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(People Category)
Please search the alphabetized list for duplicates before writing in a new entry!
(Moment Category)
Please search the alphabetized list for duplicates before writing in a new entry!
(Event Category)
Please search the alphabetized list for duplicates before writing in a new entry!
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George Nix
(People Category)
The Haida Indian from Hydaburg became Alaska's first professional football player in the 1920s. As a young man, Nix also excelled in boxing, track, wrestling and basketball. An extraordinarily gifted athlete, the lineman played for the legendary all-Indian Hominay Indians in Oklahoma before competing for the Buffalo Rangers of the National Football League.
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Marcus Dunbar
(People Category)
In his prime, no Alaska runner was faster. From the 800 to 5,000 meters, his times from the early 1990s were the standard and still rank among the state’s all-time best. He was the 1993 U.S. indoor mile champion after posting a PR of 4:00.58, a state record that stood for 20 years until his son broke it. A former standout at Bartlett High School, Dunbar went on to run in the Pac-10 for the University of Oregon. He also won a record 10 titles in the Heart Run 5-K in Anchorage and built a stalwart running program at Kodiak High School as head coach.
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Jim Balamaci
(People Category)
Balamaci was a passionate leader within the global Special Olympics movement for 40 years and served served as President/CEO of Special Olympics Alaska from 1996 until he passed away in 2018 Under his leadership the Alaska program grew from 400 to 2000 athletes, was awarded and hosted the 2001 Special Olympics World Winter Games, the largest sports event to held in Alaska at the time and opened the Special Olympics Alaska Sports, Health and Wellness Center, a 20,000 sq foot state of the art sports facility in Anchorage.
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Milo Griffin
(People Category)
One of the most recognizable faces in Alaska sports history as a player and coach, Griffin starred for the University of Alaska Fairbanks men’s basketball team from 1966-69. He held the school’s scoring record for 36 years, became the first Nanooks player to have his number retired and also helped coach the team in the 1990s. Griffin taught and coached multiple sports at Lathrop High School and other schools in the Fairbanks area for more than 35 years.
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John Faeo
(People Category)
One of the greatest drivers in Iron Dog history, he won a record seven titles in the 2,000-mile snowmachine race from Wasilla to Nome to Fairbanks. The Wasilla native captured his first Iron Dog in 1984 and his last in 1996. Between 1986 and 1991 he was virtually unbeatable, winning five of the six races in that stretch. In all, he raced 23 times.
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Rick Abbott
(People Category)
A masters-division swimmer, Abbott still holds various state, national and world records. He also won two gold medals representing the United States at the Pan American Games in 1975. Abbott drove to Alaska and established a chiropractic practice in 1985.
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Robert “Big Bob” Aiken
(People Category)
At 6-foot-4 and 400 pounds, Big Bob from Barrow was larger than life in Native Games. During a 26-year career, the self-dubbed “World’s Largest Eskimo” dominated strength events at the World Eskimo Indian Olympics, winning many ulus in the Indian and Eskimo stick pulls and the four-man carry. After retiring from competition in 1989, he stayed active in Native Games as an ambassador, board member, coach and mentor. He died in 2015 at age 62.
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Dorena Bingham
(People Category)
One of the most successful girls high school basketball coaches in Alaska history, Bingham won 280 games in 14 seasons at East Anchorage. She also won three Class 4A state championships and helped more than 100 girls play college basketball. Later she coached for the U.S. Junior National Team and NCAA Division I Seattle University. Now she works as a recreation supervisor at the Fairview Community Recreation Center in Anchorage. Later she coached for the U.S. Junior National Team and NCAA Division I Seattle University and returned to Anchorage to work as a recreation supervisor at the Fairview Community Recreation Center.
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Stan Brown
(People Category)
One of Alaska’s first college wrestling stars in the 1970s, he later was instrumental in starting the state’s Pop Warner Association for youth football and cheerleading in 1997. Brown wrestled at Arizona State and contended for a spot on the 1980 Olympic Team. He returned to Alaska and devoted much of his life to youth sports. In 2007, Brown died at age 50 of a heart attack; he is honored with the Stan Brown Memorial Field at Lions Park in Eagle River.
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Jim Mahaffey
(People Category)
Mahaffey's devotion to Nordic skiing began in 1950 after arriving at Elmendorf Air Force Base. He later founded the Alaska Methodist University program, which included Olympians on the first female varsity college ski team in the nation, and developed trails around the state, including those at Alaska Pacific University that bear his name. Mahaffey also helped create the Equinox Marathon in Fairbanks and organized training runs for his ski team in the late 1960s that morphed into the still-popular Tuesday Night Race Series in Anchorage.
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Chris Clark
(People Category)
In 2000, the 37-year-old mother and wife from Anchorage went from jogging on her treadmill to running the women’s marathon for the United States at the Sydney Olympics. She got there with a stunning victory in the Olympic Trials. Clark sliced more than seven minutes off her previous best to win the 26.2-mile trials race in 2 hours, 33 minutes, 31 seconds, two minutes ahead of anyone else. She earned the country’s only Olympic bid to Sydney, where she finished 19th in a field of 54 in a personal-best 2:31:35.
