BILLY MILLS
Compassionate Warrior
Compassionate Warrior
Posted December 15th, 2006 at 7:00 AM by Jennifer Lipman
Section: News & Results, Motivation, Columns, Olympics, SPOTLIGHT
This is part three of the 5-part series: “BILLY MILLS: Overlooked Hero of Running” (Links to the other installments in this series are located at the conclusion of this article).
For nearly 50 years Billy Mills has channeled his love for running into a passion for fighting against poverty and for encouraging Native American youth to believe in the power of their dreams.
As we mentioned in Part 2 of this series, Mills is a descendant of the Oglala Lakota (Sioux) tribe and grew up on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. After losing his parents at the young age of 12, he brought athletics into is life.
Since his historic 10,000m gold medal victory at the 1964 Olympics, Billy Mills has used his fame to help children that face the same poverty and rejection that he battled throughout his own life.
Mills serves as the National Spokesperson for Running Strong, a non-profit organization for American Indian youth. Billy Mills uses his words to teach younger generations about character, dignity and pride. His main focus is on teaching Global Unity Through Global Diversity.
He also urges audiences to challenge themselves with something he calls “value-based self-empowerment” and advocates replacing American Indian mascots for athletic teams. Mills explains:
“You don’t have African-American mascots. You don’t have Jewish mascots. I just think it’s time to change.”
In 1991 Mills teamed up with author Nicholas Sparks and wrote a book entitled Wokini: A Lakota Journey to Happiness and Understanding. This book aims to help people find inner peace and lead happier lives.
Recently, Mills created a team for the Marine Corps Marathon in conjunction with Running Strong. The team is named Team Running Strong and encourages people of different backgrounds to join and participate in the marathon. They use the team to help raise money and awareness about the poverty faced by American Indian families face and to help them in times of need.
Rick Nealis, Director of the Marine Corps Marathon stated:
“Billy Mills, Olympian, Marine and great humanitarian, embodies the spirit of the Marine Corps Marathon. He is a hero to civilian and military runners the world over. It is a great honor that Billy will join us at the 29th Marine Corps Marathon.”
It’s only fitting that the Marine Corps Marathon calls itself: “The People’s Marathon”.
Through his work with Running Strong, Mills has helped to raise $100,000 for the SuAnna Big Crow Youth and Wellness Center, a diabetics clinic at Porcupine in South Dakota, and agricultural programs that provided over 420 gardens, both family and community, with 20,000 seedlings.
In February 2003, the University of Kansas established the “Billy Mills Running Strong for American Indian Youth Scholarship”. In May of the same year Mills became the first American Indian to receive the alumni distinguished service award from the University of Kansas, his alma matter.
Mills continues to live his life by his father’s words:
“I was constantly told and challenged to live my life as a warrior. As a warrior, you assume responsibility for yourself. The warrior humbles himself. And the warrior learns the power of giving.”
Check out the previous installments in this series:
The final 2 installments in this series will be a review of the 1983 movie, Running Brave and a free, downloadable podcast of TFS’s interview with Mr. Mills.
Research sources: [Running Strong], [Coolrunning], [Indian Country], [DFW]
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Tags: 10000m, 1964 tokyo olympics, american indian, Billy Mills, billy mills running strong for american indiana youth schoarship, compassionate warrior, global unity through global diversity, humanitarian, marine, marine corps marathon, mascots, native american, nicholas sparks, Oglala Lakota, Oglala Sioux Indian reservation, Olympian, olympic champion, olympic gold, running brave, running strong, running strong for american indian youth, Sioux, the peoples marathon, university of kansas, value based self empowerment, warrior, wokini
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4 Responses to “BILLY MILLS
Compassionate Warrior ”
Compassionate Warrior
The Final Sprint
[…] In today’s podcast, I am joined by Billy Mills - a true hero of running and a compassionate warrior. […]
February 14th, 2007 at 11:32 am[…] The next installment, Part 3, will be about Mills’ life after running. It is entitled - BILLY MILLS: Compassionate Warrior […]
February 17th, 2007 at 12:48 amhi billy ive been an admirer of yours since i saw your film running brave itaped it some years ago now and i still enjoy watching it i am a great supporter of the indians no matter what tribe they are from apart from seeing cruilty to children and old people there is nothing else that infiriates me more than what has happened to you and your people since your country was invaded all those years ago and how you are being treat to day one day when i can afford it i plan on visiting the states and traveling around has many reservations i can get round to meet all your wonderfull people i would love to be able to do more to help you and your people is ther any way that i can help you from here in england i will get so much pleasure from being able to support you in any way i can i hope you and your family are ok iwould love to hear from you here i a bit about myself im 41 year old single mum of 1 my son is 20 im a member of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints church (mormons) im a cleaner at present also im in the middle of trying to help jane and mike tomlinson with the jane tomlinso n appeal she has terminal cancer and has done a lot spoting events to raise money for cancer charities peolpe who know me family and friends tell me that because of how passionate i am about indians it wouldnt surprise them if id got indian in me and i must admit that it would nt surprise me either because i feel amoutionally and spiritually conecte to you all well ive got to go now billy so take care and good luck with every thing that you do love juliexxxxxxxx
March 2nd, 2007 at 11:39 amlooking for a Mike thomlinson, with wife name jane i believe. if he remembers my name please email me asap.
sheila
May 10th, 2007 at 6:56 pm