Jim Miller jogs with the torch to light the FISU Winter World University Games cauldron in Lake Placid in 1972. (Provided photo — Jim Miller)

LAKE PLACID — When Nordic combined skier Jim Miller was chosen to light the cauldron to open the Lake Placid 1972 FISU World University Games, he was humbled and honored. A national champion from Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, Miller was proud to be named the U.S. flag-bearer at the previous FISU Games, in Rovaniemi, Finland in 1970, but this was different for the 20-something skier.

“I lived in Maine. Lake Placid was kind of like home turf,” he said.

Lake Placid will again host the winter edition of the FISU World University Games Jan. 12-22, 2023.

It will be the first time the winter edition will be held in the U.S. since 1972. That same year, officials met Miller at the gas station across from the Olympic Speed Skating Oval, where they explained the Opening Ceremony routine: jog with the torch around the oval’s infield, then up some steps, and wait for the signal to touch the flame to the cauldron.

As he trotted up the first set of stairs on the Lake Placid High School building’s hillside, the fuel dribbled down the torch and onto his gloved hand. Miller calmly kept jogging up the steps, torch aloft, while hurriedly brushing small flames from his glove.

Jim Miller (Provided photo — Jim Miller)

On a flat section, he slowed before his climb up the final 20 steps to the cauldron. His white wool uniform sweater caught fire.

“My whole arm was engulfed. My sweater was engulfed in flames,” Miller said.

Local volunteer firefighters on hand moved to stop him. “They said, ‘Your arm’s on fire — let’s put it out!'” Miller said. “And I said, ‘No way! I can’t let you put that out and have the flame go out! I’ll do it when I get back.'”

His sleeve still burning, Miller ascended the stairs within an enclosed column, two stories high and hidden from view. When he reached the top, he was dismayed to find how much higher the cauldron was situated.

“I thought, ‘Those idiots,'” he remembered, laughing. “They don’t know how small I was. I’m only 5-foot-4. I don’t know if I can reach it.” Fueled by emotion and adrenaline, Miller stretched the torch as far as he could and the flame caught. The cauldron lit.

“I looked out over that crowd — I just got chills and thought, ‘Wow, what an honor this is,'” Miller said. “When I lit it, people were cheering like crazy. I put out a yelp, too. I think I said, ‘Let the Games begin. Yahoo!'”

“(I) wanted to stay up there forever,” he said. But firefighters were yelling from below. “Get down, get down quick!”

Miller did, and they smothered his sleeve with a blanket. The FISU flame, however, would burn strong from above for the nine days of the Games.

He was unharmed. Miller can’t remember how he did in his competition (he did not medal). He would go on to compete in the 1975 FISU World University Games in Livigno, Italy, his third FISU Games.

After his competitive days ended, Miller spent part of his adult life as an executive in the Wyoming oil industry, then as a special education teacher and 30-year ski coach for the local club and high schools in Casper, Wyoming where he lives now.

Miller’s parents, Al and Ally, had everyone on skis as youngsters. His brother, Pat, was a Hall-of-Fame director of the University of Utah ski program. His sister, Leslie, and brother, Sandy, skied competitively at the collegiate and national level. His son, also named Jim, is a longtime USA Cycling coach and director.

Jim returned to Lake Placid as part of a small crew that worked the graveyard shift, raking and maintaining the Nordic trails during the 1980 Olympic Winter Games. His nephew attended Lake Placid’s National Sports Academy during high school. Jim keeps in touch with Lake Placid Olympian Joe Lamb.

Miller describes Lake Placid as “a friendly town and the crowds know about skiing. There were always crowds whether it was cross country or ski jumping. I always loved jumping off that jump. To this day, I still remember the rides that I had. So much fun in the Olympic Games. I wish I could do it now.”

Fifty-one years later, the FISU World University Games are back and so are the memories.

“(Lake Placid) still holds a “big, big place in my heart,” Miller said.