(Video courtesy of the Dallas Mavericks)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The circumstance does indeed seem hard to believe.
But on Thursday at Memorial Gymnasium there was Jerry Stackhouse and there was Carlee Miller. Together again 14 years after having first met.
“I can’t believe it either,” Miller said. “It’s so wild.”
Miller, a 20-year-old child development major and sophomore at Vanderbilt, first met Stackhouse in Southlake, Texas, in 2006. As a first grader, Miller entered an essay for the Dallas Morning News and Dairy MAX “Take Jerry Stackhouse to School” contest.
Her submission – a poem – about how Stackhouse fueled her athletic spirit was chosen as the winner out of more than 600 entries.
An excerpt: “I love chocolate milk and milkshakes, so the basketball plays I can make. I love nachos, cereal and macaroni with lots of cheese, every day at school I drink milk and say please.”
As the rules of the contest stated for the winner, Stackhouse was on his way to meet Miller and her family and take the young pupil to school for a day. Miller remembers watching from a front window as Stackhouse arrived in a limousine and as he came into her house, met her family and autographed the No. 42 Dallas Mavericks jersey Miller was wearing that day.
Then the former NBA star and Miller were off to Carroll Elementary where Miller got to introduce the local hero to a school assembly. Stackhouse then went to Miller’s class and spoke to her classmates.
Flash forward to April.
News began to circulate that Vanderbilt had hired Stackhouse to become its next men’s basketball coach.
“I was like this is just such a wild coincidence,” Miller said. “I remember telling my friends about it here and they thought it was so cool.”
A few weeks ago, after Miller had attended a handful Vandy games to watch Stackhouse and the Commodores in action, she took the initiative to try to (re)meet Stackhouse. She was able to connect with Adell Harris, the program’s chief of staff, who invited Miller out to a workout.
“I kind of explained the situation and sent some of the pictures from when I was little,” Miller said. “From there we worked it out and she was so gracious to let me come to practice and meet him.
“It was so cool. It was so wonderful to meet him – and he remembered meeting me all those years ago and doing that. It was just wonderful to talk to him and see him.”
Miller said she’ll continue to come support Stackhouse and the Commodores as well as continuing to heed some recent advice from the basketball veteran – some of the same advice she first heard in 2006.
“He just encouraged me,” she said. “He was just very kind and wants me to keep doing well in school.”
Chad Bishop covers Vanderbilt for VUCommodores.com. Follow him @MrChadBishop.
