The 'perfect' family tradition continues for the Miller's of Dexter FB

Dexter High School sophomore football player, Jaxon Miller, and his father, Gavin, a former Bearcat player, hold a photo of Gavin's father, Glenn 'Tank' Miller, at Charles Bland Stadium in Dexter recently. The three Miller's each played on an unbeaten (in regular season) Bearcat squad.

Tom Davis ~ Tdavis@semoball.com

There was no shortage of incredible feats achieved by the 2024 Dexter football program this past season. The Bearcats matched a program record for victories (11) and won the MSHSAA Class 3 District 1 championship, which was the first for the program in 13 seasons. However, a memorable triumph that, perhaps, will never be matched again, was attained by the Miller family.

Of the four unbeaten (in the regular season) Bearcat squads (1940, 1963, 1986, and 2024), the Miller family had an athlete on each but the 1940 team.

“(Jaxon) said ‘Dad, wouldn’t that be cool one day,’” Gavin Miller explained of his son, Jaxon Miller, “’One day, maybe, we could go undefeated. You went undefeated and ‘Papa Moose’ went undefeated, and I could.’”

It happened.

‘Papa Moose’ was Glenn Miller, who was the father of Gavin.

Glenn passed away in 2009 when Jaxon was less than a year old, and his son was a wide receiver on consecutive District championship teams in 1986 and 1987.

Glenn went by ‘Tank’ in his days as a Bearcat in the early 1960s, due to his 6-foot-5-inch, 250-pound frame.

Gavin and Jaxon inherited Glenn’s love of Dexter and football, but not his size, so they have adapted to speed positions, as opposed to playing on both the offensive and defensive fronts like ‘Tank’ excelled at.

“Jaxon is a football fanatic,” Gavin said of the sophomore safety from this year’s team. “He knew that my dad played college football (at Arkansas State). He knew that I played at (Evangel University).

“He is just a football guy.”

Perhaps by some strange sense of athletic osmosis, Jaxon has also been able to inherit the acumen of what it takes to succeed on the field.

Glenn’s teams won 26 of 29 games in three seasons, including three consecutive Little Six Conference championships.

Individually, ‘Tank’ was an All-Conference defensive tackle from that 10-0 team in 1963.

In Gavin’s final three seasons, Dexter won 27 of 29 games, including a 9-0 regular season in 1986 (the Bearcats finished 11-1 that season). Two of those teams advanced to the MSHSAA Class 4 semifinal (1986) and quarterfinal (1987), respectively.

Gavin was an All-SEMO Conference selection for three consecutive seasons, while Jaxon was recently named as a First Team All-SEMO Conference selection.

“My son is driven by wanting to do a lot of stuff that I did,” Gavin said. “All-Conference for three years. All-District for three years. He wants to be an All-State (selection). He wants to go to a semifinal.”

Following the Bearcats’ quarterfinal loss to Lift For Life on Saturday, Jaxon’s first comment to his dad was that he didn’t match his accomplishment of advancing one more round in the postseason.

“I told him that they didn’t have anything to hang their heads about,” Gavin said.

Gavin explained that his father didn’t coach his son from the bleachers, except in the form of acting respectfully to the officials and Dexter coaches. He said that he tries to do the same with Jaxon, but he’ll sometimes give him some pointers on this and that when they are at home.

“I listen to him,” Jaxon said of his father’s advice. “Sometimes. Sometimes, I get mad (and) I think I know more than he does.”

It’s worth noting that Jaxon isn’t different than any other 16-year-old in the world, in that regard.

Interestingly, both Jaxon and Gavin saw the potential for this rare achievement occurring before the Bearcats had even begun training camp in August.

“I knew we could,” Jaxon said of going unbeaten. “It was there. We had the players, and we had the coaches to do it.”

Both of the Miller’s said the win over state-ranked Southern Boone in late September was the biggest obstacle that had to be overcome.

“Our work ethic,” Jaxon said of what set this team apart. “We all worked hard. We lifted hard in the weight room. We listened to the coaches.

“We did what was asked of us.”

A Miller always has, and always will.