Billy Mills

Billy Mills grew up on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. After breaking several speed records during high school, he received a scholarship to the University of Kansas, where he eventually graduated with a degree in Physical Education. He pursued a career as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps, and later, after eighteen months of intensive training, surprised the world with a new record for the 10,000 meters during the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. He served on the Presidential Committee on Fitness and Sport and was named one of the Ten Outstanding Young Americans (1972). His life story was later dramatized in 1983 and became a box office hit in Running Brave. In 1990, he was elected a Healthy American Fitness Leader. His name appears in numerous halls of fame across the country, and he is even inducted into the Olympic Hall of Fame. Despite everything, Mills did not forget his roots, representing the American Indian Youth across the country and fighting for better living conditions on Indian reservations scattered throughout the USA.