Douglas R. Mills a native of Elgin, Illinois

Elgin, Illinois

Elgin is a city in northern Illinois located roughly northwest of Chicago on the Fox River. Most of Elgin lies within Kane County, Illinois, with a portion in Cook County, Illinois...

, was a high school and college basketball player and coach in the state of Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

. During high school, Mills was the first player in the state to lead his team to back-to-back titles in 1924 and 1925. He totaled 32 points in four state tournament games for Elgin High School during an era of low-scoring play. Mills played for the Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball

Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball

The Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team is an NCAA Division I college basketball team competing in the Big Ten Conference. Home games are played at Assembly Hall, located on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's campus in Champaign....

 team from 1927-1930 followed by a five year coaching stint at Joliet Township High School. It was at Joliet where he led his team to the state tournament in 1935. He returned to the U of I as head men's basketball coach between 1936 and 1947. It was during this time where he coached the famous "Whiz Kids" and later served as the Fighting Illini's athletic director. Mills died in 1993.

While coaching at Illinois, Mills compiled a record of 151 wins and 66 losses, winning three conference titles during his tenure. Mills served as Athletic Director

Athletic director

An athletic director is an administrator at many American colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and related staff involved in intercollegiate or interscholastic athletic programs...

 for the University of Illinois from 1941 to 1966, responsible for football coaches Ray Eliot

Ray Eliot

Raymond Eliot Nusspickel was an American football and baseball player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach Illinois College from 1933 to 1936 and at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign from 1942 to 1959, compiling a career college football...

 and Pete Elliott

Pete Elliott

-External links:...

 and basketball coach Harry Combes

Harry Combes

Harry Combes , a native of Monticello, Illinois, served as head men's basketball coach at University of Illinois between 1947 and 1967....

. In 2007, the Illinois High School Association

Illinois High School Association

The Illinois High School Association is one of 521 state high school associations in the United States, designed to regulate competition in most interscholastic sports and some interscholastic activities at the high school level. It is a charter member of the National Federation of State High...

 named Mills one of the 100 Legends of the IHSA Boys Basketball Tournament.

High school records

School	Season	Record	Postseason
Joliet Township HS	1930-31	12-10
Joliet Township HS	1931-32	16-3
Joliet Township HS	1932-33	10-9
Joliet Township HS	1933-34	18-4	District Champions
Joliet Township HS	1934-35	12-10	State Quarterfinalist
Coaching totals	1930-35	68-36

Collegiate records

Season	Team	Season Record	Conf. Record	Place
1936-37	Illinois	14-4	10-2	T-1st
1937-38	Illinois	9-9	4-8	T-8th
1938-39	Illinois	14-5	8-4	3rd
1939-40	Illinois	14-6	7-5	T-4th
1940-41	Illinois	13-7	7-5	T-3rd
1941-42	Illinois	18-5	13-2	1st
1942-43	Illinois	17-1	12-0	1st
1943-44	Illinois	11-9	5-7	6th
1944-45	Illinois	13-7	7-5	3rd
1945-46	Illinois	14-7	7-5	T-5th
1946-47	Illinois	14-6	8-4	T-2nd
Total	Illinois	151-66	88-47

External links

• Find A Grave, Douglas Mills