EVENTS
World Champion Team Roper, 1970, 1971
AQHA Trainer and Judge
Born in McAllen, Texas, in 1942, John J. Miller would continue a line of noted rodeo champions into three generations. His grandfather, Ben Johnson, Sr., won championship honors during in the 1920s, while his uncle, Ben Johnson, Jr., captured the world team-roping title in 1953.
While Miller did some bareback-bronc riding and steer wrestling, he specialized in team roping, calf roping and steer roping. He took roping titles throughout the West at venues such as Cheyenne, Prescott, Phoenix, Salinas and Tucson. He captured the world champion team-roping title in 1970 and 1971 and won the National Finals team-roping championship in 1973. In 1972 and 1973, Miller also was the PRCA reserve world champion steer roper.
Under the auspices of the American Quarter Horse Association, Miller later became a rope-horse trainer and judge, and he was resident trainer at the Lazy E Ranch/Arena in Guthrie, Oklahoma for a decade. Though now retired in Arizona, he is still considered by many to be “the best teacher of team roping.”
