William Mervin Mills or "Billy" Mills (born June 30, 1938) is the second
Native AmericanNative Americans in the United States is the phrase that describes indigenous peoples from North America now encompassed by the continental United States, including parts of Alaska and the island state of Hawaii. They comprise a large number of distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of...
ever to win an
OlympicThe Olympic Games are a major international event of summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes compete in a wide variety of events. The Games are currently held every two years, with Summer and Winter Olympic Games alternating. Originally, the ancient Olympic Games were held in...
gold medalA gold medal is typically the highest medal awarded for achievement in a non-military field. The concept comes from the military, initially with a simple recognition of military rank, and later decorations for admission to military orders dating back to medieval times.Since the eighteenth century,...
.
He accomplished this feat in the
10,000 meter runThe men's 10000 metres was the longest of the seven men's track races in the Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics program in Tokyo. It was held on 14 October. 29 athletes from 17 nations entered, with 6 not starting the first round.-Final:...
at the
1964 Tokyo OlympicsThe 1964 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVIII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held in Tokyo, Japan in 1964. Tokyo had been awarded with the organisation of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this honor was subsequently passed to Helsinki because of Japan's...
making him the only
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
ever to win the Olympic gold in this event.
A former United States Marine, Billy Mills is a member of the
OglalaThe Oglala Lakota or Oglala Sioux live in the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota bordering Nebraska and 50 miles east of Wyoming, the second-largest reservation in the United States. The reservation has broadly three parts, pine covered hills and ridges, grassy plains and a desert area...
Lakota (
SiouxSioux are a Native American and First Nations people. The term can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or any of the nation's many dialects...
)
TribeA tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.Many anthropologists use the term to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups .Some theorists hold that...
.
His 1964 victory is considered one of the greatest of Olympic upsets.
William Mervin Mills ("Billy") was born in
Pine Ridge, South DakotaPine Ridge is a census-designated place in and the most populous community of Shannon County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 3,171 at the 2000 census....
, a
Native AmericanNative Americans in the United States is the phrase that describes indigenous peoples from North America now encompassed by the continental United States, including parts of Alaska and the island state of Hawaii. They comprise a large number of distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of...
(Oglala Lakota (Sioux)), and was raised on the
Pine Ridge Indian ReservationThe Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is an Oglala Sioux Native American reservation located in the U.S. state of South Dakota...
.
He was orphaned at the age of 13.
Mills took up running while attending the Haskell Institute, which is now known as
Haskell Indian Nations UniversityHaskell Indian Nations University is a four-year degree-granting university in Lawrence, Kansas, which offers post-high school education to members of federally recognized Native American tribes in the United States. Students are required to pay semester fees similar to many other colleges in the...
in
Lawrence, KansasLawrence is the 6th largest city in the U.S. State of Kansas and the county seat of Douglas County. Located in northeastern Kansas, Lawrence is the anchor city of the Lawrence, Kansas Metropolitan Area which encompasses all of Douglas County...
.
Both a boxer and a runner in his youth, Mills gave up boxing to focus on running.
He attended the
University of KansasThe University of Kansas , the State of Kansas Flagship university , is a public research university with campuses located in Lawrence, Kansas City, and Overland Park, Kansas with the main campus being located atop Mount Oread in Lawrence...
on an athletic scholarship.
He was named a
NCAAThe National Collegiate Athletic Association is a voluntary association of about 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States and Canada...
All-AmericaAn All-American "team" is an honorary sports team composed of outstanding amateur players—those considered the best players of a specific season for each team position—who in turn are given the honorific All-America and typically referred to as All-American athletes, or simply...
cross-country runner three times and in 1960 he won the individual title in the
Big EightThe Big Eight Conference, a former NCAA-affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored American football, was formed in January 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association by its charter member schools: the University of Kansas, University of Missouri,...
cross-country championship.
The University of Kansas track team won the 1959 and 1960 outdoor national championships while Mills was on the team.
After graduating with a degree in
Physical EducationPhysical education or gymnastics is a course taken during primary and secondary education that encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting...
, Mills entered the
United States Marine CorpsThe United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States armed forces responsible for providing force projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to rapidly deliver combined-arms task forces. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
.
He was a First Lieutenant in the
Marine Corps Reserves when he competed in the 1964 Olympics.
Billy Mills qualified for the
1964 Summer OlympicsThe 1964 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVIII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held in Tokyo, Japan in 1964. Tokyo had been awarded with the organisation of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this honor was subsequently passed to Helsinki because of Japan's...
on the U.S.
William Mervin Mills or "Billy" Mills (born June 30, 1938) is the second
Native AmericanNative Americans in the United States is the phrase that describes indigenous peoples from North America now encompassed by the continental United States, including parts of Alaska and the island state of Hawaii. They comprise a large number of distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of...
ever to win an
OlympicThe Olympic Games are a major international event of summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes compete in a wide variety of events. The Games are currently held every two years, with Summer and Winter Olympic Games alternating. Originally, the ancient Olympic Games were held in...
gold medalA gold medal is typically the highest medal awarded for achievement in a non-military field. The concept comes from the military, initially with a simple recognition of military rank, and later decorations for admission to military orders dating back to medieval times.Since the eighteenth century,...
