This is the third in a Saturday series looking at the Class of 2011, scheduled for induction Nov. 9 at the Hyatt Regency Buffalo.

When her parents went to play golf on weekends, Cindy Miller wasn't interested in joining them.

"I was always dumped at the pool while they went out and played," she said. "I really didn't like it."

How things have changed. For Miller, now at 55 years old a former LPGA pro who will be inducted into the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame in November, golf is life.

Though she began taking lessons at age 15, Miller didn't really care for golf until her mother took her to an LPGA tournament at River Oaks on Grand Island when she was 17.

"That's when the dream hit," Miller remembers. "I saw Laura Baugh playing, and I thought, 'Oh man, this is what I want to do.'"

So she wrote to Golf Digest to ask which schools had a women's golf program. The University of Miami made the list, so Miller wrote them to inquire about a spot on the team.

There was just one problem: "I really wasn't good enough," she said. "The worst person on the golf team had a 5-handicap and mine was 13."

But a dream is a dream, so Miller went to Miami and made the team as a walk-on. The more she played, the better she got, and the change from freshman year to graduation was immense.

"I worked my butt off, needless to say," she said. "I ended up getting a scholarship the second year I was there, and I graduated an All-American, and we won the NCAA championships my junior and senior year. So that was kinda cool."

After her NCAA championships in 1977 and '78, Miller returned to her home state, where she won the New York State Amateur in 1978.

The following year, Miller won at the Lake Chabot Women's Open on the Women's Professional Golf Tour, earning her first professional victory and qualifying to compete on the LPGA Tour. She married PGA tour golfer Allen Miller in 1981.

"I went from LPGA tour player to PGA tour wife," she said.

When Allen retired from the tour in 1986, Miller moved back to Western New York, where she has been a golf instructor since, currently working out of the Wehrle Dome.

In 2000, Miller heard about the LPGA Legends tour, the women's senior circuit. "I saw that Nancy Lopez had shot an 85 in a tournament and made $3,000, so of course I immediately thought 'Well, I can shoot 85, and I want to get paid three grand, too,'" she said.

She still plays on the Legends tour and is 27th on the tour's career money list. "That's the beautiful thing about golf: It doesn't matter how old you are, you can always get better, there is no ceiling," Miller said.

Miller, the 2005 LPGA Northeast Section Player of the Year, has used her experience on the Legends tour to become a much-acclaimed golf instructor.

Miller is a Class A LPGA Teaching and Club Professional Division Member and was recently named the 2010 LPGA National Teacher of the Year in addition to being named to the 2001, 2006, 2007 and 2008 Top 50 Teachers in the Country by Golf for Women Magazine. Twice she has been voted by her peers as the LPGA Teacher of the Year for the Northeast.

"I have made my personal pursuit of my potential almost to be a living laboratory for my students," she said.

Miller was also listed in 2004 and 2005 as a Golf Magazine Top Teacher by Region and has been nominated to its prestigious Top 100 Teachers in America list. In 2010, she was listed among Golf Digest's Top 50 Women Teachers in America.

"Did I want to teach golf? No, I wanted to be a superstar and win the U.S. Open and the LPGA Championship," Miller said.

She credits her husband with helping her learn how to hit straight on purpose, and enjoys passing that knowledge on to others.

"Now I absolutely love helping total beginners solve it," she said. "The people that no one wants to help I love helping, because I feel like I have a gift, and no matter who you are you can always get better, so there's always hope."

In 2005, she made an appearance on the Golf Channel's Big Break III -- Ladies Only, along with nine others. She walked away with valuable experience golfing under pressure.

"Did I try to do this to get in the Hall? No, I did this because I'm a driven, competitive maniac," she said. "And I'm not done yet."

Today, in addition to playing on the Legends tour and teaching, Miller is part of the National Speakers Association, traveling around the country to inspire people to pursue their passion.

The 21st annual Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame awards dinner will be held at the Hyatt Regency Buffalo on Nov. 9. For tickets, call 888-2977 or go to www.gbshof.com.