One Mile at a Time: Mike Campbell Brings Together Veterans and Civilians for a Great Cause
Written by Doug Goodnough
Mike Campbell, ’88, knows what it is like to be part of a team. As a Hillsdale College student-athlete, he was a member of the Chargers football team, including the 1985 squad that claimed an NAIA national championship.
During his 25-year career in sales, he also felt that same sense of team.
“It was the only job, the only career I ever had. It was a family to me,” he said of his time at Belmark, a consumer packaging company in the Green Bay, Wisconsin, area.
However, when he decided on an early retirement, he was looking to recapture that feeling of team in the next chapter of his life. Campbell had made friends with many military veterans, including Navy Seals and the Special Forces. He also was friends with former members of the NFL’s Green Bay Packers and knew of the camaraderie—and struggles—each group shared. After hearing those stories, he realized they had that same need for team and a sense of belonging. Why not bring those groups together?
That is how Team One Mile began.
Campbell, a one-person dynamo, created the unique nonprofit organization that brings people together for an annual multi-day, over-the-road bicycle event that raises funds—and attention—for veteran causes. In October of 2024, the Team One Mile event spent nearly a week cycling through the state of Wisconsin to raise funds for Camp Hometown Heroes, a camp for children of Gold Star families. Enrolling an eclectic team of approximately 30 riders comprised of an equal mix of veterans and civilians, Campbell said Team One Mile fills a unique mission in the nonprofit world.
“It started off as a global network trying to bring veterans and civilians together, primarily civilians on the athletic side of the world, just because I realized they’re two distinctly different communities,” Campbell said of his organization’s philosophy. “But they have a tremendous amount in common. They thrive on purpose, on goals, on a mission, on teamwork, on camaraderie. As I was having more and more conversations about life’s struggles, I realized that the two communities weren’t really speaking to each other. They were not connected.”
However, trying to connect those two groups of people required a catalyst, a cause.
“As I built this community, I realized that I needed to do something tangible, and that was missing,” Campbell said. “It is one thing to have a network. It is another to get things moving and turn words and ideas into action. So that’s where Team One Mile was born.”
Getting people to join his cause became his primary focus when building Team One Mile.
“I realized that if I was going to go after former Olympians, former Navy Seals and Special Forces, former pro athletes, I better have a pretty big lure,” Campbell said. “I better have something that makes even the best of the best pause. What would that be? What would that look like?”
A colleague mentioned Race Across America, a well-established, ultra-distance road cycling race that is one of the longest endurance events in the world. A cycling enthusiast, Campbell had competed in several triathlons, and he said it made sense to start there.
“Cycling is the metaphor for what our mission is,” he said. “Yes, it is what we use as our mode of transportation. It was also something big enough and challenging enough that people who reach the top of their careers would still hear me out.”
Using his sales background, Campbell began recruiting his team of riders. Once on Team One Mile, they committed to train for the grueling race ahead and garner support for their efforts.
“I find riders of all abilities,” he said. “I am not really looking for the best riders. I am looking for unique individuals who have incredible life stories and just happen to be cyclists.”
Team One Mile had successful rides in Race Across America events in 2021 and 2022. However, Campbell believed the focus of Team One Mile needed to change.
“Because it was a race, so much of our attention was internal,” he said of participating in Race Across America. “We were worried about the race, about how we were doing, and what we were missing. There was no connection outside of the team.”
Campbell refocused the organization into assisting veteran-specific causes starting in 2023. When Hurricane Ian hit Florida hard in 2022, Team One Mile organized a six-day, 700-mile “Recon Ride” from Key West to Jacksonville to raise awareness and support for Florida veterans affected by the hurricane.
“We went from an awareness team to an impact team,” Campbell said. “We had a direct impact on the communities we visited. We brought disaster relief equipment and money that we raised from all over the country to leave behind.”
Using that new model, Campbell shifted to his home state of Wisconsin in 2024. Team One Mile traveled through the state on a similar six-day, 700-mile schedule, raising more than $100,000 for Camp Hometown Heroes.
Team One Mile now has some corporate sponsorships that help with expenses, and other larger non-profits like Wounded Warriors and Semper Fi America’s Fund have partnered on a few efforts. Campbell, who does not take a salary, has a group of volunteers who help organize and coordinate the annual event. He said Team One Mile has also given him a renewed sense of purpose.
“When I retired, I said, ‘Every day is Saturday now. Every day is a day off,’” Campbell said. “I was golfing, I was having fun. I was just living the life.”
That led to a struggle with alcohol abuse, and he said Team One Mile helped restore that sense of purpose.
“It was just spiraling out of control,” said Campbell, who is now six years sober. “I was losing purpose and the energy to meet my goals. I realized I needed to make a change. I got back to being whole. I still have the purpose, the energy, and the desire to make a difference.”
Campbell has recruited an extraordinary group of people to participate in Team One Mile. There are former generals and Navy Seals, as well as former Olympic athletes like Steve Lewis and Dan Jansen, cycling legend Chris Carmichael, and former NFL players like Don Davey and Don Majkowski.
“The only reason I’m successful with One Mile is because I’m tenacious,” Campbell said. “I refuse to let ‘no’ be the final answer.”
NFL legend Brett Favre has tentatively committed to join 2025 Team One Mile, and Campbell said Favre hopes to participate in the September event in Wisconsin that will again assist Camp Hometown Heroes as well as Operation Guardian Angel, an organization that helps disabled veterans get involved in endurance sports.
Splitting his time between Wisconsin and Arizona, Campbell said he is enjoying following his two college-age children, a son who is at Arizona State University, and a daughter who attends the University of Minnesota. The 58-year-old is often out on his bicycle keeping up his training regimen for Team One Mile.
“It’s also my outlet, my therapy,” he said.
He said he carries the lessons he learned at Hillsdale College to this day.
“What I learned in college helped me cement my values. That has never left me,” said Campbell, who majored in psychology and was a member of the Delta Sigma Phi fraternity at Hillsdale. “My drive and my discipline are as great now as they were when I was in college, when I was playing football. My desire to excel, to work hard, to be disciplined—I live that. I’ve never stopped.”
Doug Goodnough, ’90, is Hillsdale’s senior director of Alumni Marketing. He enjoys connecting with fellow alumni in new and wonderful ways.
Reposted from the spring 2025 issue of Arete.