Billy Mills

Oglala Lakota · athletes

Billy Mills is an Oglala Lakota distance runner who achieved one of the greatest upsets in Olympic history by winning the 10,000 meters at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. He remains the only American to ever win Olympic gold in that event.

Growing up in poverty on the Pine Ridge Reservation, Mills was orphaned by age 12. After his Olympic triumph, he co-founded Running Strong for American Indian Youth, providing over $100 million in aid to Indian Country.