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Daryn Colledge
(People Category)
The veteran NFL offensive lineman from North Pole won a Super Bowl ring with Green Bay in 2010 and started 137 games in his nine-year career with the Packers, Arizona Cardinals and Miami Dolphins. Known for his toughness and durability, the 6-foot-4, 308-pound guard started 122 consecutive games. Green Bay selected him in the second round of the 2006 draft out of Boise State. In 2016, two years after he retired from football, he enlisted in the Idaho Army National Guard.
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Scott Davis
(People Category)
The Soldotna man owns a record seven championships in the 2,000-mile Iron Dog, the world’s longest snowmachine race. Davis captured titles in 1985, 1989, 1993, 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2007 with five different partners and has 16 career top-three finishes. In motocross, he has won more than a dozen state championships.
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Shannon Donley
(People Category)
Donley, of Anchorage, is a 10-time winner of the Eagle River Triathlon and an eight-time winner of the prestigious Gold Nugget Triathlon. She has also been successful beyond Alaska. At the 2011 Ironman World Championships in Hawaii, she placed fifth in the women’s 40-44 age group. She also won the women’s 35-39 age group at the 2006 U.S. national championships and placed fifth for age 35-39 at the 2006 world championships.
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Pam Dreyer
(People Category)
The first Alaskan to play Olympic hockey, she won a bronze medal with Team USA as a goaltender at the 2006 Games in Italy. Dreyer, of Eagle River, made 26 saves in sending Canada to a 3-1 loss at the 2004 World Championships, its first-ever defeat at the tournament. Dreyer made that all-tournament team as the U.S. won silver. At Brown University, she led the Bears to an NCAA runner-up finish in 2002 and a year later beat Canada twice at the 4 Nations Select Cup.
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Brad Oleson
(People Category)
The North Pole basketball star played 15 pro seasons, including 11 in Spain. His 150 Euroleague games are No. 2 in Alaska history. In college, the 6-foot-3 guard was a first team NCAA All-American and 2-time GNAC Player of the Year. He finished his UAF career in 2005 as the school’s all-time leading scorer with 1,883 points. He set an Alaska record with a 3-pointer in 59 straight games. He was also named MVP of the Top of the World Classic after leading the Nanooks over Weber State in the title game.
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Mike Dunlap
(People Category)
Dunlap, of Fairbanks, was the first Alaskan to play in the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament in 1980 with Loyola Marymount. He got into coaching the next season and 40 years later is a true pioneer for Alaska hoops. Dunlap became the first Alaskan to coach in the NBA in 2012 when he was named head coach of the Charlotte Hornets. He joined the Milwaukee Bucks staff in 2020 and helped the team win the 2021 NBA Finals. As a head coach, he led Metro State to NCAA Division II titles in 2000 and 2002, and reached the Australian League Finals in 1994.
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Egil Ellis
(People Category)
The sprint musher, who moved to Willow from Sweden, claimed 61 international victories beginning in 1985. Among them were a record 12 Open North American Championships, 12 Tok Race of Champions titles, five Anchorage Fur Rendezvous Open World Championships and 7 Exxon Mobil Open wins. He also claimed the Triple Crown five times.
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Aliy Zirkle
(People Category)
The only female champion of the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race (2000), Zirkle has also established herself as a perennial contender in the more famous Iditarod. She has finished runner-up three times (2012-14) while showing good sportsmanship and grace. Zirkle has also twice won the Iditarod’s coveted Humanitarian Award. The New Hampshire native moved to Alaska in 1990 and shares a kennel with fellow champion musher Allen Moore in Two Rivers.
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Matt Emmons
(People Category)
He competed at four Olympics in rifle shooting and won three medals — gold at the 2004 Athens Games, silver at the 2008 Beijing Games and bronze at the 2012 London Games. Emmons was lauded for his good attitude after last-shot gaffes cost him two other Olympic medals. At the University of Alaska Fairbanks, he won eight NCAA riflery championships (four team, four individual).
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Audun Endestad
(People Category)
A nordic skier from Norway who has made his home in Fairbanks for decades, Endestad won a record 13 U.S. national championships and captured the Great American Ski Chase six times during a long career that continued into his 40s. He competed at the 1984 Sarajevo Games and finished 18th in the men’s 50K race. In 1990, he swept all four men’s races at the national championships in Anchorage.
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Tyler Huntington
(People Category)
He holds the distinction of being the only person to win two of the toughest races in motor sports.
In 2010 and 2011, Huntington and partner Chris Olds claimed the 2,000-mile Iron Dog Classic snowmachine event from Big Lake to Nome to Fairbanks. Then in his ninth attempt in 2012, he won the Yukon 800 Marathon riverboat race from Fairbanks to Galena and back.
“It’s something I’ve been wanting my whole life and I finally got it,” Huntington, a Galena native who later moved to Fairbanks, said about his historic double.
