By Michael Sandrock (Contact)
Tuesday, January 15, 2008

When Billy Mills stepped to the line for the start of the 2-mile at the 1961 Big Eight track championships inside Folsom Field, he did not know what to expect from the altitude he was facing for the first time. He did know that he should start out conservatively, and Mills, from the University of Kansas, did just that, letting a Missouri runner take a big lead.

Coming down the final backstretch, Mills was still 25 yards back and seemingly fighting for second place. However, he unleashed a fierce finishing kick and passed the Missouri runner just at the tape to grab the conference crown. It was the running world's first glimpse of the sprinting power of Mills, a Lakota Sioux Native American who would go on to showcase an even better kick three years later at the Tokyo Olympic Games.

There, the unknown Mills pulled off one of the biggest upsets in Olympic distance running history with a...