Ronnie Mills

Ronald Parker Mills (born February 25, 1951) is an American former competition swimmer for Southern Methodist University and a 1968 Olympic medalist in the backstroke. He later had a career in advertising in the Dallas area.

In June 1968, at the age of 17, while swimming for Fort Worth's Burford Swim Club, coached by American Swimming Coaches Association Hall of Fame Coach Don Easterling, Mills won the 50-yard freestyle in 23.3 seconds in the Camp Carter swimming tournament. Easterling had a highly competitive program with the Burford Swim Club, and would coach the University of Texas at Arlington, before beginning a 24 year career with North Carolina State University from 1971-1995. Mills trained with Easterling at the University of Texas Arlington facility in preparation for the Olympics as well, though Mills would have been too young to enroll at the university.

1968 Olympics Mills competed at the age of 17 at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. Individually, he won a bronze medal for his third-place finish in the men's 100-meter backstroke with a time in the final heat of 1:00.5. He also swam the backstroke leg for the gold medal-winning U.S. team in the preliminary heats of the men's 4×100-meter medley relay. In a January, 1971 meet against Arkansas while swimming for SMU, Mills placed first in the 200-yard Individual Medley with a time of 2:04.5. In March 1970, at the Southwestern Conference Championships at SMU, Mills set two Southwestern Conference records in the backstroke. His 1970 SWC Championship records included a 53.7 in the 100 backstroke, and a record time of 1:55.8 in the 200 backstroke. Mills went on to earn All-American honors and was the Southwest Conference champion in a total of eight individual swimming events over a three-year span. He also swam on an American record-setting relay team. After around twenty years in the advertising business, he retired from the industry around age 48, returning to his native Fort Worth and cared for his elderly parents. His retirement included frequent rounds of golf and tennis at Fort Worth's Ridglea Country Club, volunteer work, and management of two Fort Worth properties. A gifted golfer, he played with a 16 handicap in a weekly foursome whose results were frequently listed in local newspapers.

Honors Mills was inducted into the Texas Swimming Hall of Fame in April 2001.