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Joe Floyd
(People Category)
The architect of the Kodiak High School athletic department beginning in 1955, he played an integral role in establishing every sport at the school, and he coached most of them. He was especially active in wrestling, basketball and baseball. Floyd was inducted into the Alaska Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2002 and the Alaska High School Hall of Fame in 2007.
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Talisa Rhea
(People Category)
The Juneau basketball standout starred in college before going on to become part of the Seattle Storm front office and winning two WNBA championships. The 3-time All-Pac-12 selection at Oregon State finished her NCAA career with 1,664 points – fifth most in Alaska history. She was Gatorade Alaska Player of Year in 2007, named to the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team in 2008 and set the state record for college players with 10 3-pointers in 2009. She played her final season at Seattle, helping the team post its first 20-win season as a NCAA D1 program.
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Steve Frank
(People Category)
One of the greatest basketball players in Fairbanks history, he won an Alaska high school state championship in 1972 with Lathrop High School and played at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He has been recognized as one of the top 10 players in UAF history and stands among the school’s all-time rebounding leaders.
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DeeDee Jonrowe
(People Category)
The musher from Willow is a two-time Iditarod runner-up and owns the record for the fastest women's time in the race. She has 16 top-ten Iditarod finishes and has completed the race 36 times. She is also an accomplished runner and triathlete. Jonrowe experienced multiple personal setbacks and became a popular figure for the way she managed them. Her trademark pink Iditarod racing team colors are an inspirational reminder of her experience as a cancer survivor.
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Doug Herron
(People Category)
He orchestrated one of the greatest moments in Alaska track and field history in 1985 when he ran 1:49.2 in the 800 meters, the fastest time in the nation by a high schooler that year. The Bartlett grad went to the University of Arizona and won a Pac-10 championship in the 800 in 1987. He later became a highly successful prep cross country and track coach and founded the Alaska Running Academy.
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Bobby Hill
(People Category)
In a 31 year athletic career, the Eagle River Special Olympian — a 2-time world champion in powerlifting in the 2003 World Games in Ireland, and a 4-time silver medalist in powerlifting in the 2007 World Games in China — has won more than 200 gold, silver and bronze medals in powerlifting, floor hockey, golf and bocce. He was inducted into the Alaska Aces Hall of Fame for being their No. 1 fan in 2015, and in 2018 was honored by the Alaska Legislature for 20 years of dedication as the Bartlett High football team manager.
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Richard Knowles
(People Category)
Knowles was a youth baseball and softball coach for nearly 50 years. He took three different teams to the World Series; Kodiak boys baseball team in 1982 and Anchorage girls softball teams in 2009 and 2011. He led multiple high school girls teams to state softball championships and throughout his career was highly respected by his players as a coach and mentor.
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Carol (Pickett) Hull
(People Category)
The Native Games icon from Fairbanks won the 1989 Denali Award as Alaska’s Sportsperson of the Year. Even as a teenager she proved to be a natural with jaw-dropping kicks that reached 7 feet, pushing the women’s records to new heights. She still holds the world record in the traditional one-foot high kick, set in 1990.
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John ‘Iron Man’ Johnson
(People Category)
The Alaska musher from the early 1900s was a three-time winner of the All Alaska Sweepstakes, the world’s first organized distance sled dog race. The race was 408 miles from Nome to Candle and back, and in 1910 Johnson set a race record of 74 hours, 14 minutes, 37 seconds that stood until 2008.
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Dan Jordan
(People Category)
Jordan, a Colorado native, was a standout rifle shooter before being paralyzed in a rock climbing accident. Thereafter he became a Paralympic silver medalist in 2004 and successful coach at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. As a UAF athlete, Jordan was a two-time NCAA All-American and as the UAF coach led the Nanooks to three NCAA championships. He retired from coaching in 2016 after 11 seasons with the Nanooks.
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Stan Justice
(People Category)
The king of the Equinox Marathon in Fairbanks, Justice has six titles and held the course record for 35 years. He owns five of the race's eight fastest times, including his 1984 effort of 2 hours, 41 minutes, 30 seconds that stood as the unthreatened course record until it was finally broken by Aaron Fletcher in 2019. During an eight-race stretch from 1980-87, Justice won six times and was runner-up twice.
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Doug Keil
(People Category)
After winning two gold medals in Norway with the U.S. Disabled Alpine Ski Team, Keil created Challenge Alaska, which serves thousands of people with disabilities each year. In 1982 he was the Handicapped Alaskan of the year and in 1983 he was a finalist for the President’s Trophy for the Distinguished Handicapped American Award. He was inducted into the Disabled Ski Hall of Fame in 2001.
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Rocky Klever
(People Category)
Klever, of Anchorage, seemed to make Alaska history every time he took the field in the NFL. He was the state’s first draft pick, the first to gain a yard and the first to score a touchdown. He was also the first to appear in a playoff game. Drafted in the ninth round in 1982 as a running back, Klever was switched to tight end and spent all five seasons with the New York Jets. He started 25 of 65 games and caught 46 passes for 514 yards and three touchdowns. At the University of Montana, he left as the all-time leading rusher with 2,228 yards. At West High, he led the Eagles to a state title in 1975 and was twice named all-state at quarterback.