.
He accomplished this feat in the
10,000 meter runThe men's 10000 metres was the longest of the seven men's track races in the Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics program in Tokyo. It was held on 14 October. 29 athletes from 17 nations entered, with 6 not starting the first round.-Final:...
at the
1964 Tokyo OlympicsThe 1964 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVIII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held in Tokyo, Japan in 1964. Tokyo had been awarded with the organisation of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this honor was subsequently passed to Helsinki because of Japan's...
making him the only
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
ever to win the Olympic gold in this event.
A former United States Marine, Billy Mills is a member of the
OglalaThe Oglala Lakota or Oglala Sioux live in the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota bordering Nebraska and 50 miles east of Wyoming, the second-largest reservation in the United States. The reservation has broadly three parts, pine covered hills and ridges, grassy plains and a desert area...
Lakota (
SiouxSioux are a Native American and First Nations people. The term can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or any of the nation's many dialects...
)
TribeA tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.Many anthropologists use the term to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups .Some theorists hold that...
.
His 1964 victory is considered one of the greatest of Olympic upsets.
Biography
William Mervin Mills ("Billy") was born in
Pine Ridge, South DakotaPine Ridge is a census-designated place in and the most populous community of Shannon County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 3,171 at the 2000 census....
, a
Native AmericanNative Americans in the United States is the phrase that describes indigenous peoples from North America now encompassed by the continental United States, including parts of Alaska and the island state of Hawaii. They comprise a large number of distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of...
(Oglala Lakota (Sioux)), and was raised on the
Pine Ridge Indian ReservationThe Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is an Oglala Sioux Native American reservation located in the U.S. state of South Dakota...
.
He was orphaned at the age of 13.
Mills took up running while attending the Haskell Institute, which is now known as
Haskell Indian Nations UniversityHaskell Indian Nations University is a four-year degree-granting university in Lawrence, Kansas, which offers post-high school education to members of federally recognized Native American tribes in the United States. Students are required to pay semester fees similar to many other colleges in the...
in
Lawrence, KansasLawrence is the 6th largest city in the U.S. State of Kansas and the county seat of Douglas County. Located in northeastern Kansas, Lawrence is the anchor city of the Lawrence, Kansas Metropolitan Area which encompasses all of Douglas County...
.
Both a boxer and a runner in his youth, Mills gave up boxing to focus on running.
He attended the
University of KansasThe University of Kansas , the State of Kansas Flagship university , is a public research university with campuses located in Lawrence, Kansas City, and Overland Park, Kansas with the main campus being located atop Mount Oread in Lawrence...
on an athletic scholarship.
He was named a
NCAAThe National Collegiate Athletic Association is a voluntary association of about 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States and Canada...
All-AmericaAn All-American "team" is an honorary sports team composed of outstanding amateur players—those considered the best players of a specific season for each team position—who in turn are given the honorific All-America and typically referred to as All-American athletes, or simply...
cross-country runner three times and in 1960 he won the individual title in the
Big EightThe Big Eight Conference, a former NCAA-affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored American football, was formed in January 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association by its charter member schools: the University of Kansas, University of Missouri,...
cross-country championship.
The University of Kansas track team won the 1959 and 1960 outdoor national championships while Mills was on the team.
After graduating with a degree in
Physical EducationPhysical education or gymnastics is a course taken during primary and secondary education that encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting...
, Mills entered the
United States Marine CorpsThe United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States armed forces responsible for providing force projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to rapidly deliver combined-arms task forces. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
.
He was a First Lieutenant in the
Marine Corps Reserves when he competed in the 1964 Olympics.
1964 Olympics
Billy Mills qualified for the
1964 Summer OlympicsThe 1964 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVIII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held in Tokyo, Japan in 1964. Tokyo had been awarded with the organisation of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this honor was subsequently passed to Helsinki because of Japan's...
on the U.S. Track and Field Team in the 10,000 m and the marathon.
The favorite in 1964 was
Ron ClarkeRonald William Clarke is a former Australian athlete, mayor and writer, and one of the best known middle and long distance runners in the 1960s. He is notable for setting seventeen world records....
of
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
who held the world record.
The runners expected to challenge him were defending champion
Pyotr BolotnikovPyotr Grigorevich Bolotnikov is a former Soviet athlete, one of the world's best stayers of the early 1960s, winner of 10,000 m at the 1960 Summer Olympics....
of the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
, and
Murray HalbergSir Murray Gordon Halberg, ONZ, MBE is a former New Zealand middle distance runner.A rugby player in his youth, Halberg suffered a severe injury during a game, leaving his left arm crippled...
of
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
, who had won the 5000 m in
1960The 1960 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held in Rome, Italy, in 1960...
.
Mills was a virtual unknown.
He had finished second in the U.S. Olympic trials.
His time in the preliminaries was a full minute slower than Clarke's.
Indeed, Clarke set the tone of the race.
His tactic of surging every other lap appeared to be working.
