Monday, October 30, 2000

WILMINGTON, NC -- U.S. Olympic champion Billy Mills will lecture on "Your Pursuit of Excellence" at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 14, in the UNCW Warwick Center Ballroom. This free talk, which is sponsored by the university's Office of Campus Diversity, is the inaugural lecture for Native American Heritage Month.

Competing at the 1964 Olympics, Mills was the first American to win a gold medal in the 10,000-meter run. Mills, a Lakota Sioux, was raised in poverty on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Orphaned as a child, he faced prejudice and discrimination throughout most of his childhood.

Mills is the author of Wokini, which translated from Lakota means "new life, a life of peace and happiness." The book teaches what it means to be happy and how a person can feel more satisfied in life. It blends traditional Native American beliefs that rely on meditation, thoughts, dreams and the love of nature's beauty with modern therapeutic principles such as positive thinking.

The film Running Brave, which starred Robby Benson, was based on Mills' life.

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For more information, contact the UNCW Office of Campus Diversity at 910/962-3832.

Note to the media: Mr. Mills will be available for media interviews from 4 to 5:15 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 14, in the University Union, Room 210.