A Lasting Legacy: Dorman’s Miller Honors Brother In Senior Season

Photos Courtesy Dorman High School/Om Patel

Dorman’s first touchdown in their game against Riverside was just a simple football play, and a thing of beauty.

A defensive stand got the Cavaliers the ball at their own 33. Dorman’s rugged rushing attack went to work behind Nick Means and Isaac Tate – 15 yards, seven, nine, two – all the way down to Riverside’s 24.

Meek Slydell faked yet another run, kept the ball, rolled out to his right and fired to Kamdyn Miller. Miller used a block on the visitors’ sideline, leapt a defender at the one-yard line, and flew into the end zone for Dorman’s first passing TD of the season.

“It was just a simple bootleg,” Dorman coach Jake Morris said of the play. “I think it’s huge for Kam. He’s been kind of waiting for his opportunity, and we’ve tried to get the ball to him. That one worked out perfectly, and I think it’s a weight off his shoulders. And I think Keegan would’ve loved it.”

By all accounts, nobody would’ve been happier about the score than Kamdyn’s oldest brother.

Keegan didn’t get a senior season. Kamdyn’s making sure his brother is honored this year.

“He really inspired me a lot,” Kamdyn said. “I want to celebrate his life in all that I do.”

ILLNESS TURNS TO TRAGEDY

The oldest of three boys, Keegan grew up playing football, baseball, and basketball. But his true sports love was on the gridiron.

“He absolutely loved playing football,” Allison Miller said of her son. “He was a wide receiver, and he said he had the best hands on the team. He did not lack confidence. He enjoyed the game, he actually played at Chapman and Dorman, and he was fortunate to be coached by some really great men at both schools. He really just lived for Friday nights, and just enjoyed it.”

Morris was one of those coaches who meant so much to Keegan.

“I had Keegan when he was in middle school at Gable, both in 7th and 8th grades,” Morris said with a grin. “I’d come home late, my wife would ask me why, and I’d just say ‘Keegan’. 

The confidence, the outgoing personality, and the million-dollar smile were all constants.So, when Keegan began to feel sick in early 2020, the Millers didn’t worry a whole lot at first.

“He’d been feeling sick with sinus pressure, a headache, typical sinus infection symptoms,” Allison said. “He just kept telling us that his head hurt, his face hurt, his nose hurt. We did the over-the-counter medicines and all of that stuff, and he just wasn’t feeling better.”

That wasn’t at all in character for Keegan, Allison said.

“He’s not one to complain,” she said. “I can count on one hand how many times he was truly sick. He was just a healthy kid.”

When her healthy child wasn’t getting better, Allison made an appointment with his pediatrician. 

“You don’t always see your primary care doctor when you’re sick, and Keegan didn’t,” she said. “The doctor just said it was viral, and to let it run it’s course, and so that was that. I took him the next day to urgent care across town and even second-guessed the doctor, and they didn’t like that. They just kind of dismissed us to the same thing – there’s nothing wrong with him. Keep giving him the medicines you’re giving him. It’s just a cold. It’s viral. It’ll run its course.”

The next morning, Keegan seemed a little better. The Millers went to Kam’s D6 Little League basketball game at Dorman, and when they returned home Keegan was up watching television. He went back to bed to rest for the remainder of the day. Joey left for work the next morning at 6:15. At 6:45 Allison went to Keegan’s room to check on her son. He was having a stroke.

“Just a matter of a few days is how fast it went from ‘oh, your son has a cold’ to him having a stroke in front of me and me calling 911,” she said.

Keegan’s illness had turned into bacterial meningitis. He was rushed into emergency brain surgery, then to the PICU unit, followed by an emergency craniotomy due to swelling in his brain.

Days later, he was gone. But that’s not where Keegan’s story ended. In fact, that started his legacy.

LEAVING A LEGACY

That legacy started four months to the day before, when Keegan went to get his driver’s license. 

“We were at the DMV, and he looked at the organ donation box and looked at me and said ‘what do I need these for?’, and he checked the box,” Allison said. “That was all on him.”

The impact was immediately felt.

