off topic RIP Van Miller 1927-2015

[Doohicksie]

STATEMENT FROM BILLS PRESIDENT RUSS BRANDON

"On behalf of Terry and Kim Pegula and everyone at One Bills Drive, we are all deeply saddened with the news of the passing of Van Miller. As the ‘Voice of the Bills,’ Van's historic radio calls of Bills games over the years will forever resonate with our fans. His Hall of Fame and Wall of Fame talent was overshadowed only by his engaging personality, his witty sense of humor and his love for the Bills. We will all dearly miss ‘Uncle Van,’ but his legacy will remain deeply embedded in our franchise's history and in the hearts of his countless fans in Western New York and throughout the NFL community. Our deepest sympathies, along with our thoughts and prayers, go out to his wife Gloria and all of Van's family during this difficult time."

I know this was mentioned in the Bills thread, but Van's passing deserves its own thread.

[nfreeman]

For those too young to remember when the Bills were interesting:  Van Miller was fantastic.  Great voice, great excitement, great economy of style. 

 

Rip Van.  Thanks for the memories.

[SwampD]

I'm actually surprised by how much this news is affecting me.

 

RIP.

[Doohicksie]

I'm actually surprised by how much this news is affecting me.

 

RIP.

 

Nothing against the current broadcast team, but Van conveyed the heart and soul of the Buffalo Bills by voice alone.  When they were at their greatest, so was he.

[Weave]

Godspeed Van. And thank you for the memories.

[Jeanbe]

Rest in Peach Van.  A true great one and for me he will always be the voice of the Bills.  I grew up with him and the Bills in the 60s and beyond. 

[Taro T]

RIP Van.

[Neo]

Rest in Peace, Van. Thank you for priceless memories. "Fandemonium!"

[Hoss]

Being totally honest: I have almost no recollection of Van Miller live. I wasn't even a teenager when he retired. But his calls are still stuck in my head whenever I think about watching highlights of old Bills games. He had such a classic voice and a simple way of making great calls. In studying play-by-play voices his was always one that felt smooth and straight from the moment. He never seemed to try to pull in something crazy or come up with the perfect thing to say. His passion allowed him to know what to say in each moment.

 

He will be missed by so many. Thoughts with the members of the board more impacted by this.

[tom webster]

RIP, Van. Besides the aforementioned memories, I will always remember his calls for the Braves games.

I was also fortunate to have met him when I was chosen for a segment of Tuesday evening quarterback. He truly was like your favorite uncle.

[X. Benedict]

From channel 4 to Bowling for Dollars, the Braves, Bills and All the commercial voice overs he did VAn was simply part of the Western New York sound track for years. RIP, Van. RIP.

[tom webster]

From channel 4 to Bowling for Dollars, the Braves, Bills and All the commercial voice overs he did VAn was simply part of the Western New York sound track for years. RIP, Van. RIP.

Don't forget UB football and a it's Academic as well.

[X. Benedict]

Don't forget UB football and a it's Academic as well.

He certainly worked, didn't he?

[Weave]

From channel 4 to Bowling for Dollars, the Braves, Bills and All the commercial voice overs he did VAn was simply part of the Western New York sound track for years. RIP, Van. RIP.

 

Oh man.  Bowling for Dollars.  Forgot about that one.  So many memories.....

[Jeanbe]

Don't forget UB football and a it's Academic as well.

I loved It's Academic as a kid and for those of you old enough to know of SCTV (Toronto) back in the 70's they did a great spoof based on It's Academic and PBS. 

 

But alas, I did watch it every Saturday it was on and Van is such a part of WNY broadcast history and is a legend IMO.

[That Aud Smell]

Van was The Man.

 

They do not make 'em like him anymore.

 

***

 

My cousin appeared on It's Academic. I'd forgotten about Van's hosting role there.

 

Man. He did work his arse off.

Edited July 19, 2015 by That Aud Smell

[darksabre]

No one could call a Bills loss like Van.

[SwampD]

No one could call a Bills loss like Van.

People don't realize that when we were losing Super Bowls, we won a sh!t ton of games. Yes, the last game of the season was a loss, but out of 19 or 20 games each season, we only lost like 4 or 5. I wish I would have realized how good we had it then.

[darksabre]

People don't realize that when we were losing Super Bowls, we won a sh!t ton of games. Yes, the last game of the season was a loss, but out of 19 or 20 games each season, we only lost like 4 or 5. I wish I would have realized how good we had it then.

I wish I had been old enough to remember it. I have almost no recollection of the Bills being good.

[LTS]

It's tough.  I saw the news this morning and it hit me pretty good.  In years past it would have hit me harder but I've grown away from football quite a bit and a lot of it started when Van retired.  It had nothing to do with him retiring mind you, but being 17-21 during a run of 4 straight Super Bowl losses really changed my outlook on sports and football especially.

 

That said, his calls are my primary memories.  I worked in a sporting goods store (Laux) through high school into college.  I routinely worked Sundays and as such we always had the radio tuned to the game.  As would be expected around those great years there were few to no customers traveling the malls during a Bills game.  There was no traffic, people were home.  So I had plenty of time to dust the shelves, rearrange inventory and listen to Van Miller paint the picture of what was happening on the field.

 

Thought the great Houston game was not on television the crowds were still quite light.  I suspect people still held out hope and were listening at home.  As half-time hit and it was apparent the Bills were going to lose the foot traffic in the mall picked up volume.  In the days of no cell phones word didn't travel as fast but I remember the air in the store as the Bills began scoring. It seemed that someone was always running out into the mall and yelling they scored.  Every time that happened more and more people seemed to appear. Being situated right inside the mall entrance we also were a first stop for many shoppers.  Perhaps they were just checking in to see how the game was going.

