Remembering the great Van Miller from my days at WBEN in Buffalo

I’ve experienced deep sadness upon hearing the news that the late, great Van Miller has passed away. It didn’t come as a surprise. His health had been in decline for some time. But I’m forced to focus on my pleasant memories of his remarkable talent, humor and genuine kindness. For those who aren't aware, he will be best remembered as the beloved, longtime voice of The Buffalo Bills.

WBEN and WIVB channel 4

I came to know Van when I was working at WBEN in Buffalo in the mid 1980s. Van was the lead sports anchor at WIVB, channel 4 which shared the same facility. My routine during the roughly 18 months while I was working at “Radio 930” and “Rock 102” was doing traffic reports by helicopter during the afternoon for both the AM and FM stations (interesting work during a Buffalo winter) and doing news at night during John Murphy’s “One-on-One Sports” program, which ran until 11 p.m. (Murph introduced me to my wife during this time). John was color analyst alongside Van and has since served as his play-by-play successor for years now.

Back then, Van would occasionally roam the station offices, including our newsroom and studios in the hours leading up to his own 11 p.m. sports segment. Some nights were busier than others for me. Those which were not so busy is when live sports essentially pre-empted our regularly scheduled hourly newscasts, which culminated with a full half-hour radio newscast at 11 p.m., after which I was free to go home, or go out on the town, which Murph and I would occasionally do when we were single back in those days. Buffalo bars notoriously stayed open until 3:30 a.m. as I recall.

(Photo: Bills broadcast teammates, Van Miller and John Murphy. The photo/mural is now seen in the Van Miller Club at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park, NY)

Van's career advice

I was about 24 or 25 years old then and I remember one night Van and I had time to talk alone (I was the only news staffer working at night) in the WBEN newsroom.  He related that he could have gone to work for a network like some of the folks he knew over the years. I found this remarkable given that Van was an institution in Western New York and has since been honored by the Pro Football Hall of Fame for his more than half-century of broadcast work. I didn’t have a sense that he regretted remaining where he was, but perhaps just wondered what the other path might have lead to.

But he then told me served as a major boost of confidence and motivation. He said “You’ve got to get out of here” and find something better.  It was true that I was struggling to pay my bills then and I yearned for a bigger stage, so to speak. I figured if Van was saying it, there was no doubt about what I should do.  It wasn’t long after that I had a terrific stroke of good luck that a professional contact asked me to apply for an AP Radio job in the Dallas bureau. I had the opportunity to transfer to Washington after a year in Texas and remained with AP for 26 years, eventually migrating to business/financial news and video/television, etc.

He was equally kind and engaging with my wife, the former Jeanne Golanka, who also worked for WBEN for a short time. She also knew Van through her public relations job with the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres back then. He would call out “the Mark of Excellence” when seeing me or “Jeannie Bikini” when seeing her. You couldn’t help but laugh or smile. Once, when my mom visited the station (she must have been close to Van’s age back then, he joked that they’d known each other years ago. 

The last time I saw Van

My other enduring memory of Van will be his omnipresent sense of humor. The last time I saw him was nearly 3 years ago at Bills training camp.

While his physical presence wasn’t what it was, he launched into a 20-minute string of jokes and stories, engaging all the members of my family who’d came to the camp at the kind invitation of John Murphy. My son, my brother-in-law Joe Golanka, Dr. Bob Flynn and nephew Spencer Golanka, who hadn’t known Van in person previously came away amazed by the force of his personality and strength of his sense of humor. In the photo you see here, Van insisted that we pose as if we were on either side of the line of scrimmage.

Celebrating his memory 

There’s a part of me that wants to shed tears as the news sinks in about Van’s passing. But his sense of humor continues to radiate. I’m reminded of my deep gratitude that I was able to spend some time with this remarkable man who took offered me genuine, heartfelt encouragement. Rest in peace Van. Heaven is now a happier place.

Van, me, Joe Golanka and Murph summer 2012.
Training camp, St. John Fisher College, near Rochester, NY.