In a landmark interview with Sports Illustrated, Jordan Brand Chairman Larry Miller revealed that he once killed a person when he was 16 years old and hid the secret for years from close acquaintances such as Michael Jordan and Larry Silver.
Miller, who is also the former president of the Portland Trailblazers, confessed to killing 18-year-old Edward White in September 1965 in retaliation for a friend being stabbed to death in a gang altercation. Miller admitted that he didn’t know if White was even involved in his frined’s death.
“That’s what makes it even more difficult for me, because it was for no reason at all,” Miller said. “I mean, there was no valid reason for this to happen. And that’s the thing that I really struggle with and that’s — you know, it’s the thing that I think about every day. It’s like, I did this, and to someone who — it was no reason to do it. And that’s the part that really bothers me.”
Miller was incarcerated from his late teens until he was 30 years old for the murder. He later received an accounting degree from Temple University.
Miller landed the job as Nike’s Vice President in 1997 before becoming Jordan’s brand president from 1999 t0 2006, then moving on to the Blazers organization; never revealing his haunting past.
In his interview, Miller talked about the fear of having such high-profile jobs with an unknown, violent criminal past. He says he decided to come clean to encourage others to seek and also offer former convicts second chances.
“If I could go back and undo it, I would absolutely do that,” Miller said. “I can’t. So all I can do is try to do what I can to help other people and try to maybe prevent this from happening to someone else.”