Halfway through the race only four runners were still with Clarke:
Mohammed GammoudiMohammed Tlili ben Abdallah , also known as Gammoudi, is a former Tunisian athlete, and winner of 5000 metres at the 1968 Summer Olympics....
of
TunisiaTunisia , officially the Tunisian Republic , is a country located in North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and Libya to the southeast. Tunisia is located southwest of the island of Sicily and south of Sardinia. Its size is almost 165,000 km² with an estimated population of just...
,
Mamo WoldeDegaga Wolde was an Ethiopian long distance track and road running athlete and was winner of the marathon at the 1968 Summer Olympics....
of
EthiopiaEthiopia , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country situated in the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Sudan to the west, Kenya to the south, Somalia to the east and Djibouti to the northeast. Its size is 1,100,000 km² with an...
,
Kokichi Tsuburayawas a Japanese athlete who competed mainly in the Marathon.He was the 3rd lieutenant of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force....
of
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, and Mills.
Tsuburaya, the local favorite, lost contact first, then Wolde.
With two laps to go only two runners were still with Clarke.
On paper, it seemed to be Clarke's race.
He had run a world record time of 28:15.6 while neither Gammoudi nor Mills had ever run under 29
minuteA minute is a unit of measurement of time or of angle.The minute is a unit of time equal to 1/60th of an hour or 60 seconds. In the UTC time scale, a minute occasionally has 59 or 61 seconds; see leap second...
s.
Mills and Clarke were running together with Gammoudi right behind as they entered the final lap.
They were lapping other runners and, down the backstretch, Clarke was boxed in.
He pushed Mills once, then again.
Then Gammoudi pushed them both and surged into the lead as they rounded the final curve.
Clarke recovered and began chasing Gammoudi while Mills appeared to be too far back to be in contention.
Clarke failed to catch Gammoudi but Mills sprinted past them both.
His winning time of 28:24.4 was almost 50
secondThe second , sometimes abbreviated sec., is the name of a unit of time, and is the International System of Units base unit of time...
s faster than he had ever run before and set a new Olympic record for the event.
No American had ever before won the 10,000 m.
After the race Mills talked with Clarke and asked if he was straining as hard as he could on the final straightaway to the finish, to which Clarke replied, "Yes."
Mills has stated that he tried to be relaxed during his final kick to the finish line and felt that helped him to pass both Gammoudi and Clarke.
An infrequently mentioned fact is both Clarke and Mills ran the marathon at the 1964 Olympics after the 10,000 m.
Clarke finished in 9th place, Mills finished in 14th, in a respectable 2:22:55.4, approximately two-and-a-half minutes behind Clarke.
Post-Olympics
Mills later set U.S. records for 10,000 m (28:17.6) and the three mile run and had a 5,000 m best of 13:41.4.
In 1965, he and Gerry Lindgren both broke the
world recordA world record is usually the best international performance ever recorded in a specific skill or sport. The world famous book, the Guinness World Records, collates and publishes notable records of all types, from first and best to worst human achievements, to extremes in the natural world and...
for the six mile run when they finished in a tie at the U.S. AAU nationals, running 27:11.6.
Billy Mills was inducted into the United States Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1976, and the
U.S. Olympic Hall of FameThe United States Olympic Hall of Fame is an honor roll of the top American Olympic athletes.The Hall of Fame was established by the United States Olympic Committee in 1979; the first members were inducted in 1983. Between 1992 and 2003, the Hall of Fame went dormant, with no induction of new...
in 1984. He is also in the
National Distance Running Hall of FameThe National Distance Running Hall of Fame was established on July 11, 1998 to honor those who have contributed to the sport of distance running...
, the Kansas Hall of Fame, the South Dakota Hall of Fame, the San Diego Hall of Fame, and the National High School Hall of Fame.
Billy Mills is the subject of the 1984 film
Running BraveThe 1983 movie about Billy Mills, a North American Indian brought up on the reservation, destined against all odds to become the best distance runner in the world in the 1964 Toyko Olympics....
, starring
Robby BensonRobby Benson is an American film and television actor, television director, and educator.-Early life:Benson was born Robin David Segal in Dallas, Texas, the son of Ann , a singer, actress, and business promotions manager, and Jerry Segal, a writer...
.
Mills also serves as the spokesperson for Running Strong for American Indian Youth, an organization that helps support projects that benefit the American Indian people, especially the youth.
In 1990 he wrote
Wokini: A Lakota Journey to Happiness and Self-Understanding with
Nicholas SparksNicholas Charles Sparks is an internationally bestselling American author, writing novels with themes that include Christianity, love, tragedy and fate. He has fifteen published novels, four of which have been turned into films, including The Notebook, Message in a Bottle, A Walk to Remember, and...
.
His
Lessons of a Lakota was published in 2005.
See also
- Olympic medalists in athletics
This is the complete list of men's Olympic medalists in Track and Field from 1896 to 2008.- 100 meters :- 200 meters :- 400 meters :- 800 meters :- 1500 meters :- 5000 meters :- 10000 meters :- Marathon :...
- Jim Thorpe
Jacobus Franciscus "Jim" Thorpe * Gerasimo and Whiteley. pg. 28
* , americaslibrary.gov, accessed April 23, 2007. was an American athlete...
External links