When Cameron Mills walked-on to the University of Kentucky basketball team in 1994, he had no idea that he’d walk away with a full scholarship and two NCAA titles. Although it was a dream fulfilled, Cameron will be the first to tell you that the glitter of a championship ring is temporal and quickly fades.
Cameron Mills was born on December 10, 1975 in Ft. Walton, Florida. Two years later his family moved to Somerset, KY, where his father, who had played at the University of Kentucky in the late sixties, took a coaching job. Cameron grew up participating in church activities in various denominations and at age seven he asked Jesus into his heart. He played soccer and baseball but showed early promise at basketball. The summer after seventh grade his family including his younger brother, Collier, moved to Lexington. That summer, also, the family welcomed two sisters into the family by adoption, Meredith and Melinda. In 1990 Cameron was part of the freshman class of a brand new high school, Paul Laurence Dunbar. He made the varsity basketball team that year and went on to the final game of the state basketball tournament both his junior and senior years. Recruited by many Division 1 schools he chose to walk on at his father’s alma mater and play for Coach Rick Pitino at the University of Kentucky. He was part of UK’s 1996 NCAA championship team and was awarded a scholarship for the next two years. During UK’s run back to the final game in 1997 Cameron played a major role hitting 61% from the field (63% from the three-point line).
In 1998, under Coach Tubby Smith, he hit a pivotal shot against arch rival Duke to send UK back to the Final Four for the third straight year. He hit two clutch three-pointers during the second half of the championship win against Utah. Cameron is still UK’s all-time leader in three-point percentage for a season at 53.2% and for a career at 47.4%. Though basketball has been a big part of Cameron’s life, his calling since he was twelve has been ministry. In June of 1998, he began Cameron Mills Ministries, Inc.
In 2014 Cameron started Cameron Mills Radio, a weekly sports talk radio show which now has over ten affiliates across Kentucky. The radio show and his friendships within local media allowed Cameron to produce two documentaries with Dick Gabriel and Jason Epperson. Bot about the University of Kentucky basketball program, specifically the 1996 national championship team, called “The Team” and the 1998 national championship team, called “Out of the Blue”. Both documentaries are award winning.