with induction into the Westmont Hall of Fame in a ceremony on October 6 during homecoming festivities. Former Westmont soccer coach Russ Carr is scheduled to induct Roberts while Miller will be presented to the Hall of Fame by
John Moore, Miller's former teammate and the Warrior's current men's basketball head coach. The induction ceremony, at which dessert will be served, will take place in the Founder's Dinning Room on the Westmont Campus at 7:30 p.m. The cost is $25.00 per person. Reservations may be made by calling
Ann Cavalli at the Westmont Athletics Office at 805-565-6110.
Miller scored 1,671 points in his four-years at Westmont which ranks him second in career points, just seven points behind John Crew ('54). Miller sits atop the record book in career field goals made with 662. Additionally, he is one of only three Warriors to have eclipsed the millennial mark in rebounds, having tallied 1,008 boards.
"As a basketball player he was multi-talented," reported Moore. "A fine rebounder and great scorer, Mark could also pass the ball well and was an excellent defender. He had really long arms and played bigger than his 6-5 frame."
As a sophomore, Miller recorded the most points ever scored by a Warrior against crosstown rival UC Santa Barbara. Playing against a team that featured future Los Angeles Laker Don Ford, Miller tallied 42 points, a mark which was at the time (and remains today) the fourth-highest Warrior point total in a single game. Miller played under a new head coach each of his first three years but found it to be a blessing.
"When I look back on the journey, it was really quite remarkable to wind up at Westmont," said Miller. "I give a lot of credit to Ron Mulder for taking a chance on a skinny 6-4 kid. To be able to be in a smaller college environment was more comfortable to me. I had the opportunity to play for three coaches - Ron, Tine Hardeman and Chet Kammerer. The whole Westmont experience was a gift. When I look at all the players who were there the years before me and those who came after me, I feel very lucky to have played at all."
A three-time All-NAIA District III selection and team captain, Miller was a recipient of the Westmont College Dean's Award, an honor given to the top graduating student-athlete. Miller was named as Best Defensive Player for the 1975-76 season and in 1977 received NAIA All-American honorable mention recognition.
"To have an opportunity to play at Westmont for four years was tremendous," said Miller, "and to also be able to expand in a lot of other areas of my life - such as music - was really a blessing for me. Developing life long friendships which had the focus of Christ in them was the most meaningful part for me as I look back on it.
"It is very humbling to be inducted into the Hall of Fame," continued Miller. "It has been a reminder of the importance of giving back. I was able to experience Westmont because people gave and contributed to my life - Chet, John and all my friends, fellow players and coaches. Having been blessed in that way, it is a reminder to be giving back to the kids who play for me or other players and people I come in contact with through sports or other aspects of my life."
Giving back is nothing new for Miller. After graduating from Westmont, Miller spent a year in Switzerland playing professional basketball and then used his basketball know-how as a vehicle for helping others.
"Chris Appel, a mentor of mine, got me involved in some international coaching and teaching through the State Department," explained Miller. "During the Carter administration and beyond, I made quite a few trips overseas to Asia, Africa and Northern Ireland.
"The sponsoring organization was 'Adventure in Education' which was set up by Chris," continued Miller. "He had some State Department contacts from which we received grants through the State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs to go do developmental coaching with most of the Olympic and Junior Olympic teams in developmental countries. Because I spoke French at the time, having played in Europe, I went on summer tours mostly to French speaking Africa. We also made a trip to Asia."
Miller currently serves as the Director of Training and Development for the County of Los Angeles' Department of Children and Family Services. Basketball continues to be a part of his life through his role as a coach at Bonita High School where he assists with the varsity team and rotates between the freshmen and junior varsity teams on a year-to-year basis. Miller and his wife Linda, whom he met while she was a resident director at Westmont, have four children. Kelly who is a junior at Wheaton, John who is a sophomore at Westmont and member of the current men's basketball team and Lucas and CJ, a high school junior and sophomore respectively.
