The late Earl Miller, a Waldo native, enrolled at Southern State College (now SAU) in 1953. He became an employee at SAU in 1959 and served the university for over 45 years. Miller drove the university’s bus and served unofficially as the university’s goodwill ambassador until his unexpected death in 2005. Miller was the first-string bus driver, and was a starter from the day he picked up the bus off a ship in New Orleans in 1969. He put over a million miles on the bus and never had an accident or traffic ticket in his long career.

In 2003, Miller was the recipient of the Arkansas Gerontological Society’s Distinguished Senior Employee Award. The annual award recognizes employees 55 years and older. Miller quipped, “I was hoping they would give the award to an old person.” He received the SAU Alumni Association’s 2000 Lifetime Achievement Award, and was also named the Mary Anna King-Whitehead Outstanding SAU Employee of the Year, and was nominated for Employee of the Year for the state of Arkansas.

Miller was valuable on athletic trips as a veteran traveler, knowing the locations of stadiums, field houses, arenas, etc., in various cities, the best and quickest routes, and alternate roads, to reach destinations. He also never met a stranger and always knew someone at practically every stop.

A friendly and popular person around the SAU campus, he was credited with recruiting many students to enroll at Southern Arkansas on his numerous trips throughout the country.