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Dolly Lefever
(People Category)
In 1994, Lefever became the first American woman to climb the highest mountains on each continent, known as the Seven Summits. She also once shared the distinction of being the oldest woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest, which she accomplished on May 10, 1993, at age 47. Lefever also guided on Denali and twice won the 210-mile Iditaski race.
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Dennis Mattingly
(People Category)
He created the Anchorage Bucs baseball team in 1980 as an adult league team and a year later the team joined the Alaska Baseball League. Mattingly served as general manager for 30 years and helped develop 60 players who played Major League Baseball. In 1993, the Bucs were recognized as America’s No. 1 summer collegiate team. Mattingly died of cancer at age 63 in 2012.
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Steve MacSwain
(People Category)
One of Alaska’s first hockey players to make it on the national scene, the Anchorage winger starred at the University of Minnesota, played for Team USA at the World Championships and played professionally in seven countries. During the 1981-82 season at East High School, he set the state’s single-season scoring record with 104 points. He was inducted into the Alaska High School Hall of Fame in 2012.
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Jessica Moore
(People Category)
Moore, of Palmer, was a winner at every level of her basketball career. In high school, she won two state titles with Colony. In college, she won three NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament championships with the University of Connecticut. In the WNBA, Moore played nine seasons and reached the
Western Conference Finals in 2006 and 2008 with the Los Angeles Sparks, and the 2009 WNBA Finals with the Indiana Fever. She ranks second among Alaskans in the WNBA with 644 points and 450 rebounds in 222 games. Her 22 playoff appearances is No. 1 in state history by a mile.
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Brad Precosky
(People Category)
The Anchorage mountain running great won Mount Marathon six times and owns 8 of the top 100 all-time best times. The co-founder of Alaska Mountain Runners club was a perennial threat in the 1990s and 2000s, racking up victories at Bird Ridge, Government Peak, Matanuska Peak and Turnagain Arm. He also brought the prestigious World Mountain Running Trophy to Girdwood in 2003.
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Judy Rabinowitz
(People Category)
The cross-country skier from Fairbanks joined the U.S. Ski Team in 1980, won three national titles and competed in the 1984 Olympics. Rabinowitz also won the prestigious American Birkebeiner Ski Race in 1979 and won a gold medal at the World Masters 4x5 relay in 2008.
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Libby Riddles
(People Category)
The Iditarod Hall of Famer made history in 1985 when she became the first woman to win the 1,000-mile Last Great Race. She mushed into the teeth of a blizzard that kept every other racer in Shaktoolik, a daring move that made the difference. Riddles became an instant national phenomenon and was named the 1985 Women’s Sports Foundation’s Professional Sportswoman of the Year.
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Geoff Roes
(People Category)
In 2009 and 2010, the Juneau resident received his sport's highest honor: Ultrarunner of the Year. While a relative newcomer, Roes set course records at Alaska's Resurrection Pass 50 and Susitna 100. He followed up with new marks at the Wasatch 100 and prestigious Western States 100-mile Endurance Run in then-record time. Roes, who has retired from serious competition, still holds the Crow Pass Crossing course record and conducts popular ultrarunning camps in Juneau.
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Ted Stevens
(People Category)
Stevens was a towering figure of Alaska politics and the principal sponsor and lifelong advocate of Title IX of the Equal Education Amendments, the 1972 law that mandated equality of opportunity for girls and women in education. His Senatorial career started in 1968 and he retired as the longest-serving Republican senator in United States history in 2009. He died the following year in a plane crash.
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Reggie Tongue
(People Category)
A 10-year NFL veteran at defensive back, Tongue started 116 of 145 career games with Kansas City, Seattle and New York Jets. He has more tackles (676), touchdowns (5) and interceptions (17) than any other Alaskan who played in the NFL. Tongue, of Fairbanks, was a two-time All-Pac-10 selection at Oregon State University, where in 1994 he tied a Pac-10 record with three interceptions returned for touchdowns. He still ranks No. 2 in school history with 363 tackles. He was the 1990 Alaska Player of the Year at Lathrop High School.
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Kristi (Klinnert) Waythomas
(People Category)
One of the greatest runners in Alaska history, she never lost a cross country race in high school and was named the 1986 Alaska Sportsperson of the Year. The Kodiak star went on to become a three-time NCAA Division I All-American at Northern Arizona, where she set conference and school records in the 10-K. She qualified for the Olympic Trials in the marathon and 10-K, and in 1995, won a bronze medal in the marathon at the World University Games.
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Kenny Sailors
(People Category)
A pioneer, and perhaps inventor, of the jump shot, Sailors after his playing days spent 30 years in Alaska as a basketball coach and hunting and fishing guide. Sailors led the University of Wyoming to its only national championship in 1943, was photographed airborne in Life Magazine and later played two seasons in the National Basketball Association. He died at age 95 in Laramie, Wyoming in 2016.
