“I think that Maury White had come up with the ‘Fabulous Few’ name earlier that season,’’ Millea said. “I just went with that on deadline.’’
Millea’s duties at the Strib changed in the mid-’90s: backing up on Wolves and Twins, later the Wild, covering the other team’s locker room for the Vikings. He was in Atlanta for a week doing Falcons stories before they came to the Metrodome for the NFC title game in January 1999.
“I was walking in from the parking lot in Atlanta, Dan Reeves, the Falcons coach, saw me as an unfamiliar face, walked over and introduced himself, and we talked for a while,’’ Millea said. “That’s not happening with NFL coaches today, I’d guess.’’
Millea was reassigned to covering high schools in 2006. “I was a little rattled by that for couple of days, and then discovered that I loved it,” he said.
As part of his duties, Millea would cover meetings of the Minnesota State High School League board. Dave Stead was the executive director — a time when the board would make a decision, with a policy not to publicly comment on those no matter how controversial.
Millea questioned the wisdom of this as a reporter, and so did Stead, eventually. He came to believe the MSHSL should start telling some of its stories and explain decisions on its website.