 

By the end of the game the store was loaded with people.  The atmosphere was unbelievable and the radio was cranked. All we had were each other and Van Miller to call the game. 

 

That's what I'll remember.

 

There are few left these days.  The regional broadcaster is being phased out as the national contracts are available to be streamed across any screen at any time.  There are a lot of great play by play announcers who do those national games but none of them are tuned to deliver a message to a particular geographic area.  They are stripped of their fandom and their emotions are engineered to deliver excitement regardless of the teams playing. 

 

Announcers like Van Miller had an entire fan base flowing through them. He lived in our community and channeled that energy into his calls.  That's nothing any national voice could ever capture.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSgfGKhYKu8

[TrueBlueGED]

My only memory of Van calling a game live is the comeback game. Everything else I either watched on TV, didn't follow, or don't remember. For example, I remember listening to Kelly's last game...but I remember zero about it.

[nfreeman]

It's tough.  I saw the news this morning and it hit me pretty good.  In years past it would have hit me harder but I've grown away from football quite a bit and a lot of it started when Van retired.  It had nothing to do with him retiring mind you, but being 17-21 during a run of 4 straight Super Bowl losses really changed my outlook on sports and football especially.

 

That said, his calls are my primary memories.  I worked in a sporting goods store (Laux) through high school into college.  I routinely worked Sundays and as such we always had the radio tuned to the game.  As would be expected around those great years there were few to no customers traveling the malls during a Bills game.  There was no traffic, people were home.  So I had plenty of time to dust the shelves, rearrange inventory and listen to Van Miller paint the picture of what was happening on the field.

 

Thought the great Houston game was not on television the crowds were still quite light.  I suspect people still held out hope and were listening at home.  As half-time hit and it was apparent the Bills were going to lose the foot traffic in the mall picked up volume.  In the days of no cell phones word didn't travel as fast but I remember the air in the store as the Bills began scoring. It seemed that someone was always running out into the mall and yelling they scored.  Every time that happened more and more people seemed to appear. Being situated right inside the mall entrance we also were a first stop for many shoppers.  Perhaps they were just checking in to see how the game was going.

 

By the end of the game the store was loaded with people.  The atmosphere was unbelievable and the radio was cranked. All we had were each other and Van Miller to call the game. 

 

That's what I'll remember.

 

There are few left these days.  The regional broadcaster is being phased out as the national contracts are available to be streamed across any screen at any time.  There are a lot of great play by play announcers who do those national games but none of them are tuned to deliver a message to a particular geographic area.  They are stripped of their fandom and their emotions are engineered to deliver excitement regardless of the teams playing. 

 

Announcers like Van Miller had an entire fan base flowing through them. He lived in our community and channeled that energy into his calls.  That's nothing any national voice could ever capture.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSgfGKhYKu8

 

Great post.

[SwampD]

It's tough.  I saw the news this morning and it hit me pretty good.  In years past it would have hit me harder but I've grown away from football quite a bit and a lot of it started when Van retired.  It had nothing to do with him retiring mind you, but being 17-21 during a run of 4 straight Super Bowl losses really changed my outlook on sports and football especially.

 

That said, his calls are my primary memories.  I worked in a sporting goods store (Laux) through high school into college.  I routinely worked Sundays and as such we always had the radio tuned to the game.  As would be expected around those great years there were few to no customers traveling the malls during a Bills game.  There was no traffic, people were home.  So I had plenty of time to dust the shelves, rearrange inventory and listen to Van Miller paint the picture of what was happening on the field.

 

Thought the great Houston game was not on television the crowds were still quite light.  I suspect people still held out hope and were listening at home.  As half-time hit and it was apparent the Bills were going to lose the foot traffic in the mall picked up volume.  In the days of no cell phones word didn't travel as fast but I remember the air in the store as the Bills began scoring. It seemed that someone was always running out into the mall and yelling they scored.  Every time that happened more and more people seemed to appear. Being situated right inside the mall entrance we also were a first stop for many shoppers.  Perhaps they were just checking in to see how the game was going.

 

By the end of the game the store was loaded with people.  The atmosphere was unbelievable and the radio was cranked. All we had were each other and Van Miller to call the game. 

 

That's what I'll remember.

 

There are few left these days.  The regional broadcaster is being phased out as the national contracts are available to be streamed across any screen at any time.  There are a lot of great play by play announcers who do those national games but none of them are tuned to deliver a message to a particular geographic area.  They are stripped of their fandom and their emotions are engineered to deliver excitement regardless of the teams playing. 

 

Announcers like Van Miller had an entire fan base flowing through them. He lived in our community and channeled that energy into his calls.  That's nothing any national voice could ever capture.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSgfGKhYKu8

 

 

Great post.

Listen to nfreeman. That was a great post.

[thewookie1]

I am too young to actually remember him, but I can easily see why he was so beloved. His voice was awesome in any highlights of the old Bills, may he rest in peace. Sad he's passed on, but I guess Ralph Wilson set up a team in Heaven and wanted his announcer back.  :angel:

[sabills]

My dad hated the TV guys back in the day, so we spent a lot of time listening to Van and then watching the play happen 6 seconds later. So worth it. Murph is a great guy, and does a great job on the PbP, but he never gets the hair on the back to stand up like a Van call does. Its visceral.

 

Somewhere I have him calling the entirety of the comeback game on an old tape. I'll have to dig around at my parents house sometime and try to find it.