Spartan Profiles: Billy Downs
MONGO MAN TURNS IRONMAN
There’s something about competition that arouses some people to great action. Consider the case of Billy Downs, ’88, owner of BD’s Mongolian Barbeque. It’s not enough that the restaurant operation he founded in 1992 has become the world’s largest Mongolian barbeque operation. Based in Ferndale, BD’s boasts 27 restaurants in 10 states and two countries—the U.S. and Mongolia, where Downs opened a nonprofit restaurant to benefit youth programs.
A native of Novi, he followed an uncle to MSU and majored in hospitality business. “MSU is one of the top schools in the country,” he notes, “and Ron Cichy is a great leader for the school.”
In the process of publicizing his chain, Billy became the sponsor of Mongo Multisport, a 21-member team of triathlon athletes. With some prodding from friends, Billy tried a small triathlon in Ann Arbor in 2001, and enjoyed it very much. After four years, he began thinking about the Ironman Triathlon, perhaps the world’s most grueling race, where you swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles, and then run a 26.2-mile marathon. “You can do it,” he was told. “You just need to train.”
So beginning Feb. 1, Billy rose at 4 a.m. every day and swam, ran and bycicled according to schedule. “My family was very supportive,” he notes. “This is not like an exam. You can’t cram at the last minute. You have to put in the work.”
Payoff was Sept. 11, when he entered the Ford Ironman Triathlon in Madison, WI. In 94-degree weather, consuming more than 3,500 calories and gallons of water along the way and losing seven pounds, he finished in 13 hours and 45 minutes—good enough to earn the “Ironman” designation. “My family popped out of nowhere and accompanied me to the finish line,” he notes, adding that his wife Amy (Dornbrock) is a 1989 graduate of MSU. “It’s great to achieve a goal,” he says. “If you had seen me five years ago, you’d never believe it.”