“That was his last wish, to help people,” she said. “Not many people get to honor their child’s last wish, and we did. He saved four lives with five major organs and then hundreds of others with bones and tissues and his heart valves. We’ve met three out of the four recipients of his major organs and have good relationships with them.”

Now, the Millers are both organ donors (Joey has been for a while), and they work closely with both Sharing Hope and Donate Life, two prominent organ procurement associations in the state.

While Keegan’s presence is still felt through his legacy of organ donation, his brothers feel it, too. Kayden, the Millers middle son, was closer in age to Keegan, and had more time growing up with him. Kamdyn was in sixth grade when his brother died.

“He was still little,” Allison said. “And I feel like he just missed out so much on his brother. But he has great memories. Keegan was his go-to to throw the ball to and run routes. Keegan would have him out there running routes at six, seven, eight years old. And I think that’s always in the back of his mind. He wants the cleats that look like what Keegan would have had. He has the same kind of football swag and style. Keegan didn’t get to play his senior season out here, and for Kam to get to do that, he doesn’t take it for granted. And we’re proud of him.”

Little brother isn’t so little anymore. Kam is 5-foot-11 and close to 250 pounds, playing tight end for the Cavaliers. He’s dedicated his senior season to his brother’s memory.

And Morris said that the personality differences aren’t really that different after all.

“The difference in the two is there, but really they have the same personality,” Morris said. “They both love the game. They both want to get after it. Kamdyn is a tremendous young man. He’s having a great senior season for us. Being able to be with him and experience that with him, especially now after I just lost my dad, seeing that senior season with him and with Allison and Joey has just been awesome.”

Not much, though, has been more awesome than last Friday’s touchdown. 

Kevin Harrison has a longtime connection with the Miller family, coaching the boys through little league and standing by the family during Keegan’s illness. Among many other hats, he’s the substitute color commentator for Dorman’s radio crew. He was on the call for Kamdyn’s score.

“The Miller family is really special to me,” he said. “I’ve had the opportunity to coach all of their boys and walked with them through the darkest time in their lives when Keegan passed. When I saw the pass over to Kam, a lot of emotions ran through my voice on the radio. I had seen that same pass go over to Keegan so many times. When Kam rumbled into the end zone and hit the pylon, I know Keegan was grinning from ear to ear looking down.”

In the stands, Allison and Joey were losing it, in the best possible way.

“I had started recording on my phone before the play,” she said. “Joey and I knew if Meek could get the ball to him, he would score. The feeling was just pure excitement and love. I knew he was beaming and proud and that makes my heart burst with pride for him. I looked over at Joey and saw the tears through my own tears. Then the texts started coming in. One of his friends came running down the bleachers to us. They truly all know how much that means to Kam. It wasn’t so much the touchdown, but the outpouring of love from the friends that are our family and community. They were all happy for our child and proud of him.”

Allison said the moment was a long time coming.

“I almost dropped my phone recording, because at that moment you knew it was happening,” she said. “We were jumping and hollering and crying all at the same time. He started playing football at four, and tackle at five. He has worked so hard. It’s an honor for him to wear Dorman on his jersey and to play with his friends.”

Morris said Kamdyn’s story is something that helps him lead, even if that leadership is quiet.

“It’s extremely valuable,” he said. “Kamdyn has experienced stuff in life that none of us want to. He’s come out the other end of it, he’s tougher, he’s stronger for it. But he also continues that legacy of always remembering Keegan, and of always being there for his parents. If he’s strong enough to do that, he can handle the locker room, too. He’s not a very loud outspoken guy, but they know that when he talks he’s always directly to the point. I think that’s invaluable to have.”

The Millers feel the connection, particularly through the game that the boys love so much.

“It’s hard,” Allison said. “Football in general is hard, because Keegan loved it so much and he wants to make Keegan proud. And we tell him if he had a fourth of Keegan’s confidence, he’d be unstoppable because he’s a huge kid. But he’s just so humble, and so smart in the classroom. He’s dedicated and he doesn’t really want the spotlight. We have to stay after him about posting his HUDL, for instance. His social media is always about sharing attention that others are getting. And I love that. But the day’s coming that his face is going to be on all of their shares, too. Because he works hard, and there’s no question that good things are coming for him. We’re very proud of him.”