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Roxy Wright
(People Category)
Roxy Wright is the only woman to win the Fur Rondy Open World Championship Sled Dog Race in Anchorage and was the first female to claim the Open North American Championship in Fairbanks. She won each prestigious race four times, including a sweep at age 66 after having retired from competitive racing more than two decades earlier. The daughter of legendary musher Gareth Wright, Roxy, an Athabascan, also won Europe's Alpirod in 1990.
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Sadie Maubet Bjornsen
(People Category)
Maubet Bjornsen is a two-time Olympian who finished the 2017-18 season as the sixth-ranked Nordic skier in the world. After moving from Washington to Alaska in 2011, she has earned 10 podiums on the World Cup and won a team sprint bronze medal at the 2017 World Championships in Finland. Maubet Bjornsen also volunteers for organizations such as Healthy Futures and has earned multiple degrees from Alaska Pacific University.
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Steve Moria
(People Category)
Despite playing just three seasons at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Moria remains the Nanooks' all-time hockey scoring leader. He tallied 271 points in 86 games, including a then-NCAA single-season record 109 points in 1984-85 which made him a finalist for the prestigious Hobey Baker Award. A British-Canadian national, Moria played professionally for 25 years in Britain before retiring in 2012.
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Matias Saari
(People Category)
Saari won Fairbanks’ Equinox Marathon a record-tying six times — four of them in his forties — and wrote a book about that iconic event. He also won the Matanuska Peak Challenge four times and Mount Marathon Race once. Saari is now the race director for the Crow Pass Crossing, the Mount Marathon Race and the Tour of Anchorage Nordic ski race.
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Tyler Huntington’s Motor Sport Double
(Moment Category)
Tyler Huntington became the first person to win both of Interior Alaska's premiere motor sport events. The Galena native claimed the Iron Dog snowmobile race in 2010 and 2011 and the Yukon 800 riverboat race in 2012.
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Rob Lorentz Flirts with State Passing Record in 2012
(Moment Category)
Colony High School senior quarterback Rob Lorentz made Alaska prep football history by becoming the second Alaska high school quarter to throw for 500 yards in a game. Lorentz passed for 530 yards in a 48-42 loss at North Pole. Lorentz completed 41-of-54 passes and tossed six touchdown passes – three each to junior wide receivers Daniel Bilafer and Antonio Bush. Alaska's single-game passing record is held by Soldotna's Mark Whackler, who threw for 542 yards in 1996.
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David Morris Breaks American Marathon Record in 1999
(Moment Category)
Eagle River’s David Morris set the (since broken) American marathon record in 1999 with 26.2-mile time of 2 hours, 9 minutes and 32 seconds in the Chicago Marathon. He was the top American finisher in fourth-place overall in a field of thousands. The Chugiak High School graduate was a three-time NCAA All-American at the University of Montana.
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North Pole Beats West for State Football Title in 2004
(Moment Category)
Led by Hall of Fame coach Buck Nystrom and record-setting running back Perry Monzulla, the North Pole Patriots shocked No. 1 and previously undefeated West Anchorage 44-13 in the large-school state championship game to claim the school’s first state title in football. Monzulla scored three touchdowns and rushed for 226 yards to give him a then-state rushing record 2,860 yards.
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Sydne Vogel wins World Junior Figure Skating Championship in 1997
(Moment Category)
Sydne Vogel shocked the figure skating world, defeating two Russians at the 1997 World Junior Figure Skating Championships in South Korea. This was her second major title, as Vogel also defeated Tara Lipinski, the overwhelming favorite, at the 1995 U.S. Junior Championships. Her success touched off a short-lived but impressive surge in the sport in Anchorage, where Vogel was born and raised.
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Bill Spencer’s Mount Marathon Record in 1981
(Moment Category)
Once considered the most hallowed mark in Alaska mountain running, Olympic cross-country skier Bill Spencer ran a blistering time of 43 minutes, 21 seconds to win the 1981 Mount Marathon title in Seward. Spencer’s record stood for 32 years before Eric Strabel finally broke it in 2013.
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Alaska Aces Win Kelly Cup in 2006
(Moment Category)
With a coach and a small group of players brought to Anchorage three years earlier to rebuild a once-bankrupt franchise, the Alaska Aces went from joke to ECHL champions in 2006. The Aces beat Gwinnett, Ga., 4-3 in Game 5 of the Kelly Cup Finals. They became Alaska’s first professional championship team since 1980, when the Anchorage Northern Knights won the Continental Basketball Association title.
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Rick Swenson Wins Record Fifth Iditarod in 1991
(Moment Category)
In order to win a record fifth Iditarod, Rick Swenson mushed from White Mountain to Nome in a snowstorm so severe that other veteran mushers turned back. ‘‘There were times when you couldn’t even see the ground,’’ he said later. When asked why he kept going, Swenson answered: “Desperation, I guess. I wanted to win the Iditarod.”
