One of Workington Town’s great characters over the years has been honoured by his home country.
Prop forward Jim Mills has been inducted into the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame.
Introduced in 1990 the biggest names in Welsh sport – with the likes of John Charles (football), Gus Risman (rugby league), Cliff Morgan (rugby union), Dai Rees (golf) and Fulke Walwyn (horse racing) – have been inducted yearly.
Big Jim Mills, now 78, originally played rugby union for Cardiff RUFC before turning pro with Halifax in 1965.
He went on to play 343 competitive games of rugby league, which included 17 full caps for Wales and six caps for Great Britain.
At club level after leaving Halifax he played for Salford, Bradford, North Sydney Bears, Workington and Widnes.
He had joined Town for £6,000 from Widnes in February, 1976 after turning down Salford.
Although he was only a member of the Town pack for 23 games he helped them win promotion to Division One and reach the Lancashire Cup final. He scored three tries for the Town.
On receiving the induction Mills said: “This was a big surprise to me. The Welsh Sports Hall of Fame is something that I dreamed of getting into and I didn’t think it would ever come along.
“I’m so proud to be inducted into the Hall of Fame as so many great players have already been inducted and it’s nice to be part of it.”
The Welsh Sports Hall of Fame (WSHOF) is a charitable organisation created to commemorate the sporting achievements and preserve the artefacts of Welsh sports men and women.
It was established in 1980 from the memorabilia collection of Welsh radio commentator GV Wynne-Jones.
Since 1990, inductees to the exclusive Roll of Honour have been chosen annually by a trustees committee comprising representatives from athletics, media, universities and museums.
