After a year in which he led Australia to its first Olympic medal in men’s basketball, the bronze, and became the first aboriginal to carry his nation’s flag into an Olympic stadium, Patty Mills has been named winner of the Don Award, the highest honor in Australian sport.
The award, given by the Sport Australia Hall of Fame, is awarded to “a current Australian athlete or team who, by their achievements and example in the last 12 months, have most inspired the nation.” Inspire, Mills did, both with his accomplishments on the court and off, particularly in his leadership of the continent’s indigenous people.