Raymond Richard “Cal” Miller (b. 1917)
Cal Miller started out selling newspapers in Vancouver with great enthusiasm. He came to the Yukon around 1951 and was the head bartender at the '98 Hotel. He moved on to run the bar at Tourist Services when, in June 1952, it became the third bar to open in town.1) Miller was a colourful Whitehorse bartender, an affable extrovert, a member of the Kiwanis, and a leading citizen in a classless society.2) Miller bought the Capitol Hotel from Dick and Ivy White. At one time he had a giant bottle on the bar for donations to the Crippled Children's Hospital and every year the bottle filled with money which was sent off to the hospital.3)
When the SS Klondike was being moved to a new position further up the Yukon River in July 1966, Miller presented Chuck Morgan with some beer and a bottle of Captain Morgan rum. He supplied beer to Morgan’s crew every day as they dragged the SS Klondike along the streets of Whitehorse.4)
Cal Miller was inducted to the Sports Hall of Fame in 1980 as a supporter and builder of hockey, softball, dog mushing, soccer, basketball, bowling, and curling. Starting from his arrival in the Yukon, Miller was a strong supporter of midget hockey, women's and men's senior softball, little league ball, the Old Crow dog team, and the Capital Hotel's soccer, basketball, and bowling teams. He was responsible for sending the first curling team to compete outside the territory. Miller was a founder of the Arctic Winter Games and a member of the executive that sent the first Yukon team to the Canada Winter Games. Many sports benefitted from Cal Miller's generosity to get to where they are today.5)