NASHVILLE, Tenn. — It was June of 2019 and Jessica Miller told her father, Victor, to pack his bags – she was taking him on a surprise road trip.
Where they were going, Victor wasn’t quite sure. His birthday was coming up soon so he guessed they were heading to Disney World, a trip Jessica had mentioned as a possibility.
But when the car headed west instead of south, the destination became apparent – not Orlando, but Omaha, to cheer on the Vanderbilt baseball team in the College World Series.
For Jessica and Victor, the Black and Gold road trip was just one of dozens they’ve made together ever since Jessica was too young to hold her head up, let alone cheer. She attended her first Vandy-Tennessee football game when she was just two months old.
Jessica’s parents divorced when she was in kindergarten and she grew up with her dad, a Vanderbilt alum and huge Commodore fan. The walls of their house in Chattanooga have always been plastered with Vanderbilt team posters picked up at Dore Jam or Memorial Gym or Hawkins Field.
Hitting the road to follow the Commodores became their favorite way to spend time together with long conversations about life mixed in with Vanderbilt sports trivia and tales of games gone by. They’ve driven all over the country following Vanderbilt football, basketball, soccer, baseball and lacrosse teams.
From 2015-2019, they attended 60 of 63 Vanderbilt football games.
“The most important reward for all the travel is the time with my dad,” Miller said. “It’s such a fun, unique, emotional adventure to go to the away game stadiums, visit the campuses, deal with the fans and see the traditions at other universities.
“I know I will cherish these memories and experiences for such a long time. Especially now with the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re not able to make our trips and I realize how much I miss spending 10 hours in the car with my dad and just making memories with my family.”
While there’s a heavy dose of sentimentality to their father-daughter trips together, there’s also good old-fashioned Commodore pride. She loves wearing her Black and Gold into hostile territory.
“On a personal level I enjoy seeing the opposing fans see me,” Miller said. “I like showing up and having them say, ‘Here’s a Vanderbilt fan who showed up and she’s serious.’ I make sure I always make eye contact with as many of the opposing teams’ fans as I can. It’s my way of saying, ‘We’re here, we’re serious, we are just as serious as you guys are.’
“Being a Vanderbilt fan, you kind of sign up to be the underdog, to have a toughness about you. I really take that on and relish that status.”
With all the trips she’s made, Miller says one of her favorite Vanderbilt memories came on one of the rare occasions she wasn’t able to travel to a road game. It was November 1995 and while Miller was in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Vanderbilt was in Knoxville to take on the Volunteers and hoping to snap a 22-game losing streak against their in-state rival.
“I went to my aunt’s house to watch the game, but my brother was at the game. And on the last Tennessee drive, I was talking to him on the phone. He was ahead of what we were seeing on TV so my aunt and I held our breath watching the TV while trying to cheat ahead and get information from my brother,” Miller said. “When Tennessee turned the ball over, my brother yelled, ‘It’s over! We won!’ and then we lost the connection.
“My aunt and I were jumping up and down yelling, ‘We won?’ because on our TV it was still UT ball and third down. When that game was over my aunt and I stood in her living room hugging and crying. And my dad called me from Chattanooga crying. Now beating Tennessee is a regular thing, but that moment was very special for all of us.”
For the Millers, those special Vanderbilt moments are all a part of being in the family.
“And I wouldn’t trade them for anything,” Miller said.