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Carlos Boozer Wins NCAA Title with Duke in 2001
(Moment Category)
Freshman Carlos Boozer of Juneau made history when he helped Duke beat Arizona 82-72 in the national championship game. Boozer, who had a game-high 12 rebounds, became the first Alaska man to win a Division I national title in basketball.
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Jimmy Oksoktaruk Wins US Junior Nationals in 1986
(Moment Category)
On March 24, 1986, James Oksoktaruk — representing the tiny Inupiat village of White Mountain — defied all odds by winning the national junior Nordic ski championship 5-kilometer race at Royal Gorge in California. His performance at the competition included two relay golds and an individual bronze. Then in 1989 “Jimmy O” earned the Skimeister as Alaska’s top performer for state champion West Anchorage High School. Oksoktaruk remains the only Alaska Native with these accomplishments in Nordic skiing. He died in 2015.
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Hilary Lindh’s Olympic Silver Medal in 1992
(Moment Category)
Juneau’s Hilary Lindh surprised the ski world by winning a silver medal in the women’s downhill at the 1992 Albertville Olympics in France. Lindh completed the mile-and-two-thirds course in 1 minute, 52.61 seconds to become the first Alaskan to win an individual medal at the Olympics.
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UAF Hockey Beats Three #1-Ranked Teams in 2005-06
(Moment Category)
First UAF stunned the nation’s top-ranked team, Minnesota, on the road 4-3 in overtime. The Nanooks followed up by topping No. 1 Michigan 4-2 in their sold-out home opener at the Carlson Center and later dropped No. 1 University of Miami 4-3 in Oxford, Ohio. The magic finally ended when UAF played Michigan State tough before losing in the 2nd round of their conference tournament.
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Kris Thorsness Becomes Alaska’s first Olympic Medalist in 1984
(Moment Category)
At 5-foot-9, 150 pounds, Kris Thorsness was tiny by rowing standards, but the Anchorage woman was strong, fit and hard-working. Her victory in women’s 8 rowing at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics made her the first Alaskan to win an Olympic medal. “If you can tap into what’s there, the possibilities can amaze you. I’m certainly living proof of that,” Thorsness said.
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Susan Butcher’s First Iditarod Victory in 1986
(Moment Category)
In 1986, Susan Butcher broke Rick Swenson’s five-year speed record by completing the 1,000-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in 11 days, 15 hours, 6 minutes. The win made her the second woman to win the race and ended Butcher’s streak of near-wins.
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Chad Bentz Makes the Majors in 2004
(Moment Category)
On April 7, Chad Bentz made his Major League Baseball debut, getting two outs in the seventh inning for the Montreal Expos against the Florida Marlins. He became the second pitcher to play Major League Baseball after being born without one of his hands. The other was Jim Abbott, whose success inspired Bentz to stick with baseball despite being teased for his deformed right hand while growing up in Juneau.
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Monroe Beats East for the Boys Basketball State Championship in 1979
(Moment Category)
Monroe Catholic was a small school from Fairbanks but it scored a major upset by beating the big school from the big city, winning 64-62 over the two-time defending state champion East Anchorage and its star-studded roster. It was only the third loss of the season for the T-birds.
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Lathrop Defeats Mount Edgecumbe in First Boys Basketball Championship Game in 1959
(Moment Category)
Led by Alaska High School Hall of Fame coach Richard McCormick, the Lathrop Malemutes of Fairbanks beat Mount Edgecumbe of Sitka in the first Alaska high school basketball state championship game.
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East-Bartlett Triple-Overtime Boys Basketball State Championship Game in 1993
(Moment Category)
Mark Schweigert buried a jumper with six seconds left in triple overtime to give East a 92-90 Class 4A state championship win over rival Bartlett. Each overtime period ended with either a game-tying shot or free throw, and that’s not including Trajan Langdon’s baseline jumper with 28 seconds left in regulation that tied the game at 79.
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Koliganek-Klawock Girls Basketball Championship Game in 1986
(Moment Category)
In the 1986 Class 2A girls championship game, Koliganek beat Klawock 29-26 with just three players on the court. Koliganek had five players on the roster and two fouled out in the final minutes, but the three survivors managed to hold off Klawock.
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UAA Beats Wake Forest in Great Alaska Shootout in 1993
(Moment Category)
All-American guard Jason Kaiser was magnificent with 35 points to lead UAA to a stunning 70-68 victory over Wake Forest in the first round of the Great Alaska Shootout. In what’s become a signature play in Shootout annals, Kaiser slammed a breakaway dunk with 1:03 remaining. Kaiser got a technical for hanging on the rim and Wake Forest cut an eight-point deficit to one in just 40 seconds, but UAA hung on.
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Inaugural Mount Marathon Race in 1908
(Moment Category)
Alaska’s most famous footrace started in 1908 as a bar bet between Seward locals who debated whether someone could get to the top of the 3,022-foot mountain and back to town in one hour. The bet was lost, but a tradition was born. The race became official in 1915 and is now an Independence Day tradition in Alaska.
