Research Guides: Billy Mills: Biography

Billy Mills (Born on June 30, 1938)

Billy set for himself the goal of making the United States Olympic team and running the 10,000 meters at the Tokyo Games. The 10,000 meters was hardly a glamour event and attracted little interest in the United States. The closest an American had ever come to winning an Olympic gold medal in the event was when Louis Tewanima, another athlete of Native-American descent, won the silver in the 1912 Stockholm Games. His faith in his abilities renewed, Billy set out, in obscurity, on a rigorous training schedule. He sprinted at distant trees, imagining them to be the finish for the 10,000 meters. He kept a workout book to note his progress and wrote inspirational messages to himself to develop his winning mentality. Continue . . .

Source: “Billy Mills.” Great Athletes (Salem Press), Oct. 2001, p. 1727. From Academic Search Complete database.

Resources

Billy Mills - Track and Field By the halfway mark, though, only Clarke was anywhere near the front, accompanied by Tunisian Mohamed Gammoudi and the American Billy Mills. Mills was so unheralded that, in the run-up to the Games, not one reporter had asked him a single question. They should have done, for his story was memorable.
Dreaming Strong: Billy Mills Survives through the Olympics Dreams of an Olympic medal kept Billy Mills going through hard times. And there were plenty of hard times on the Pine Ridge Reservation for the boy who became the greatest living American Indian Olympic medalist.
Running Strong: About Billy Mills Billy Mills, Oglala Lakota (Sioux), was raised on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. An Olympic gold medalist and Running Strong's National Spokesperson, he has dedicated his life to serving American Indian communities.
Racing Split The article presents information on American racer Billy Mills, who won the 1964 Olympic 10,000 meters race, and Mills also offered support to Mamo Wolde when the 1968 Olympic Marathon champion was wrongly imprisoned in Ethiopia.
Incredible Moment As Underdog Billy Mills Wins 10,000m Gold - Tokyo 1964 Olympics Watch highlights of one of the most incredible stories in Olympic history as the USA's Billy Mills wins the 10,000m gold as a complete unknown underdog at the Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games.
Footprints | Billy Mills | TEDxYale Billy uses his story of overcoming the odds at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo and his experiences with Running Strong to illuminate lessons about our personal, national, and international history. Billy Mills was born and raised on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, and would make the Olympic team for the 1964 Tokyo games in the marathon and the 10,000 meter run, in the latter of which he would win the gold, a moment often lauded as the Greatest upset in Olympic history. As National Spokesperson for Running Strong for American Youth, Billy has spent 31 years lifting young men and women toward their aspirations and has championed wellness and unlocked opportunities in Native American communities across America. A major motion picture has been made about Billy, titled “Running Brave”, and has been a positive influence on many of our American Youth. On February 15, 2013 the President of the United States of America, Barack Obama, awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal to Billy Mills for his work with Running Strong. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
Presidential Citizens Medal 2012 — Billy Mills Billy Mills (Fair Oaks, California) Mills co-founded and serves as the spokesman for Running Strong for American Indian Youth, an organization that supports cultural programs and provides health and housing assistance for Native American communities. Mills gained prominence during the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, when he unexpectedly won a Gold Medal in the 10,000 meter run. Today, he remains the only American to ever win this event. At the time Mills competed in the Olympics, he was a First Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps. After the Olympics, Mills, an Oglala Lakota, was made a warrior by his tribe. In 1986, Mills and Eugene Krizek, president of Christian Relief Services, joined forces to found Running Strong.
Billy Mills 10,000 Meter Gold Medal Final Billy Mills 10,000 Meter Gold Medal Final.
Billy Mills: The Wings of an Eagle Prior to his September lecture at the University of New England, Olympic gold medalist Billy Mills discussed losing his mother at a very young age, discovering his passion for running, and turning his broken wings into the wings of an eagle. It was a great lesson for UNE students. Photo credits: U.S. Marine Corps/Stars & Stripes, 10,000m clip credit: Runner Vision
Billy Mills shares story of hope, healing, journey to Olympic gold “It’s the journey, not the destination, that empowers us,” says the co-founder of Running Strong for American Indian Youth. Learn more at http://www.casey.org/billy-mills/.