Douglas Raymond "Gaga" Mills (April 9, 1907 – August 12, 1993), a native of

Elgin, Illinois Elgin ( ) is a city in Cook and Kane counties in the northern part of the U.S. state of Illinois. Elgin is located northwest of Chicago, along the Fox River. As of the 2020 Census, the city had a population of 114,797, the seventh-large ...

, was a high school and college basketball player and coach in the state of

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. During high school, Mills was the first player in the state to lead his team to back-to-back titles in 1924 and 1925. He totaled 32 points in four state tournament games for Elgin High School during an era of low-scoring play. Mills played for the

Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball The Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team is an NCAA Division I college basketball team competing in the Big Ten Conference. Home games are played at the State Farm Center, located on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign's campu ...

team from 1927 to 1930 followed by a five-year coaching stint at

Joliet Township High School Joliet Central High School is a public secondary school located in Joliet, Illinois. Central is part of Joliet Township High Schools, along with Joliet West and Joliet East (now defunct). Before the opening of Joliet East and West, the school wa ...

. He led his Joliet team to the state tournament in 1935. He returned to the U of I as head men's basketball coach from 1936 to 1947. He coached the famous " Whiz Kids" and also served as the

Fighting Illini The Illinois Fighting Illini () are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The university offers 10 men's and 11 women's varsity sports. The University operates a number of athletic faci ...

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...

. Mills died in 1993. While coaching at Illinois, Mills compiled a record of 151 wins and 66 losses, winning three conference titles during his tenure. He added the

's post in 1941. In 1947, he stepped down as head coach to concentrate on his duties as athletic director, naming Champaign High coach

Harry Combes Harry Combes (March 3, 1915 – November 13, 1977), a native of Monticello, Illinois, served as head men's basketball coach at University of Illinois between 1947 and 1967. Biography Combes played high school basketball for Monticello High Scho ...

as his successor. He was also responsible for hiring football coaches

Ray Eliot Raymond Eliot "Butch" Nusspickel (June 13, 1905 – February 24, 1980) was an American football and baseball player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Illinois College from 1934 to 1936 and at th ...

and

Pete Elliott Peter R. Elliott (September 29, 1926 – January 4, 2013) was an American football player and coach. Elliott served as the head football coach at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (1956), the University of California, Berkeley (1957–1959), ...

. In 2007, the

Illinois High School Association The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) is an association that regulates competition of interscholastic sports and some interscholastic activities at the high school level for the state of Illinois. It is a charter member of the National Fed ...

named Mills one of the

100 Legends of the IHSA Boys Basketball Tournament The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) celebrated 100 years of the IHSA State Tournament in the 2006-07 season. A list of "100 Legends of the IHSA Boys Basketball Tournament" was assembled on December 14, 2005. Throughout the state, 281 ind ...

. He and his wife, Lorene Muntz, had a daughter, Sally, who died from a ruptured appendix. The two later adopted two children, Peter G. Mills and the late Molly M. Mills. Doug and Lorene divorced in the early 1960's. Neither ever remarried.

Head coaching record

High school

College

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mills, Douglas R. 1907 births 1983 deaths American football quarterbacks American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Illinois Basketball players from Illinois High school basketball coaches in the United States Illinois Fighting Illini athletic directors Illinois Fighting Illini football coaches Illinois Fighting Illini football players Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball coaches Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball players Players of American football from Illinois Sportspeople from Elgin, Illinois