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Don Clary Qualifies for Summer Olympics in 1984
(Moment Category)
The Anchorage man put Alaska running on the map when he became the first Alaska runner to qualify for the Olympics in 1984. He finished third in the men’s 5,000 meters at the Olympic Trials in 13:28 to snag the final American berth to the Los Angeles Games. Four years earlier, he had finished fifth in 13:38.
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Scott Gomez Named NHL Rookie of the Year in 2000
(Moment Category)
Gomez, then 20, set the NHL on fire with the New Jersey Devils in 2000, winning the Stanley Cup, making the All-Star team and winning the Calder Memorial Trophy as the league’s rookie of the year. The Anchorage center led all rookies in scoring with 19 goals and 51 assists for 70 points in 82 regular-season games and during the playoffs he registered 10 points, tying for top honors among rookies.
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Stan Justice Sets Equinox Marathon Record in 1984
(Moment Category)
At age 35, Stan Justice of Fairbanks ran the fastest time in Equinox Marathon history. He covered the 26.2-mile course in 2 hours, 41 minutes, 30 seconds. His record was not seriously threatened until Aaron Fletcher established a new record in 2019. Surviving for 35 years, Stan's 1984 record is one of the longest lasting marks in Alaska running history.
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Mario Chalmers Sinks Game-saving 3-pointer in 2008 NCAA Title Game
(Moment Category)
Known for making big shots, Kansas star Mario Chalmers of Anchorage sank the biggest 3-pointer of his career with 2.1 seconds left in regulation to send the 2008 NCAA title game against Memphis into overtime, where Kansas won 75-68. “It’ll probably be the biggest shot ever made in Kansas history,” Kansas coach Bill Self said.
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Serum Run in 1925
(Moment Category)
Also known as the “Great Race of Mercy,” the 1925 serum run to Nome saw 20 mushers and about 150 sled dogs relay diphtheria antitoxin 674 miles by dog sled across Alaska in 5 1/2 days, saving the small city and surrounding communities from an incipient epidemic. The life-saving effort made newspaper and radio headlines across the country and is remembered each March with the running of the Iditarod from Anchorage to Nome.
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Hilary Lindh Wins World Championship in 1997
(Moment Category)
After delaying retirement by a year, the Juneau skier was the only American to win a medal at the 1997 World Championships, capturing the gold medal in the women’s downhill in Sestriere, Italy. “I was so close to not racing this year and even at the beginning of the season I was doubting whether I had made the right choice,” Lindh said. “Now I’m so happy I stuck with it.”
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The “Heave You Couldn’t Believe” in 1988
(Moment Category)
Facing fourth-and-10 with only 93 seconds to go in the 1988 state championship game, Chugiak quarterback Jim Simmons launched a pass that was tipped and somehow caught by fullback Kirby Rollison, who finished off the 30-yard touchdown for the winning score in a 20-18 win over Soldotna.
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Ephriam Kalmakoff Wins Mount Marathon at age 16 in 1928
(Moment Category)
Just 16 years old, Ephriam Kalmakoff became the youngest winner of the Mount Marathon race in Seward with a time of 52 minutes, 35 seconds. He lived in Seward’s Jesse Lee Home for orphans and wore his Boy Scout uniform on race day. He beat a field of past champs and veteran racers while setting a record that stood for 29 years. These days, runners under 18 compete in the junior race, which goes halfway up the mountain.
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Alaska Heart Run
(Event Category)
Established in 1978, the Alaska Heart Run is one of state's biggest running races. The 5K is considered the kick-off event to the running season in Alaska, with participants coming from across the state to Anchorage every April to participate. The family-friendly event includes many walkers and is a fundraiser for the American Heart Association.
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Northern Lights Invitational
(Event Category)
For 18 years the Northern Lights Invitational enjoyed a glorious run as the separate-but-equal counterpart of the Great Alaska Shootout. One of the premier Division I women’s tournaments in the nation from 1980 to 1997, the Northern Lights Invitational brought some of the biggest stars of women’s basketball to UAA’s Sports Center.
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Crow Pass Crossing
(Event Category)
Started in 1984, Crow Pass Crossing is a 22.5-mile wilderness run with a climb and descent of Crow Pass, a crossing of glacier-fed Eagle River and breathtaking scenery. There are no aid stations and the course is unmarked. It starts near Girdwood and top finishers reach the Eagle River Nature Center in about 3 hours.
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Gold Nugget Triathlon
(Event Category)
Dating back to 1984, the Gold Nugget is the nation’s longest-standing triathlon exclusively for women, and over the years it has inspired thousands of Alaska women to get fit. It has become so popular that before women can do the 500-yard swim, 12-mile bike and 4.1-mile run, they must win the registration battle — the field is capped at 1,500 because of pool limitations, and the race fills up minutes after registration begins.
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Tour of Anchorage
(Event Category)
The Tour of Anchorage follows Anchorage's network of ski trails and greenbelts and uses tunnels and bridges to never cross a road on the route from the Hillside to Kincaid Park. Begun in 1988, it is among North America's few point-to-point marathons and also one of its largest, attracting upwards of 1,000 participants in 50-, 40-, and 25-kilometer events. Popular fat tire bike races were added in 2019.
