‘Epitome Of A Gladiator For Life’

There might not be an athletic trainer at Chabot College if not for Dan Miller, who is retiring this June after 34 years at the school.
“I was the first athletic trainer they ever hired,” said Miller, 61. “I had an appointment with Dr. Raul Cardoza, the president of Chabot at that time. I tried to convince him to have an athletic trainer. About a week after the meeting, he agreed. He said he would announce the position.”
After many people were interviewed for the job, including Miller, he was hired. Miller started as Chabot’s head trainer in September, 1991. There is a special place in his heart for the staff who were there at that time, such as John Wagoner (the physical education chair), Gene Wellman (athletic director) and Dr. Michael Krinsky (team physician), who worked with Miller all 34 of his years.
The success of the athletic programs his first two years are also memorable to Miller, as Chabot played for an unofficial state championship in football (1991) and an official state championship in men’s soccer (1992).
“I was thinking, this is great, … it will be like this every year,” Miller said.
Chabot won two state championships during Miller’s tenure, men’s golf in 2011 and women’s basketball in 2015.
Miller also remembers athletics technician Joe Gentiluomo, who retired in 2013. The duo worked together to get equipment ready, keep score of games and drive some Chabot teams and equipment to games in vans.
“It was a great foundation of friendship we formed and doing whatever was needed for Chabot athletics.” Miller said.
Miller graduated from James Logan High School in 1982 and went to Chabot, where he was a designated hitter and first baseman for the Gladiators baseball squad.
“I was excited to play for Chabot. … I got to play with all the stars I read about in the Daily Review,” Miller said. “When I went to Chabot, I was impressed by the quality of education and the resources. I really got into the academics a lot.”
“He’s like the epitome of Chabot Gladiators for life,” said Chabot assistant athletic trainer Tracey Adams-Bailey, who has worked with Miller for 26 years. “He went to school here, he played baseball here, he came back to serve the athletes here.”
Miller transferred to Cal State Hayward (now East Bay) in 1985. He received his bachelor’s degree in physical education in 1987 and master’s degree in physical education with an emphasis in sports medicine in 1989. Prior to starting at Chabot, Miller was an athletic trainer at Bishop O’Dowd High School for three years.
Miller also said that working with the student trainers over the years has been a huge part of his career. “Some of those have gone on to be athletic trainers or physicians or physical therapists,” he said.
Jose “Chuy” Lopez met Miller when Lopez was a soccer player for Chabot in 1997. “I was recovering from an ankle sprain and I needed some rehab,” Lopez said. “Dan explained how the body recovers and regenerates itself, and I was interested in that. I took an athletic training class that spring and I was hooked.”
Lopez is an intercollegiate athletic technician at Chabot, and has worked full-time at the college since 2005. Miller is the godfather to Lopez’s son Max. Lopez said Miller’s greatest attribute is passion. “If he gets an idea, he’s in 100 percent,” Lopez said. “With his career, he was in it 100 percent.”
“I’ve worked two-thirds of my life here almost, and I worked with almost 5,000 athletes,” Miller said. “It’s a hard job. If you are injured, I’ve had to break to the student what my evaluation is. It could be devastating. But probably the most gratifying circle of life as a trainer is an athlete going through the pain and suffering and coming back to play. … There are hard sessions of rehabilitation with the goal of returning to play at a high level. It feels really gratifying to get to that finish line. To watch them play, it warms the heart.”