Charles Thomas McMillen (born May 26, 1952) is an American politician, businessman, and former professional basketball player. A Rhodes Scholar, McMillen represented Maryland's 4th congressional district from January 3, 1987, to January 3, 1993.
On March 22, 2011, he was appointed as chairman of the inaugural Board of Directors of the President's Foundation on Sports, Physical Fitness, and Nutrition.[1] He is also the author of Out of Bounds,[2] a critical look at the unhealthy influence of sports on ethics, and he served on the Knight Foundation's Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics investigating abuses within college sports.[3]
Career
Basketball
McMillen playing for Virtus in Italy, 1975
Prior to entering politics, McMillen was a star basketball player on all levels. In 1970, he was the number one high school basketball player in the U.S. coming out of Mansfield, Pennsylvania, and was the biggest recruiting catch early in Coach Lefty Driesell's career at the University of Maryland, beating out rival Coaches Dean Smith of the University of North Carolina and John Wooden of UCLA for McMillen's services. McMillen played for the Terrapins from 1971 to 1974,[4] McMillen was also a member of the 1972 U.S. Olympic Basketball Team that lost a controversial gold medal game to the Soviet Union.
He was elected to the U.S. Congress as a Democrat to represent Maryland's 4th district, and served 1987–1993 as that district's representative.[9] Future president Donald Trump donated to McMillen's first Congressional campaign.[10]
In 1992, the 4th was redrawn as a black-majority district due to a mandate from the Justice Department. His home in Crofton was drawn into the Eastern Shore-based 1st District, represented by first-term Republican Congressman Wayne Gilchrest. Although McMillen did very well in the more urbanized areas of the district near Baltimore and Washington, D.C., it was not enough to overcome Gilchrest's margin on the Eastern Shore, and McMillen lost his reelection bid.
McMillen is thought to be the tallest-ever member of Congress.[11] At 6 feet 11inches, he is two feet taller than MarylandSenatorBarbara Mikulski, who is believed to be the shortest representative ever.[12]
Later career
President Bill Clinton named McMillen to be the chair of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports; he resigned in November 1997 after the FBI raided a separate healthcare business he was running.[10] No prosecution was ever brought as part of the raid.[10][13]
McMillen shakes hands with Maryland Governor Wes Moore, 2024
McMillen was appointed to the University System of Maryland's Board of Regents in 2007, where he served until June 30, 2015. He was replaced by Robert R. Neall whom McMillen had defeated for Congress in 1986.[14] In March 2023, McMillen was again appointed to the Boards of Regents, succeeding Gary L. Attman.[15]
In September 2015, McMillen was selected to lead the Division I-A Athletic Directors’ Association as it moved from Dallas to Washington, D.C.[3] He remains President and Chief Executive Officer of the renamed Lead1 Association, now advocating for athletic directors at Football Bowl Subdivision universities.[16][17]
In 1992, McMillen attended a NFL-related party hosted by Donald Trump, and happened to enter the party with his girlfriend at the exact same time as Jeffrey Epstein, which was caught on tape by NBC cameras.[13][10] McMillen was also filmed talking with Ghislaine Maxwell; in 2025 he said that he was just saying hello to people as he walked through the party.[10] McMillen's name is listed in the Epstein flight logs for a date two months after the party; he said in 2025 that the logs are false.[10] In a statement to Pablo Torre Finds Out, McMillen said that he did not have a close relationship with Epstein, nor would he have considered him a friend.[10]
In an email that was later released to the public by Congress, Gwendolyn Beck reached out to Epstein, claiming that McMillen had wanted to be reintroduced to him to help raise money so McMillen could receive an ambassadorship from the Obama administration.[10] McMillen also said he did not remember making that ask, that he would not have mentioned Epstein nor was he looking to receive an ambassadorship since he had been a supporter of Hillary Clinton's campaign.[10]
↑McMillen, Tom; Coggins, Paul (May 1, 1992). Out of Bounds: How the American Sport Establishment Is Being Driven by Greed Hypocrisy-And What Need to Be Done About It. Simon & Schuster. ISBN0671707760.
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