Earl Miller passes away
Earl A. Miller, a Utah native and founder of Miller Snowboard Corp. (formerly Miller Ski Company), died June 14, 2002. He was 77.
Miller began skiing the Wasatch Mountains during the Depression and won the Utah Four Way Championship (slalom, downhill, cross country, and jumping) when he was 17. Throughout his career, Miller held approximately 100 patents and made innumerable contributions to the ski industry. He invented the step-in releasable binding in the '50s, and later developed ski brakes. More than 10 Olympic ski teams used Miller's bindings in the 1960 Winter Olympics, and the demand for this product grew exponentially the following year. He also developed a wide powder ski and was one of the founders of the Intermountain Ski Instructors' Association. Miller was inducted into the National Ski Hall of Fame in Ishpeming, Michigan, in 1994. -Jackie Baker