The phone rang the morning of May 4, so Nan Miller put it on speaker so she and her husband, Red, could both hear.

“Red, this is Joe Ellis at the Denver Broncos,” the voice on the other end said. “How are you?”

“Good. I’m good, Joe,” Red replied.

“Good. Listen, I’m calling with I think good news,” said Ellis, the Broncos’ president and CEO. “I serve on the Ring of Fame committee for the Broncos and on behalf of our committee and on behalf of the Broncos, I just want to let you know that you were unanimously selected as an inductee for the Denver Broncos Ring of Fame in 2017.”

After an, “Oh my goodness,” and a gasp from his wife, Red said: “Oh my gosh. I was wondering about that.”

The back and forth continued, with Ellis acknowledging the honor was long overdue and that Red “helped ignite the franchise’s winning ways.”

“We got ‘em going,” Red responded, thinking back to 40 years ago.

Before Ellis could hang up, Nan chimed in and told him that the news was wonderful and much better than an invitation for coffee they were expecting. And it was especially sweet, she told him, because Red’s 90th birthday was coming up in the fall: October 31.

Red Miller, the former head coach of the Broncos who guided the franchise to its first Super Bowl berth in 1977, will be inducted into the team’s Ring of Fame on Sunday. But the weeks-long celebration both he and Nan had envisioned months ago will surely be tear-filled.

Miller died Sept. 27, before he could see his Ring of Fame pillar unveiled on the steps of Sports Authority Field, before he could sit on the 50-yard line to see his name hung inside the stadium alongside many of his former players, and before he could celebrate his 90th birthday.

In a halftime celebration Sunday shared by Nan and the rest of her family, as well as many Red’s former players and assistant coaches, the Broncos will reflect on a coaching tenure filled with firsts and a life well-lived.

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***

In his last few years spent in Denver, Red and Nan Miller had a routine that started early. Each morning Nan would bring the newspaper to Red so he could read as long as he wanted in bed, turning page after page, just as he did when he was an 8-year-old, freckled-faced boy in Macomb, Ill.

“That was heaven to him. Because he worked from the time he was about 6 years old until he was 73 years old,” Nan said. “So he worked his entire life. He said, ‘Laying in bed and reading the paper is a dream come true. I can’t believe it.’ ”

Before Miller was a football player or a football coach, he was a paperboy and after completing his route, he would save the spare papers for himself. He also briefly worked in the coal mines with his father — until he got hurt and swore to never go back down there. Over the years, he also peeled potatoes for money, mopped floors, detasseled corn, shined shoes and even bartended — whatever it took to get by. His family didn’t have much, so he had to do whatever he could whenever he could. Related Articles September 20, 2020 Kiszla: After Broncos lose to Pittsburgh and begin another NFL season 0-2, veteran Shelby Harris sounds warning: “We’ve got to change the culture”

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Miller studied hard in school. Got good grades and the accompanying praise of teachers. He was the only of his siblings to attend and graduate from college.

But his sanctuary had always been on a football field and when he entered Macomb High School, his energy and heart was with the game. Miller played both linebacker and offensive line, was appointed captain as a junior and senior, selected all-state for two seasons and voted homecoming king. His family never attended a game, though, because they didn’t understand it. They didn’t see a future on the field, not like Miller could.

Miller spurned offers from Purdue and Kansas State to stay close to home and attend Western Illinois University, where he continued to play on both sides of the ball, was again voted homecoming king, was again selected a team captain and voted MVP for three consecutive seasons.

He left Western Illinois with a degree in physical education (he later earned a master’s in counseling) and began his storied and winding path to becoming an NFL head coach. Miller began at the high school ranks, coaching two years at Astoria (Ill.) High School, and then another year at a high school in Canton, Ill. He moved on to a small college, Carthage College, for three more years before returning to Western Illinois as an assistant on the staff of future Broncos coach Lou Saban.

Miller and Saban, who were joined by Joe Collier, guided WIU to an undefeated season in 1959 and a 16-game winning streak from 1958-60 that still stands as the longest in the program’s history. Their success landed them jobs with the Boston Patriots of the new American Football League. Miller served as Saban’s offensive line coach for two seasons in Boston before the staff headed to Buffalo in the same roles.

Miller’s journey continued to Denver, where he was the Broncos’ offensive line coach from 1963-65. It took him to St. Louis for the same job with the then-Cardinals (1966-70), then Baltimore with the then-Colts (1971-72), back to New England as the Patriots’ offensive coordinator (1973-76), then back to Denver for his grand finale in the NFL.

Miller succeeded John Ralston to become the head coach of the Broncos, from 1977-80.

He inherited a team that had a punishing defense but a record that belied its talent.

“I had been there for like six, seven years already and I had gone through all of the hard times that we had as a team,” said Ring of Fame cornerback Billy Thompson. “When Red came in it was the beginning of something that was special from that point on, and it’s the same way now. We needed his passion to push us to our first Super Bowl. It was one of the most remarkable things and one of the things I’ll never forget about my career and he was responsible for that.”

In his first season, Miller guided Denver to a 12-2 record and its first-ever AFC West title and playoff berth. After defeating Miller’s arch nemesis, the Raiders, in the AFC Championship Game, the Broncos faced the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl XII. Denver lost, 27-10, but Miller was named NFL Coach of the Year by the Associated Press and K.C. 101 Club.

“I’m telling you, you’ve heard it said that most teams assume the leadership qualities of the coach. Red gave us what we needed to really get to the next level. He gave us that fight, that ‘walk out there with a chip on your shoulder’ attitude that we were great,” said former defensive back Steve Foley. “When a coach gives you that and he’s that type of guy, you just follow. I can remember as the season started to build we thought we’re as good as anybody that steps on a football field. And we played that way.”

