Look who is back to lead the Wind Surge under new ownership — and keep some promises

Diamond Baseball Holdings finalized its purchase of the Wichita Wind Surge Wednesday, and with it the company has named a new president who already is familiar to a lot of Wichitans.

That’s because Jay Miller was the first Wind Surge president under late owner Lou Schwechheimer.

When Diamond CEO Peter Freund called Miller to gauge his interest in returning, Miller said, “My response was, ‘When do I start?’ ”

He said he loves Wichita and the people here, including Wagonmasters, City Council members and Wind Surge sponsors that he secured for Riverfront Stadium.

“I know all those guys very well, and I had friendships with each of them,” he said. “I’m just going to pick up where I left off.”

Miller was president until December 2020. He left five months after his longtime friend Schwechheimer’s death from COVID-19.

“The whole dynamic just kind of changed.”

While Miller won’t discuss why he left, he said he has kept up with the numerous news stories about broken promises at the ballpark.

He said if anyone feels like he made a promise that hasn’t been kept, “I want them to call me out.”

Miller said if Schwechheimer had lived, “Everything we promised would have happened.”

For decades, Schwechheimer and Miller were competitors.

“We were great friends for probably 30-plus years across the table from each other,” Miller said.

As owners of Minor League teams, they would compete to see who could draw the most fans.

As Schwechheimer prepared to move his New Orleans Baby Cakes to Wichita after the 2019 season, he had to keep pressing Miller to join the team. Miller said he kept refusing because he was happy where he was in Texas.

“But then I came and visited, and I said, ‘Let’s do this.’ ”

Miller, who was the first Wind Surge employee — even arriving ahead of Schwechheimer — said he’s opened previous stadiums as well.

“I realize the impact you can have on a community.”

Most recently, Miller had been consulting for teams and had accepted a job at Texas A&M to teach sports management in January.

“When Peter called, that all changed,” Miller said.

“I’m so excited, really, to finish what I started.”