Courtesy the Maryland Gazette

(October 21, 2010) It was the strong influence of coaches that led Keith Mills into a career in sports journalism. It would be the caring concern of coaches that would help the longtime Linthicum resident rebound from the toughest battle of his life.

Mills grew up playing multiple sports in Brooklyn Park and was positively impacted by coaches such as Ted Sophocleus and Norman Stumpf. Those men were very much like his father, George Mills, in that they truly cared about the well-being of their players and treated them all like sons.

Mills became a three-sport athlete at Brooklyn Park - excelling in football for Grant Jones, basketball for Mike Baker and baseball for Tim McMullen.

"I was very fortunate to have a series of youth and high school coaches who were men of character and taught you how to do things the right way, both on and off the field," Mills said.

Those coaches instilled a love and passion for athletics that would lead Mills into a highly-decorated, 30-year career as a writer, producer and broadcaster covering high school, college and professional sports in the Baltimore area. The Brooklyn Park native learned the basics of print reporting while working at The News-American under the tutelage of Jack Gibbons and John Steadman.

While working as a sports producer at WJZ-TV (Channel 13) in Baltimore during the early 1980s, it was renowned anchor man Al Sanders who encouraged the Towson State graduate to move in front of the camera. Randy Blair, the sports director at WJZ at the time, helped refine Mills as a television personality while giving him the freedom and leeway to grow.

Mills began by doing stand-up reporting at local high school and college events, performing well enough to be hired as weekend sports anchor at WMAR-TV in 1987. It was during a successful, 19-year tenure at Channel 2 that Mills become known as the guru of local sports coverage. He created and hosted the Sunday Sports Extra segment, an award-winning, 30-minute highlights show that often put the spotlight on the preps and small colleges.

"Keith has a passion for sports, especially local sports, that is unsurpassed. Keith puts his heart and soul into everything he does," said Scott Garceau, sports director and weeknight anchor at WMAR-TV throughout Mills' tenure.

Mills became a popular television personality around Baltimore, but that all came crashing down earlier this decade. A doctor's prescription for painkillers to combat a painful back injury eventually led to addiction that Mill his job at Channel 2 after he was arrested for stealing pills from a neighbor.

Through the help of close family and members of the local coaching fraternity, Mills rebounded. In 2006, he was hired by WBAL to serve as lead sports anchor on the Maryland Morning News program on 1090-AM and lead sports anchor on WBAL-TV Morning News. He also hosted the Purple Passion Radio Show and the Baltimore Ravens Pre-Game and Post-Game shows on WBAL Radio. That work led the Ravens organization to hire Mills to anchor the 1 Winning Drive and Purple Passion television programs on the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network.

Tonight Mills will be inducted into the Anne Arundel County Sports Hall of Fame.

"They say you find out who your true friends are when adversity hits, and I discovered the hard way that is true," Mills said. "There was a small group of people who never wavered and stood by my side the whole way."

Mills said that list includes Broadneck athletic director Ken Kazmarek, former Andover and North County High coach Dan Krimmelbein, former Broadneck and Arundel High basketball coach V.J. Keith and McMullen, his baseball coach at Brooklyn Park.

"I don't think it's a coincidence that all those men are coaches. They have proven time and time again that they truly care about people," said Mills, adding that his father, mother and sister were most instrumental in "helping me get back on my feet professionally."

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