Billy The Brave

My person is William Mervin Mills, also known as Billy Mills. Very few people knew who he was until he won the 10,000 meter race during the olympics of 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Winning this competition made him the first American in history to ever win the 10,000 meter race at the Olympics. His victory was sudden and surprising. Out of the blue, a winner was advent, the unknown which no one had anticipated - it was Billy Mills.

His success is not without effort; not only effort but it was also filled with preparation of mind, soul and body. In other words: wisdom, motivation, and physical conditioning brought Billy Mills to first place. Not to mention that it took time and experience. More could be said concerning his accumulated attributes for accomplishment, but most of all, it was fear that is something important and Mills overcame his fears, thus he overcame himself.

Billy Mills was born on 1938, 30th of June, in Pine Ridge reservation, South Dakota. He was part Lakota and Oglala Sioux. His parents, despite living in a reservation, withhold their use of native language in front of him. They understood that Indian language was looked down upon by white society. At 7 years old, he lost his mother, and at 12 years of age, his father passed away. Despite the fatal circumstance, his father left him wisdom, stating that he needs three things in this life: "A belief in a Creator, to acquire an education, and show respect for others." His father also told him that he should find the positive desires of his life; for with desire comes motivation, with motivation comes work and work comes success. Billy Mills later declared that this made him a champion, and he does his best to pass it on to others.

"In the early part of his youth, he had to live in boarding schools"

Remembering the wishes of his father to become an athlete, he tried boxing during high school. After losing several amateur contests, he gave it up, but took up running instead. He will win twice in the state mile championship, and in 1956, he will eventually lead his team to state high school cross-country championship. Mills stayed in Lawrence to attend the University of Kansas. He continued running, rapidly rising to the top, breaking freshman track records throughout the nation.

Under the shadow of his successes are opposition and rejection. He struggled to keep his focus and maintain his determination in running. Scornful voices towards him were consuming; both from his Indian peers and white society. Billy Mills, for example, have a Caucasian and African-American friend. He requested to room with them but the community of Lawrence, Kansas thought that three men of different color shouldn't live together. His Indian friends, on the other hand, rejected him for being a mixed-blood and accused him of choosing a white lifestyle rather than his Native traditions because Mills worked hard to compete in white games such as track. Even his teammates and coaches disrespected him because of his heritage. They called him names like "Chief!"

The critical point was during a meet in Randalls Island, New York when he stopped during the middle part of the race due to name calling. Mills was then sent back home to Kansas that very night. He later decided to join the Marine Corps. Mills remarked, "All my life I didn't belong. The Marine Corp said, 'you belong.'" In 1962, he gave up running to put more effort to meet the demands of training and also due to the impression that running had little rewards.

The temptation of competition was too strong for Billy Mills; he missed the moments of running in meets and feared that he will not achieve his goals. His wife Pat, a track fan, enticed him to come to track meets with her. Mills couldn't bear watching the competitors run. He decided to give it a try once more, despite the distraction of those scornful voices and harsh remarks. This time, however, Mills will develope a strategem and a rigorous, efficient way of training. He ran every day, about 100 miles per week, kept proverbs of his own in inspirational writ found in his journal of his workouts, and visualized himself finishing first in Tokyo.

If you saw the race, you would be in a state of awe, to see Billy Mills sprint the 300 meters left of the race to the finish line, passing two runners in the lead (being in 3rd.) In fact, it seemed phenominal because few people knew Billy Mills. Everyone focused on the well-known runners of that competition. Among them is the world record holder and favorite Ron Clarke of Australia, America's 18 years old sensation Gerry Lindgren, defending Olympic 10,000 meter champion Pyotr Bolotnikov, the Olympic 5,000 meter gold medalist, Murray Halberg of New Zealand, the home country favorite Kokichi Tsuburaya of Japan, and Mohamed Gammoudi of Tunisia; all were in the lead. Billy Mills thought to himself, "If I can stay with these guys, I can outkick them."

That is his strategy: to stick to the leaders like a leech. To be more specific, at the middle and latter part of the race, Billy Mills stuck with Ron Clarke of Australia shoulder to shoulder, lagged to 3rd place (Clarke at 2nd) at about 300 meters, with Gammoudi about 5 yards ahead of the two. "If you run harder than you ever ran," Mills said to himself, "you can win." Billy Mills strode and dashed passed the two, reaching the finish line, in first place, recieving a gold medal. Afterwards, Billy Mills said, "I'm flabbergasted (in other words, astound), I thought I was the only person who thought I had a chance." Ron Clarke, when asked if he was worried about Mills, retorted, "Worried about him? I never heard of him!"

Billy Mills continued running and by the next year, he broke Ron Clarke's six mile record of 27:11:6, a minute less than the previous, in the AAU championship. Mills finished the Marine Corps tour of duty as captain, but never saw action in the Vietnam War. After track competition, following his Lakota tradition of reaching success and then giving back to the people that contributed to that success, Billy Mills became active in American Indian affairs, founded a Hall of Fame for Indian Athletes, and founded the Running Strong for American Indian Youth (an organization which improves living conditions and promotes leadership among Native American children.) He also spent his time after his service to become a motivational speaker for Native American youth. Billy Mills is still alive today; he will be 70 years old this coming June.