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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2003

Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-Colorado), the only American Indian in the Senate, tells the Associated Press sports kept him from a life of crime, drugs and despair.

"I was in gangs and going the wrong direction. I was a high school dropout, and my dad was drinking bad and in and out of jail, and my mom was in a hospital,'' Campbell tells the AP.

Campbell is an Olympic athlete who competed at the 1964 Tokyo games, where Lakota runner Billy Mills won the gold medal for the 10,000-meter. He said he became interested in judo, his main sport, after losing a fight to a "Japanese boy" who knew the martial art.

Get the Story:
Senator's Olympic past keys effort to overhaul U.S. system (AP 2/28)

Relevant Links:
Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell - http://campbell.senate.gov