For a second, you just went blank. But then you realize the situation you are in. There’s a gun in your hand. In front of you lies a cold, lifeless body in a pool of blood. ‘Oh no…what did I do?’ The question pops up in your mind. What would you do now?… Get terrified, hide the body, get rid of the evidence, and think, “no one will know”? Or still, get scared but…in this situation call the police and tell what happened?
This is the exact situation larry miller found himself in in 1965.
In his recent interview Larry Miller, the chairman of Jordan Brand, revealed his darkest secrets. A secret which he will continue to regret no matter how much time passes.
“If I could go back and undo it, I would absolutely do that. I can’t. So all I can do is try to do what I can to help other people and try to maybe prevent this from happening to someone else.”
WHAT HAPPENED
What happened? Let’s go back to the 30th of September in the year 1965. Miller, then 16, with the other members of West Philadelphia’s Cedar Avenue gang( a gang he joined when he was 13), went out to seek revenge for one of their members who was killed( by stabbing) in a fight with another gang.
The 16-year-old shot the first man he and his fellow gang members came across. The man shot was later identified as 18-year-old Edward White.
There wasn’t any reason to do such a thing. It just happened.
“I was in a haze. Once it kind of set in, I was like, ‘Oh, shit, what have I done?’ It took years for me to understand the real impact of what I had done.”
He held on to this secret for 56 years. This incident was buried away. His close friends, his coworkers…no one knew.
Until now, when he revealed the whole story at sports illustrated on Wednesday.
He then further talked about his upcoming biography written by his daughter, Laila Lacy.
Before the secret was officially out in public, Miller talked about this incident with his friends and colleagues, including Phil Knight, founder of Nike, NBA commissioner Adam Silver, and the legendary Michael Jordan, whom he was especially nervous of.
“I was definitely nervous about sharing with him, just because I have so much respect and love for MJ,”
Although revealing this secret was a tough choice for Miller, he sure feels like a burden has been taken away from him.
“I feel the freedom now to be me.”