In his four seasons as a head coach, Miller compiled a 40-22 (.645) regular-season record and a 2-3 playoff mark.

Since that 1977 season, the Broncos have appeared in seven other Super Bowls and won three.

“That’s the thing I take pride in with him: He knew it was important for us to be really successful,” said Tom Jackson, a three-time Pro Bowl linebacker who starred on the Broncos’ Orange Crush defense under Miller. “That’s all. He understood that he had to be successful, so to go to that Super Bowl, it gave him legitimacy, it gave us legitimacy. The organization became something different after that.”

***

Steve Miller, 63, was there for nearly every step. When he was born, his father was a high school coach and when he turned 3, Miller had already moved on to the college ranks with Saban.

Steve was 23 when Red was named head coach of the Broncos, but some of the greatest moments, he recalls, were made along the path there.

“I was extremely close to my dad growing up from the time I could remember — actually my memory goes all the way back to when I was 2½,” Steve Miller said. “I was extremely close to him.”

Steve Miller can remember how easily his father got along with nearly everyone in each organization he coached, from the front office to the players. He can remember how much Red loved the game, how much he knew about the game.

And Steve, like his some of Red’s former players, remembers the impromptu wrestling matches.

“He was an assistant with the St. Louis Cardinals,” Steve recalled. “I was in junior high school and I got to work a summer at the training camp up north of Chicago. One of the great memories I have is when he was their offensive line coach and one of his offensive linemen challenged him to a wrestling match. It was all in good fun, but I think the player wanted to get an edge on my dad and my dad took him down in, oh, 15 seconds. He was outweighed by about 60 pounds.”

It wasn’t the last time.

“He was a very unusual coach,” Thompson said. “He was one of those kinds of coaches that didn’t mind getting his hands dirty. In other words, if he wanted to show or tell you something, or coach you something, he would actually get down and show you how to do it. He was that kind of a guy, very motivating and had a lot of talent. Played the piano and like I said, it wouldn’t be strange to see him wrestling in the locker room with one of the guys. I mean, just a flat-out brawl on the floor and I’m going like, ‘The head coach?’ Yes, that’s him. The guys loved him.”

Rick Upchurch, the Ring of Fame receiver and returner, said Miller was “the best thing that happened to the Broncos” when he took over in 1977.

“He brought accountability, he brought toughness and he was the type of guy who was a player’s coach,” Upchurch said. “A guy that you could sit down with and get true answers from. That’s what I loved about him. Not only that, after the game was over he still remained your friend.

“I would go over to the house and sit down with him in his backyard. He came down to Pueblo when I was trying to get the head-coaching job down at East (High School). He vouched for me and he stood there for me. This gentleman gave me my opportunity to be a starting wide receiver in the National Football League. So for me, Red was the man. I loved him, I still love him today and I love his whole family.”

Added Jackson: “I remember a few instances when he yelled at a few guys and we always just laughed because he was so passionate about the game and passionate about having you play and play hard and practice and do things the right way to be prepared. I know that a lot of the credit for what we did in going to the Super Bowl and all that, the players the year before and Coach Ralston and all the contributions that he made, I think a lot of times the coach that Red Miller was, it got overlooked a little bit. He’s likely deserving of a lot more credit than he ever got for the successes back then and then where the program went from there on. He’s somebody who’s going to be missed.

“He’s a good man. He’s a good coach, and probably a better man.”

Sunday, Jackson will be at Sports Authority Field and share memories of his former coach with a crowd of nearly 77,000 during Miller’s induction ceremony. Standing alongside Jackson will be many of his former teammates and coaches from 1977, as well as Miller’s family, some likely in tears, nearly all likely nodding as Jackson recounts his days with Red.

***

Red’s final moments at home were doing what he loved and what he typically did on evenings of game days. He was watching the Broncos, in their season-opener against the Chargers on Sept. 11. Related Articles Reflections of Red Miller, former Broncos coach

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Miller suffered a stroke three years earlier while undergoing back surgery and, after a 16-week stretch of hospitalization and rehabilitation, returned to his Denver home with a walker and his same passion for the game.

“Nonstop. That was our life for six months of the year, practically,” Nan said. “Thursday Night Football was kind of the appetizer. Then on Friday night we would tune in to some of the high school stuff — the Valor Christian, the Cherry Creek (games). Saturday, literally, I got up, got the paper and highlighted the (college games) we want to watch in one color and the ones we just wanted to keep our eye on in a different color.”

She graduated from the University of Wyoming, so the Cowboys were always prioritized, along with the University of Colorado, Colorado State and the Air Force Academy. Western Illinois games were rarely aired locally, but Nan would constantly keep tabs on Red’s team online.

And then Sundays and Mondays were devoted to the NFL. The Millers were in a pool with friends and they, of course, picked the Broncos all the way through. The second weekend of the 2017 season, the Millers picked every game correctly — until Detroit spoiled the fun and beat the Giants on Monday Night Football.

Red never knew the results of their pool.

Days earlier, he had suffered his second stroke, during the Broncos’ blocked field goal that sealed their win against the Chargers. He was rushed to Swedish Medical Center and after two weeks of care, the neurologists broke the news to Nan that Red would not return home. He spent his last evening with Thompson by his side and he took his last breath with Nan holding his hand.

“I know he knew I was there, even though he couldn’t speak to me,” Thompson said. “I held his hand and said, ‘Coach, this is Billy. I just wanted to tell you I love you.’ I squeezed his hand and he squeezed my hand back, so I know he knows I was there, and I was very fortunate to get a chance to see him.

“He has a very special place in Broncos history and a very special place in my heart. Tremendous coach, tremendous person and one that will always be remembered.”