Edward Francis "Frank" Millard (1914-1958) was born in North Adams and developed into one of the most prolific wrestlers in the history of Massachusetts.

After winning the New England title in his weight class seven times and taking the national YMCA crown in 1934-1936, Millard became the National AAU 135 pound champion in 1936 and 1938. At age 21, Millard competed in the 1936 Berlin Olympics where he won the silver medal for the United States in the freestyle (also known as catch-as-catch-can) contests. Although the decision that determined his final medal color was controversial, Frank Millard held no ill-feelings against the judges. In 1938 in Stockholm, Sweden, Millard avenged his loss and captured the World Championship. During his wrestling days, Millard was never pinned and, at the pinnacle of his career, he was regarded as "the best wrestler in the world under 150 lbs" as well as one of the two best wrestlers ever produced in the United States (the other being Robin Reed).

A veteran of World War II, Frank Millard enlisted in the US Marines and served overseas in the Pacific Theater. Corporal Millard went on to become the wrestling coach at the Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station, at that time the world's largest Marine air station. "The Judge," as he was nicknamed by the corps, was known for the solid advice he imparted on the younger Marines in his squadron; his fellow Marines also considered him "pound for pound, the best man in the world." He once pitted his wrestling skill against several crack Marine judo instructors of the combat conditioning program and the judo boys were overwhelmingly outclassed by the wrestler. This result caused a huge jump in Millard's Marine wrestling class enrollment as men needed to improve their prowess in the art of hand to hand combat. Millard is considered a "wrestling great" and during his Marine days his fellow Leathernecks would bet their bottom dollar that the powerfully built 150 pound red head Scotch-Irishman would always come out on top in any hand to hand combat situation.

(Citation: Obituary for Francis Millard in the North Adams Transcript, July 15, 1958)