Kickapoo Tribe dedicates running park in honor of Billy Mills

Tuesday, July 2, 2013  

The Kickapoo Tribe of Kansas welcomed Olympian Billy Mills to the reservation on Monday to dedicate a cross country park in his honor.

Mills, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe of South Dakota, won the gold medal for the 10,000-meter race at the 1964 Olympics. He set a world record and remains the only American to win the gold in the event.

The tribe hopes his achievement will inspire a new generation of Indian runners. “The Billy Mills Kickapoo project will become a premier destination, a tourist attraction for the Kickapoo nation," Chairman Steve Cadue said at the dedication ceremony, Kansas First News reported.

The tribe is still raising funds for the park.

Get the Story:
Olympic Gold Medalist Races For Victory Over Diabetes (WIBW-TV 7/1)
Billy Mills opens cross country park on Kickapoo Reservation (Kansas First News 7/1)
Opportunity to join 'team' excites distance great Mills (The Topeka Capital-Journal 7/2)
Kevin Haskin: Kickapoo project tribute to Olympic hero Mills (The Topeka Capital-Journal 6/29)