Billy Mills

Billy Mills (Born June 30, 1938) is a member of the Oglala Lakota Tribal Nation and is also known by his Lakota name is: Tamakoce Te’hila, translating to “Loves His Country” or more traditionally “Respects the Earth”.

He is an Olympic Gold Medalist in the 10,000 meter run a the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games. His Olympic victory is considered on of the greatest sports moments of all time. He remains the only athlete from the western hemisphere to ever win the Olympic 10,000 meter race.

Mills was orphaned at an early age, his mother joining their ancestors when Mills was 8 years of age and his father when Mills was 12 years of age.

Before his father passed he told Mills, “ You have broken wings son and it takes a dream to heal. Find your dream and it will take you down a path introducing you to your passions in life. Find your passion, develop your skills to equal your passion and magic can happen! One or more of the magical things you do in life just may be looked upon as a miracle son.”

Due to his fathers teachings, Mills' life is based upon dreams and the resilience of his ancestors. His great grandmother, BB Mills, an Englishman, was requested by Chief Red Cloud to become the 1st Indian agent at the Red Cloud agency, which is today the Oglala Lakota Tribal Nations headquarters. The US Government refused this request, saying that BB Mills spoke fluent Lakota, is married to a Lakota woman and had 5 Lakota children, hence it would be hard to strip the children of everything Lakota to save the child. Shortly afterwards BB Mills died.

When Crazy Horse surrendered in 1875, riding into Fort Robinson with him were his warriors, the elderly men, women and children followed by their supply train. Walking with them was Sally Bush Mills, Mills’ great grand mother and her 5 children. One of those children was Ben Mills, Billy’s grand father.

Their resilience and their foot prints are present in Mills’ journey today as National Spokesperson for Running Strong for American Indian Youth, which Mills co-founded in 1986.