‘It was just time’: Why Jay Miller retired as Wichita Wind Surge team president
Jay Miller’s phone hasn’t stopped buzzing since Thursday morning.
After 42 years working in the front office of professional baseball teams, including the last two as team president for the Wichita Wind Surge, the Chicago native announced his retirement on Thursday. No immediate replacement for Miller’s position was named.
Miller, 66, has worked for several other franchises over the course of the last four decades. He has lived in some cities much longer than he’s been in Wichita. But he said his time here will always hold a special place in his career.
“I absolutely loved the people of Wichita,” Miller told The Eagle. “They welcomed me back when I came in 2019 and I will never forget that. They made me feel like family back then and I feel like we’re related in 2024, so it’s nothing but great memories to take away from Wichita, Kansas.”
Miller is the last connection from the original front-office group that helped bring affiliated baseball back to Wichita and build Riverfront Stadium.
He originally came to Wichita in 2019 as the right-hand man to owner Lou Schwechheimer, but the coronavirus pandemic canceled what was supposed to have been the team’s inaugural season in 2020.
Then Schwechheimer, Miller’s close friend, died of complications caused by COVID-19 in July. Five months later, Miller resigned from his position and left Wichita before the team ever played a game in its new downtown ballpark.
“It’s no secret that when Lou died, things changed and I knew I probably needed to go,” Miller said. “But I always felt like I was going to come back. That’s kind of why I left quietly. Because I always knew I was coming back.”
When Diamond Baseball Holdings bought the franchise in December 2022 and reached out to Miller to gauge his interest in returning, the former team president was determined to finish the job that he and Schwechheimer set out to do in 2019.
Miller’s return to Wichita led to a surge in local enthusiasm about the ballpark. He made it more affordable for families to attend games, improved the fan experience inside the stadium and made genuine connections to fans and leaders in the community.
The past two seasons have seen Wichita go from owning one of the worst average attendance figures in Minor League Baseball to one of the best.
“I just love the fact that I got the chance to come back the second time,” Miller said. “It wasn’t in a real good place those first two years, so I’m just so pleased I got the chance to come back and really do what Lou and I promised.
“We hosted high school football games, all different kinds of events and concerts and festivals. We had high school baseball and college baseball, college football. All of those things that Lou and I talked about when we were here at the beginning, all of those things came to fruition.
“With all of the things going on around the stadium and everything that’s being built, this place is going to do nothing but keep going upwards. I feel like I was a part of that and that’s what makes me the most proud.”
It sounds as if Miller was happier than ever during his professional career, which begs the question: Why step away now?
He said it’s as simple as wanting to spend more time with his wife, Joy, and be around their children and grandchildren in the Dallas area.
He said he’s only missed a total of five home games from more than 3,000 over the span of a 42-year career in professional baseball. That’s part of what made him one of the best executives in the minors, but it also prevented him from spending quality time with his family.
That will change now, as Miller plans to return to the Dallas area and live in the “dream” log house that he and his wife built in 2014.
“My family surprised me at the last Saturday game of the year when we had a sell-out and all of my kids and grandkids came and surprised me,” Miller said. “My 13-year-old granddaughter told me she’s only seen me one time this year and said, ‘It’s time to come home.’ That really broke me up.
“So it was just time. I’m not the kind who is just going to sit around, so I’ll be back and help out with some things. But all of my years in baseball, it was always about the fans. That’s what kept me coming back and that’s what I’ll miss the most. I just loved the fans.”
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