First Boulder City football coach, airport exec Miles dies

Jace Radke

Friday, Dec. 28, 2001 | 9:40 a.m.

Hard work was something that Gordon Miles enjoyed, whether it was coaching football at Boulder City High School or running Clark County airports.

Miles, who in the 1960s ran the airfield that would become McCarran International Airport, died at Boulder City Hospital Wednesday. He was 88.

Miles' wife of 61 years, Dorothy, said her husband was always very active and gave his best effort in whatever he did.

"He wasn't afraid of hard work, and that really showed when he was coaching football," she said. "He really loved working with those boys and helped build the first football field in town."

Miles became Boulder City's first football and track coach in 1940, starting a football program that has since won 11 state championships.

Born in 1913 in Paso Robles, Calif., Miles later attended the University of Nevada in Reno, where he obtained a degree in mathematics in 1937. He then earned a master's degree in educational administration at the University of California before moving to Boulder City in 1940 to take a job as a math teacher.

Miles served with the U.S. Navy during World War II and was stationed in the Pacific. In 1945 he returned to Boulder City and went back to teaching and coaching.

Later he worked as a supervisor at Titanium Metals Corp. in Henderson before taking a job as assistant airport manager at McCarran Field in 1959. Miles then became airport manager for Clark County from 1960 to 1965.

Miles then worked for the government in management positions at airports on Guam and Wake Island during the Vietnam War.

When he returned to Boulder City in the early '70s, he worked in real estate until retiring over a decade ago.

Miles is survived by his wife; his sister, Mary Swanson of Port Orchard, Wash; two daughters, Barbara Boyd of Leesburg, Va., and Nancy Ward of Boulder City; and two grandchildren.

Services are scheduled at 2 p.m. Sunday at Palm Mortuary, 800 S. Boulder Highway, Henderson.