Elwin Miles reached what could be considered the pinnacle of the business profession on the Grand Strand.
He was the director of store development for 13 years for Waccamaw Pottery, which grew to become the largest shopping complex in the area, then spent seven years as the chief operating officer for Burroughs & Chapin Co., the largest and most influential company in the area.
But as his career was winding down he gravitated to the business and activity that he really loved – golf – and he spent the last two decades of his life with positions and a role in the Myrtle Beach golf market.
Miles died last week at the age of 73 at MUSC hospital in Florence after being diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), a rare autoimmune disease.
His funeral service is scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday at Ocean View Baptist Church at 7300 N. Kings Highway in Myrtle Beach, and visitation will follow at 3 p.m. at the church.
Contributing to the golf industry
After leaving B&C, Cleo McElwin (Elwin) Miles spent 14 years from 2003-17 as COO of Mystical Golf, which owned and operated The Witch Golf Links, Man O’War Golf Club and The Wizard Golf Links. The Witch closed late in 2021, and the other two courses endure.
Miles brought to the golf industry a warm congeniality exhibited by a big smile that seemed everpresent.
“You couldn’t ask for a better dad. He was a really great man,” said Miles’ son, Mackey. “He loved the Myrtle Beach golf community and he loved talking about the golf courses. . . . He was very personable and loved to talk to people. He just really enjoyed the social aspect of the tournaments, seeing people and talking to everyone that played.”
In 2017, he created MM Golf and Travel with Mackey, which creates and operates golf tournaments and sells golf packages that combine tee times with lodging.
Mackey said he intends to continue operating MM Golf and Travel. Its multiple tournaments a year on the Strand and surrounding region are mostly two- and four-person scrambles, and many contribute to charities.
“We got to obviously spend a lot of time together, especially the last five or six years, so that was nice,” said Mackey, who leaned on his father’s knowledge and expertise in golf and business. “Running the golf tournaments was something we really enjoyed doing as a father-son. We really had a great time doing it.”
While at Mystical Golf, Miles developed comprehensive websites and database systems to contribute to and promote golf and golf package sales.
He was heavily involved in B&C’s golf ventures as well in his seven years as COO from 1996-2003, as the company grew to own five and operate a total of 10 courses before merging with Myrtle Beach National Co. in 2012.
On his Linked.com page, Miles said he was involved in the creation of a management division to manage courses not owned by the company, creation of a golf package company to manage hundreds of condos and a marketing coop with 14 courses, and development of a call center and online travel and booking engines.
Miles was an avid and solid golfer who was right-handed but played left-handed, and he and Mackey were the gross champions of the 2007 National Father & Son Team Classic on the Grand Strand, which annually attracts several hundred teams. “He was really proud of that,” Mackey said.
Golf was also responsible for Miles meeting his wife of 13 years, Jackie. Miles became a widower in 2009 when he lost his first wife, Brenda. In late August 2010 he was at the Myrtle Beach World Amateur Handicap Championship expo at the convention center, and one of the vendors represented a singles golf dating website.
Miles joined the service and found Jackie on it. They met in person in October 2010 and married about a year later. She saw first hand the pride and joy Miles garnered from being in the golf business.
“Somebody could call Elwin from Timbuktu, and he could tell them every hole on every course,” Jackie said. “I used to listen to him on the phone and I’d just be like, ‘Wow.’ . . . He really knew the market and loved all that.”
Miles’ regular golf group – organized as the Trash Talking Tour – was about a dozen players that played on Tuesdays in the summer.
Landing on the Grand Strand
Miles was a native of Florence and attended high school and college there, earning a business administration degree from Francis Marion University. He began his professional career in management at JC Penney and moved to Myrtle Beach in 1983 to work for Waccamaw Pottery.
Miles maintained a connection to retail business over the past couple decades.
After he left B&C in 2003 he created Custom Shirt Zone, which produced embroidery and silk screen apparel and promotional products.
In 2017, he added the companies Mac Pro Industries, which created promotional products, and Muddy Waters Design, which sold artwork and home interior design items at three retail vendor shops.
“He started his career in retail at JC Penney, so he just really liked retail and it was something he kept doing for fun,” Mackey said. “He liked the paintings and artwork and that kind of stuff.”
Miles’ faith played a big role in his life.
He was the son of a minister who became a member of First Baptist Church in Conway and later Ocean View church. He sang in a gospel quartet, taught a Sunday school class for decades, and wrote three faith-based books that are available through Amazon: ‘Life Made Simple,’ ‘What Faith is NOT,’ and ‘God Speaks! Are You Listening?’
“He was a very faith-based man,” Mackey said. “He wanted to share with other people and he was always trying to lead people to Christ. [The books] were just kind of his way of ministering to other people, giving out copies of his books.”
Twice a year for the past dozen years he organized a Carolina Forest neighborhood food drive to stock food banks.
In addition to Jackie and Mackey, Miles is survived by his stepson, Lee (wife Erin) Bowman; grandson, George Bowman; granddaughter, Mary Bowman, all of Winston Salem, NC; and brother, Danny (Linda) Miles of Florence, among others.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Rev. Cleo and Dorothy Miles; sister, Martha Kay Miles; brother, Ricky Miles, and late wife, Brenda Morris Miles.
Donations can be made to Ocean View church for a building fund.