Roberts, who played soccer for Westmont from 1976-79, is the Warriors' career saves leader with 601 and is also first in saves per game at 6.53. Roberts collected 38 shutouts in his four-year career which ties him for second on the career list with Adam Throop (96-99). Dave Buehring (88-91) heads the list with 44
"He was a tenacious, first-rate goalkeeper," said current Westmont head coach
Dave Wolf. "I had an opportunity to play against Casey a couple of times when I first came to Santa Barbara and he was still playing in the men's league. I could see very quickly that he was extremely competitive and had a huge appetite for the game. That matched up with a lot of the things I had heard about him when I came to Santa Barbara. His is one of the names that people talk about frequently when they talk about the history of Westmont soccer. Westmont has a long history of great goalkeeping. You could easily argue that it has been the most decorated position when you consider Gary Allison, Butch Grosvenor, Casey Roberts, Adam Throop, Dave Buehring, Aldon Cole and
Logan Frank."
Roberts posted a career goals-against-average of 1.12 including a single season best of 0.95 in 1979. In each of his four seasons, the Warriors won the NAIA District III Tournament and advanced to the NAIA Area 1 Championship. Also a recipient of the Westmont Dean's Award, Roberts relished the opportunities which Westmont provided to scholar-athletes.
"Being academically challenged by professors like Bob Wennberg and Paul Wilt in the mornings could only be surpassed by playing national championship teams in the afternoon," said Roberts. "We were stretched in the mornings, then went on the soccer field and were stretched again against the University of San Francisco or Seattle Pacific or Simon Fraser. I think in one year we played three national champions from the previous year - NAIA and NCAA Division I and Division II. That is what made it such a rich experience.
"Being challenged when you are a freshman by playing the NCAA Division I champion that you have been reading about in Sports Illustrated, you find out real quickly what you are made of, how tough you are and how good you are," continued Roberts. "At Westmont you could do everything academically and athletically and compete with anybody in the nation. It was a unique time that any of us who participated in will never forget."
A three-time NAIA All-District III and Far Westmont selection, Roberts was also honored as the 1979 Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table Collegiate Soccer Player of the year. In 1977 he was chosen as an NSCAA National Player of the Week. To those honors, he now adds the distinction of membership in the Westmont Hall of Fame.
"I am extremely humbled to be considered with the names that are on that wall," said Roberts. "The two that come to mind are soccer players - Steve Gay, an Olympian, and John Paul Verhees. These guys were Westmont soccer gods. There is no higher honor for a Westmont athlete. It is very humbling."
As a result of his soccer talent, Roberts participated in the 1979 World University Games in Mexico City and in the 1980 Senior Bowl. After graduation, Roberts went to work in construction before returning to Westmont in 1985 to complete a teaching credential. While working on his credential, Roberts served as an assistant coach for the women's soccer team under Verhees. The Warriors earned a trip to the national championship that season and traveled to Tacoma, Washington. A record snowstorm, however, made it impossible for the four-team field to compete outdoors. The tournament directors decided to move the event inside and play six-on-six for the national title. Westmont won both of their games and their first national championship.
In the fall of 1986, Roberts began teaching at Carpinteria High School where he continues to teach history and economics. After serving as a soccer coach at both Bishop Diego and San Marcos, Roberts coached at Carpinteria for eight years.
"There are other ways in which Casey has contributed and made an impact on the Westmont soccer program," said Wolf, "and that is in the way he has become involved in the lives of current players. He is one of the founding fathers, along with Dave Biehl and Tony Shaap of the Heritage Club. That organization has contributed a great deal to our organization the last ten years. He is a guy who has reinvested back into the program. That is the legacy he has for me personally."
"The Heritage Club was born out of the 1994 World Cup in Los Angeles," said Roberts. "Tony Shaap and I were sitting at the World Cup and talking about how Westmont was our team in the same way that Europeans identify with the teams of their hometowns. So we started asking how we could support the current team and out of that came the idea of the Heritage Club."
Roberts and his wife Kathy Margiot Roberts, a Westmont alumna, have two children - Tristan who is a freshman at Pomona College and Matt age 15.
