One-on-one with Mike Miller — NBA veteran turned restaurateur

By Mick Garry, for Pigeon605

On Monday night, Mitchell native Mike Miller, a veteran of 17 NBA seasons and one of South Dakota’s most famous athletes, was making his first official appearance as a restaurateur in Sioux Falls.

Ambling around Let It Fly, a new sports bar and restaurant located at The Bridges at 57th, he was among a large crowd of invitees sampling the food, beverages and an astounding number of televisions.

For a busy staff and all the people who showed up to see this robust foray into the Sioux Falls sports bar and restaurant scene — 80 TVs! — it amounted to that last scrimmage before the season opener.

It was not what one would call a “soft opening.” The place was bustling. Though Miller will not be behind the bar slinging gin and tonics every night, he wasn’t acting like a celebrity figurehead content to mail it in, either.

There has always been a level of accessibility within the state for an individual many would consider its most famous athlete. The guy shaking hands and slapping backs was “Skinny,” the Mitchell kid who is now 41 years old with almost two decades of professional basketball behind him. Many of the Sioux Falls residents who were there — the bar area was full by 7 p.m. — knew him personally.

“I’ve always wanted to come back here in some way, shape or form,” he said during a break from the action Monday night.

“You never know where life is going to take you, but a few years ago I got going in the restaurant business. I got involved with people who know how to run them and are great at it. As we worked through everything and got it to where we could run it successfully the way I wanted to do it, it seemed like a good time to come back here with a restaurant.”

Miller’s home base is the Memphis area these days. The original Let It Fly restaurant is located there. Sioux Falls is the second. There will be more restaurants soon, though only one where Miller’s parents live within a mile and can stop in as part of an afternoon walk.

“They’ll be here all the time,” Miller said, laughing. “They’ll pay because that’s the way my dad is. But if it was up to me, he wouldn’t be paying.”

The former site of Turks & Caicos Cabana Grille is situated in a part of town that didn’t exist when Miller first began making appearances at high school gyms in the area in the mid-1990s as a member of the Mitchell Kernels. It has since developed considerably, as has Miller, who has graduated from high school basketball prodigy to NBA star to businessman in the span of a little more than two decades.

And no, he did not, as a freshman at Mitchell High School emerging as the kind of basketball player the state had never seen before, think someday he’d be opening an upscale sports bar and restaurant on 57th Street.

“I know I’ve been blessed beyond belief,” he said.

“For me to play 17 years in the league and do the things I’ve been able to do is unbelievable. You never know how your life is going to go, but from the beginning of my rookie year in the NBA and on from there, I always wanted to be a part of the South Dakota community. I really do think of South Dakota as one. To be a part of that community was something I wanted to do. But I wanted the timing to be right, and I wanted to make sure we’d do it right, so that when we come back, everyone enjoys it. The timing just happened to be now.’

To that end, Miller had the facility blessed Monday night by his dad’s parish priest, the Rev. Chuck Cimpl, the pastor at Holy Spirit Parish It was a role well cast by the Miller family. Cimpl, a big sports fan, is well schooled in the Miller legend and where it has gone over the years.

He referred to the well-traveled aspect of Miller’s career as he ended the blessing.

“Finally, Lord, I sprinkle this building with the blessing given to this holy water,” Cimpl said. “In the spirit of the name of this restaurant and in the spirit of its owner and favorite son from Mitchell — and from Florida, then Orlando, Memphis, Minnesota, Washington, Miami, Memphis again, Cleveland, Denver and now thankfully Sioux Falls — we ask this holy water to ‘let if fly’ upon all parts of this establishment.”

In Miller’s eyes, Cimpl was now part of the team.

“We’re a very Catholic family — we always have been,” he said. “We were very appreciative that he could do it. We can’t do this on our own. I’ve known that for a long, long time. Any help we can get is awesome.”

The connection to Miller will always be there for Let It Fly in Sioux Falls, but a day very soon will come where the food, the beverages and the environment are going to be what keep people coming back, not the well-known guy who so many people in the area remember as the best ever.

He talks like that’s a part of the challenge he and his partners are embracing.

“I do put my name on it, but it’s not about the name for me,” Miller said. “I’m doing this because it’s what I like to do. We talk a lot about the growth of this business. The most important thing is to give people what they want. That’s families and kids — come here and watch a game. Enjoy yourself. The food will be great, and the service will be great. If we take care of the people, we’ll be fine.”

Look inside Let It Fly – opening next week