Billy Mills, today is shown with the medal that was won in 1964. Photo courtesy of Billy Mills. Shadowed in the background, Billy Mills, moments after winning the 10,000 Meter race in the 1964 Olympics.
For Billy Mills, the journey to the starting line had already been a long race. From Pine Ridge in South Dakota, to the Haskell Indian National University in Lawrence, Kansas, and to the United States Marine Corps as a reserve, Billy Mills was now lining up for a shot at an Olympic title. For most people, this would be an improbable story and in the day and age, shelved for not being realistic. However for Mills, this was his course in life. Born in 1938 on June 30, Mills was raised on the Pine Ridge Reservation and dealt with a number of issues. Losing his mother at age eight and finally orphaned at age 12, Mills would find solace through family and mentors to help him on his journey. One mention, of him talking to his dad shortly after his mother’s departure, reflected on him, saying “Son, you have broken wings-but some day, you’ll have wings of an eagle.” Mills’ father would pass onto the spirit world at only 49, but would give his son many pieces of advice, including to “look deeper-way down deep, below the hurt, the anger, the hate, the jealousy, the self-pity, because that’s where your dreams lie.” He also noted, “You have to look so deep for the dream, until something miraculous happens to you and you get to know yourself. There’s only one destiny greater than the destiny we choose four ourselves and that is the destiny our Creator chooses for us.” During his stay at Haskell, Mills would take up a passion for running, both in Cross Country and Track. He had been both a runner and boxer in his youth, but with his work at Haskell, boxing was dropped to focus solely on the running aspects. His skills did help open the door for him to attend Kansas University on an athletic scholarship and he responded well, being a three-time All-America cross-country runner, he would win the individual title in the Big Eight cross-country championship in 1960. The Kansas track team during 1959 and 1960 would also win the outdoor national championships while Mills was on the squad, but Mills also would find times that he would feel frustrated. From his own words: “My junior year of college I came so close to committing suicide. It was at a Cross Country Championship meet. During the photo session I was asked to step out of the shot. I had been asked to step out of the photos before then, at least three or four times. At the time I thought it was for racial reasons. And so that time I broke. It was the whole conglomeration of incidents that caused me to break down. It was a fatigue of circumstances that had happened to me. I didn’t have the maturity to work through them. I didn’t rationalize why I was asked to get out of the picture; I didn’t understand that there could be other reasons besides racial for it. I just knew it was time to give up. And so I stayed in the picture, but I went back to my room and decided to commit suicide.” Mills continues: “I’m on a chair and I’m going to jump. Somehow I heard my father speaking. I didn’t hear it through my ears, but it was in my skin. “DON’T. DON’T.” he was telling me. It was like, wow. I believe my Creator sent my dad’s voice to me. I got down off the chair. And something made me reach for a pen and write down these words: “Gold Medal; 10,000 meter run. BELIEVE. BELIEVE. BELIEVE. And right there and then I started training for the games. His journey, and training would continue, however it would also take him into the Marines, after he graduated with a degree in Physical Education. He would be a First Lieutenant in the Marine Corps Reserves, when time for the 1964 Olympics would arrive. For the 1964 Summer Olympics, Mills’ first task would be landing a spot on the US Track and Field team, which he would accomplish in two spots: His chosen one, the 10,000 meter, and the marathon. However, Mills was already being dismissed by everyone, based on both history and his numbers. In the time trials, Mills had finished second in the trials for the US team. There also was the matter that no one in the US history had ever won a gold medal in the 10,000 meters, for that matter in the Western Hemisphere. Lastly, the runners he would be posting up against, ranging from Ron Clarke, Pyotr Bolonikov and Murray Halberg, were considered the favorites. Ron Clarke was presently holding the world record, Bolonikov was the defending champion and Halberg had won a gold medal in the 5000 meters in 1960. With the field stacked, most considered Mills to finish near the middle of the pack, as a non-factor. As the race set up, Clarke’s strategy, of running strong every other lap quickly removed several runners. As the halfway point approached, a quick check of the runners revealed a runner from Tunisia, Ethipoia, Japan and Mills. Clarke, from Australia, worked and first the Japanese runner, Kokichi Tsuburaya would lose contact, then Mamo Wolde, the Ethiopian runner would fall back. With two laps remaining, Clarke seemed to have the race. His world record, at 28 minutes, 15 seconds 4 was impressive, while Mills or Mohammed Gammoudi from Tunisia had never broken the 29 minute mark. The last lap would prove to be one never to be forgotten. Coming into the last lap, Mills and Clarke would be together, with Gammoudi behind, lapping