From the S&S archives:
Unheralded Billy Mills steals Olympic spotlight

(Click here to see photos of the race)

TOKYO — Billy Mills took up running to get in shape as a boxer while attending an Indian school for orphans and went on to become America's greatest long distance runner of all-time.

"I'm flabbergasted - I can hardly believe it," the crew-cut Marine Corps lieutenant beamed Wednesday after beating 37 of the world's top endurance racers for the Olympic gold medal in the 10,000 meters with a Games' record time of 28 minutes, 24.4 seconds.

He undoubtedly was the most surprised.

A complete darkhorse who barely sneaked onto the U.S. squad in his last race of the qualifying trials at Chicago, he was - at best - a 1,000 to 1 shot.

Someone commented he would have be taken off the board at Los Angeles, and Mills even acknowledged — with a broad, understanding smile - that no newsman had spoken to him in his two weeks in Tokyo.

"Still, I always felt I had an outside chance because I had been training well," he said. "I have been running 100 miles a week until the last two weeks. Then I settled clown to long, easy running.

"I felt the spark and spring coming back to my legs."

Mills won a dramatic, elbow-jabbing, traffic-jam stretch run, beating out Mohammed Gamoudi of Tunisia, who got second, and world record holder Ron Clarke of Australia, who captured the bronze medal for third.

Going into the last turn, Gamoudi barreled through the pace-selling Mills and Clarke. Clarke, fearing he would be knocked off the track, went to his right and stuck an elbow into Mills' ribs.

Mills broke stride momentarily and for a while appeared out of contention. Then he shot forward like a burst from a rifle to win with a tremendous kick.

"I bumped Billy accidentally," commented Clarke. "When I looked over to apologize, he went past me like a streak of light."

Mills took a charitable view toward the bumping incident. "We were all tense and running hard." he said. "We were all a bunch of arms and legs - it was nobody's fault."

The surprised American, who had run the 10,000 only five times previously and never beaten the U.S. hope Jerry Lindgren, said he knew he had a good chance with five laps to go.

"Clarke doesn't have too strong a kick and I knew I had plenty of reserve left," he said. "I felt I could outkick Gamoudi."

Mills' victory in the 6-mile, 376-yard test was the first for the United Slates in any Olympic distance over 3,000 meters. In the past, no American ever finished higher than sixth in the rigorous event..

The surprise 10,000-meter champion is 26, 5-feet-11 and 155 pounds, a first lieutenant in the Marine Corps.

He was born in Pine Ridge, S.D., a little town of about 2,000 people.

He was in the eighth grade when he started running. He did it just to condition himself for the boxing ring. After losing his first two bouts - winding up with a pair of big black eyes - he decided to stick to running exclusively.

His mother died when he was a baby and his father passed away when he was 12.

Seven-sixteenths Sioux Indian, he was placed in the Haskell Institute at Lawrence, Kans., as an orphan and stayed there until he entered the University of Kansas.

He didn't do much running at Kansas although he was there on a scholarship. He broke an ankle one year and was ill another.

As a distance runner bidding for an Olympic berth, he attracted little notice. In five 10,000 meter races, he won only one - and that was an interservice event against negligible competition.

His best previous time for the distance was 29:10.

It wasn't until the final race in the Olympic trials at Los Angeles that he was able to run fast enough to qualify.

"I thought I would cry," he said when he saw Old Glory hoisted on the flag pole at the medal ceremonies. "And I did."

Mills' wife, Patricia, mother of their six months' old baby, also wept.

And tears may have come in the eyes of crochety Avery Brundage, American president of the International Olympic Committee, who presided at the presentation ceremonies.

"I never saw an American respond better to pressure," Brundage said. "I suppose it was the greatest American distance victory."