Harry Miller is being recognized by the White House for his advocacy to promote mental health.
The former Ohio State offensive lineman will attend Joe Biden’s annual State of the Union address on Tuesday night as a guest of First Lady Jill Biden, the White House announced Tuesday morning.
Per a White House press release, Miller is one of 25 guests who were invited to attend the State of the Union in the First Lady’s viewing box “because they personify issues or themes to be addressed by the President in his speech, or they embody the Biden-Harris Administration’s policies at work for the American people.”
From the White House’s announcement:
Harry Miller (Upper-Arlington, Ohio)
Miller is a senior in mechanical engineering and a former football player for The Ohio State University. In 2022, he announced he would no longer continue to be a student-athlete to prioritize his mental health and has since become an advocate for mental health and emotional wellness. President Biden has named tackling the mental health crisis a key pillar of his Unity Agenda, laying out a strategy to transform how mental health is understood, perceived, accessed, treated, and integrated – in and out of health care settings. Since taking office, the Biden-Harris Administration has significantly increased federal government investments in mental health support for Americans across the country.
Miller retired from football last March after revealing that he had battled depression and suicidal thoughts before the 2021 season. Since then, Miller has become a public advocate for mental health, speaking on platforms such as NBC’s TODAY show and Ohio State’s Faces of Resilience banquet.
“As I was meeting with professionals over the past year, I realized that kids have all these posters of these great heroes who are big and muscular and in these beautiful poses that make them look strong and powerful. But I would really like a hero who was sitting on the curb, broken, worn out and beaten,” Miller told Eleven Warriors after that banquet in September. “Because I feel that way much more than I feel like a poster child, and that's the kind of hero I want. So I think that's why people need to talk.”
Now, Miller’s story will be highlighted on perhaps its biggest platform yet, as the State of the Union will be televised on all major broadcast networks beginning at 9 p.m. Tuesday.
“To see him get recognized like this at the White House and something of this magnitude and the type of people that he’s going to be around tonight is just tremendous,” Ryan Day, who has also been an advocate for mental health since he became Ohio State’s coach, told reporters Tuesday. “I’m just so proud of what he’s done. ... Harry sharing his story has made a huge impact.”
