Billy Mills Accomplishments

Billy Mills was in Haskell Institute and decided to run while he was there. Haskell Institute is located in Kansas, U.S. When he went there it was a boarding school. He is an Indian from the Oglala Lakota Sioux tribe. He was born on June 30, 1938. He use to be a boxer and a runner when he was a youth, he gave up boxing to focus on his running. He is married to Pat Mills. They have three kids Christy, Lisa, and Billie Jo Anne. He lives in Sacramento, California with his family. Mill’s great accomplishments are he tried out track and was so good that after he graduated from Haskell he recieved an athletic scholarship to Kansas University. He started running to channel his energy into something positive. In high school, his gift for running became more apparent as he

runner and first Native American to win a medal in the 10,000 meters. When Billy was 7 his mother died, and later his father died when he was 12. He had to live with his grandpa. When he grew up he went to the Olympic trials, but then got disqualified because of application errors. He shocked the world and came from behind to win the gold medal in the 10,000 meter race. At the time, he set a world record of 28 minutes, 24.4 seconds and is still the only American to ever win a gold medal in the 10k event. When Billy Mills won his Olympic gold medal in 1964 he was a first lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC). After serving his country during the Vietnam War, Mr. Mills was Honorably Discharged from the military as a Lieutenant. Mr. Mills is currently the national spokesman for running strong for American Indian youth whose mission is to help American Indian people meet their immediate survival needs – food, water, and shelter – while implementing and supporting programs designed to create opportunities for self-sufficiency and self-esteem. The program began in 1986 as a project of Christian Relief Services