The Story of Billy Mills

The movie Running Brave tells the story of a Native American boy who loved running.This passion took him on an incredible journey, where he first got accepted with a scholarship to the University of Kansas with a track and field scholarship and continued all the way to a gold medal in the Olympic games of 1964.

William Mervin after being the first Native American to win a gold medal.
Tis picture was taken a few moments away after he won the 10,000m race at
the 18964 Olympic games.

"Billy Mills" real name is William Mervin. He was a Native American, Sioux to be specific, member of the Oglala Lakota Tribe from Pine Ridge, South Dakota. He started running while attending  at the Haskell Institute where he discovered his passion. Since then his life takes a big turn after he is offered a scholarship to run at the University of Kansas.  Being raised in a reservation his journey is about much more than his athletic potential, he is a experiencing a journey through cultures where he finds himself out of his comfort zone. He is faced with discrimination and margination because of his race, wich lead him to work double the hard as anybody else.

This new step in his life gives him a new whole spectrum of possibilities and responsibilities. Responsibilities such as running career, life outside of family, a complicated relationship and the responsibility of making an example for other Native Americans. This means a big change for a man who has spent most of his life living surrounded by his family and friends now that he has to defend himself against his coach, "white boys". He is also presented with big opportunities for reaching out of the reservation, starting a new life and having a chance at the Olympics. This kind of drastic changes in someones life are capable of launching them into an internal journey also. It is at times like this where everyone and everything are new and you are "alone" where one begins to question and examine oneself.There are many religions and cultures that practice this technique of emptying someone's mind through meditation or other ceremonial rituals that he can get in touch with himself.  By stepping away from the noise, from everything one considers obvious or given, ones perspective is forced to change, it becomes more receptive to our mere existence and to what surrounds us.


"Every passion has its destiny."
                                                           Billy Mills