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Alaska Wilderness Classic
(Event Category)
The rules are simple: 1) no outside support allowed; 2) travel must be human-powered; 3) leave no trace; 4) rescue is up to the individual to resolve. In the summer version, racers typically do the point-to-point race, which changes courses every few years but always includes mountain passes and river crossings, by foot and packraft, but bikes and paragliders have been used. In winter, participants must travel on skis.
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Alaska Challenge Wheelchair and Handcycle Race
(Event Category)
For 15 years, the Alaska Challenge was widely regarded as the Tour de France of handcycling and wheelchair racing. A six-stage race that originally went 359 miles from Fairbanks to Anchorage, it later covered 260 miles and ended at Hatcher Pass. It was billed the longest handcycle race in the world.
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North American Dog Sled Race
(Event Category)
The Open North American Championship in Fairbanks is the longest running sled dog race in the world, dating back to 1927. The sprint race is split into daily stages stretching 20 to 26 miles. Former champions include some of the biggest names in the sport — Lombard, Attla, Wright-Champaine and Ellis.
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Mayor’s Marathon
(Event Category)
Anchorage’s oldest and biggest marathon, the Mayor’s Marathon celebrated its 45th year in 2018. The sanctioned race is also a Boston Marathon qualifier. It’s one of the few races in Alaska to reward prize money and it draws runners from all over the country. The half-marathon event has recently grown to eclipse the marathon in participation, and there are also 5-kilometer and kids mile events.
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Alaska Ski For Women
(Event Category)
North America’s largest women-only nordic ski event, the Alaska Ski for Women takes place on Super Bowl Sunday at Anchorage’s Kincaid Park. About 1,500 participate each year, many of them in elaborate, colorful costumes.
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Arctic Man
(Event Category)
The Arctic Man combines downhill skiing and snowmachining in a race that is the centerpiece of a days-long party that draws 10,000 or more spectators to the HooDoo Mountains. The skier begins at 5,800 feet elevation and drops 1,700 feet to the bottom of a narrow canyon, where he hooks up with his snowmachine partner on the go. The skier grabs a tow rope and is pulled at speeds of up to 86 mph to another mountain top. The skier and snowmobiler then separate and the skier drops another 1,200 feet to the finish line. The race was put on hold in 2019 but the party continued.
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Klondike Road Relay
(Event Category)
The Klondike Road Relay is a 110-mile relay that starts in Alaska and ends in Canada and traces the historic trail of the gold rush stampede from Skagway over the famous White Pass, through British Columbia and into the Yukon, finishing in Whitehorse. The race is divided into 10 legs of varying length and takes place on paved highways that follow challenging terrain and offer breathtaking scenery.
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Buckwheat Ski Classic
(Event Category)
The popular cross-country ski race in Skagway is a traditional, classic-style ski race along the historic Klondike Trail of ’98 and the White Pass and Yukon railway route. Organizers spend days grooming trails in the wilderness for just one day of racing each March. The race was founded in 1987 by the late Skagway resident Buckwheat Donahue, though a nonprofit group now manages it.
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Thursday Night at the Fights
(Event Category)
Since 1988, Thursday Night at the Fights has offered weekly boxing matches from October to April. Fighter-turned-promoter Jim Patton created the event, which is one of the two longest continuous boxing series in the country; ESPN’s ‘Friday Night Fights’ is the other.
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Kluane Bike Race
(Event Category)
The Kluane Chilkat International Bike Relay is an eight-leg, 148-mile race from Haines Junction, Yukon, to Haines, Alaska. The course takes participants through alpine passes and ocean views on a variety of flat stretches, steep descents and long climbs. The field is capped at 1,200 riders, and some teams dress in costumes.
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March Madness Alaska
(Event Category)
Held annually over two consecutive weekends in Anchorage, March Madness Alaska includes 118 high school basketball games from Alaska’s smallest villages to its largest cities. Eight state championship teams are crowned at the Alaska Airlines Center in four divisions and games run nonstop from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. The tournament’s most enthusiastic fans include villagers from across Bush Alaska.
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Sonot Kkaazoot
(Event Category)
Founded in 1988, the Sonot Kkaazoot Nordic ski race travels from the Chena River in downtown Fairbanks to the challenging Birch Hill trails and back. Translated in Athabascan as “to slide your feet across the snow in springtime,” the Sonot is a spring Equinox tradition with courses of 20, 40 and 50 kilometers. It was conceived and for many years organized by Bad Bob Baker and family.
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Kuskokwim 300
(Event Category)
Billed as the “premier mid-distance dog sled race in the world,” the K300 travels each January from Bethel to Aniak and back. The event was created in 1980 to re-establish trails in the Lower Kuskokwim area and its substantial cash purse attracts many of the sport’s top mushers, including past champions Jeff King, Mitch Seavey, Martin Buser, Susan Butcher and Rick Swenson.