other runners. Down the backstretch, Clarke was getting boxed in, and in response, Mills was pushed twice. Gammoudi, likewise trying to get the inside track, pushed both and surged into the lead, rounding the final curve. Clarke would recover and begin to give chase, while Mills appeared to be too far back. While Clarke was busy with Gammoudi, Mills did the improbable. While the two runners worked against each other, Mills would pull around both runners, into lane three, and sprinted past both, to the shock and amazement of the crowd in attendance. Mills would cross the finish line, in a time of 28:24.4, almost 50 seconds faster than he had ever run before and also established an Olympic record for the event. To date, no other American has ever come close since, or won this event. Mills, after the race would talk with Clarke, asking him if he was straining as hard as he could to finish, Clarke simply replied, “Yes.” Mills has stated, that he tried to be relaxed during the final kick to the finish line, and this helped him with his final burst to the finish line -- the method would deliver a Gold Medal to the runner from Pine Ridge,. After the Olympics, Mills would later establish records in the US for 10,000 meter, the three mile run and a 5000 meter best of 13:41.4. In 1965, along with Gerry Lindgren would both break a world record, when both runners would finish in a tie for the six-mile run at the AAU National Championships. For all his work and ability, Mills would be a shoe-in for several halls of fames, and they would come knocking. In 1976, he would be inducted into the United States National Track and Field, then the US Olympic Hall of Fame in 1984. He’s also in the National Distance Running Hall of Fame, 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. Mills, also the subject of the movie Running Brave, would team up with Eugene Krizek, to form Running Strong for American Indian Youth, a project to help Native American communities, organizations and help in various ways, ranging from wells and youth programs, to housing assistance, food distribution and cultural and language preservation. One of their first acts, involving water wells on Pine Ridge Reservation is well-known. The Mni Wiconi, or Water is Life, is committed to drilling 13 wells every year and has been going strong since 1987. To date, this project has drilled over 370 wells, averaging 195 feet at a cost of almost $10,000. Another project, in 1989 involved the construction of 20 log homes on the Pine Ridge Reservation, with the first house done the same year. Working as a charity organization, the project would become incorporated in 1990, the same year the organization would start an Annual tour for Pine Ridge, an event that continues each year in September. Other events would be aided by Mills’ organization, including a Dialysis Clinic in Porcupine, the first owned and operated by Native Americans, as well as a second center, in Eagle Butte in 1994. Mills would also be called to testify, in front of the US Senate regarding issues confronting the Native American Youth in the country, a year later in 1995. By 1997 Running Strong would open a warehouse and field office in Porcupine and start an Emergency Heat Match Program to provide heating assistance for propane, electricity or firewood for families on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Two years later, The Main would open, also known as the Billy Mills Youth Center on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota, a 4,224 square foot youth center. Another center would be opened, the A LI MI A (A place to go to get help to help yourself) youth center was dedicated at the Crow Reservation in Montana, with the majority of funding coming solely from Running Strong. The center, at 44’ x 44; was dedicated by Mills in 2004, a year after Running Strong would provide an endowment for the Billy Mills Running Strong for American Indian Youth Scholarship at the University of Kansas, a scholarship for Native American students who major in Education. The same year Running Strong would help build the SuAnne Big Crow Boys and Girls Club on the Pine Ridge Reservation, a place for regular hot meals. As Running Strong has grown, several local figures have joined the staff, and continue to give back to the Native Americans. Julie Garreau, a Cheyenne River Lakota, joined the field staff in June of 2000, while Tom Cook, who would later pioneer an organic garden opportunity in both Eagle Butte and Pine Ridge is an Akwesasne Mohawk. Garreau would be called to speak in the US Senate in 2005, this time on youth suicide, and Cheyenne River’s efforts to combat suicide through a new center. This new project, the Cokata Wiconi, was built in 2006 of August, with over 24,000 square feet. Less than a month later, Peggy White Well-known Buffalo, a Crow would join the field staff. For Mills, it has been a busy life, one in constant motion. With two books to his name and happily married to his wife Pat for over 45 years and with three daughters. He presently resides in California, but still spends over 300 days travelling, visiting Native American communities around the country. (Some information garnered from Billy Mills, via Believe, Believe, Believe: Billy Mills’ own Story-from Desperation to Winning Gold from Take the Magic Step website) (Contact Joseph Budd at joseph@rapidnet.com)
Join the Conversation