Famous
Alaskans |
Here is a short list of Alaskans
with a certain amount of notoriety---both good and bad---from
the past and present. |
| Carl Ben Eielson (pioneer pilot)
- Pioneer, explorer, and hero are all terms which have been used
to describe the life of Alaskan aviator Carl Ben Eielson. more |
|
| Howard Rock - An Inupiat Eskimo,
Howard Rock was born in Point Hope, Alaska where he learned the
subsistence lifestyle of his ancestors and became an activist for
his people. He helped prevent the Atomic Energy Commission from
performing above-ground nuclear tests in a harbor near his village,
edited the Tundra Times, and helped lead the Native land claims
struggle which led to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. |
|
| Elizabeth Peratrovich - Elizabeth
Wanamaker Peratrovich was born July 4, 1911, in Petersburg, Alaska.
Her Tlingit name was Kaaxgal.aat. As Grand Camp President of the
Alaska Native Sisterhood, Elizabeth provided the crucial testimony
that cultivated passage of the Anti Discrimination Bill. The Senate
passed the bill, which mandated equal treatment for all citizens
in public accommodations, 11 to 5. A new era in Alaska's racial
relations had begun. Elizabeth Peratrovich died on December 1, 1958,
after a lengthy battle with cancer. She is buried in Evergreen Cemetery
in Juneau. |
|
| Molly Hootch and Anna Tibeluk - Prior
to 1976, many rural Native villages in Alaska lacked educational
facilities beyond the 8th grade. Students who wished to attend high
school were forced to fly long distances and live nine months of
the year away from their homes. In 1972, a number of Native students
joined together in a suit against the State of Alaska to provide
high schools in over 100 Native villages. While the case is officially
named Tibeluk v. Lind, for the Eskimo girl who joined the list of
plaintiffs in 1975, it is commonly referred to as the Molly Hootch
case for the student who headed the original list of plaintiffs.
In 1976, the court ruled in the plaintiffs’ favor and 126
villages were granted high schools. This case revolutionized education
in Native Alaskan villages. |
|
| Jefferson "Soapy" - C.
Smith Soapy arrived in the Gold Rush frontier town of Skagway in
the autumn of 1897. Soapy and his gang fleeced newcomers at crooked
gambling or at gunpoint. In 1898, a shooting in Skagway resulted
in the death of Smith, who is buried there. |
|
| Big Mike Heney - Without technical
education, Michael James Heney built two railroads, the White Pass
and Yukon Route and the Copper River and Northwestern, considered
impossible by leading engineers of his day. |
|
| Ernest Gruening - Ernest Gruening
was territorial governor of Alaska in 1935-1953 and territorial
senator in 1956-58. As governor, Gruening formed the Alaska Territorial
Guard during WWII to alert the military of potential Japanese attacks
from isolated areas like the Bering Sea. The guard was made up primarily
of Alaska Natives from rural villages. As territorial senator, Gruening
lobbied for Alaska statehood in Washington, D.C. and, following
statehood, became a U.S. senator from 1958 to 1968. Gruening was
an outspoken opponent of U.S. involvement in Vietnam. |
|
| Benny Benson - Thirteen-year-old
Benny Benson's fame comes from designing the Alaska flag. Born in
Chignik and raised in Unalaska. Benny was the winner of the contest
conducted for Alaska students in grades seven through twelve in
1926. The Alaska Legislature adopted his design as the official
flag for the Territory of Alaska on May 2, 1927. Later, the drafters
of the Alaska constitution stipulated that the territorial flag
would become the official flag of the State of Alaska. |
|
| Libby Riddles - Libby Riddles was
the first woman to win the "Last Great Race on Earth,"
the 1,049-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, in 1985. At 29 years,
Riddles turned in a time of 18 days, 2 minutes, 17 seconds on the
route from Anchorage to Nome. |
|
Susan Butcher - The only woman to
win the Iditarod Sled Dog Race three consecutive years---placing
first in 1986, 1987, and 1988. In 1988, a T-shirt appeared in Alaska
which read, "Alaska: Where Men are Men and Women Win the Iditarod!"
Joe Reddington, Sr. Joe Reddington Sr. pioneered modern distance
mushing and is considered the Father of the Iditarod. He created
the event in 1973 and funded it in its first year. |
|
Hilary Lindh - Born in Juneau, Hilary
Lindh is a five-time U.S. National Champion and the 1992 Olympic
silver medalist in downhill skiing.
Tommy Moe Alpine skier, Tommy Moe won the gold medal in downhill
skiing and the silver medal in the super-G event at the 1994 Winter
Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. He was the first U.S. man to win
two Alpine Olympic medals in one year. |
|
| Jewel - Shortly after she was born
in May of 1974, Jewel's parents moved to Homer, Alaska, settling
on an 800-acre homestead. After graduating from a performing arts
college, she moved to San Diego and began a successful career in
pop music. |
|
| Scott Gomez - Scott Gomez of Anchorage
was the National Hockey League's rookie of the year in 2000. His
team, the New Jersey Devils, won the Stanley Cup. |
|
Irene Bedard - Irene Bedard is an
actress originally from Anchorage. She was the voice of Disney's
Pocahontas and starred in the film "Smoke Signals."
Carlos Boozer Juneau's Carlos Boozer plays basketball for the Utah
Jazz. |
|
| Trajan Langdon - Anchorage's Trajan
Langdan plays basketball for the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers. |
|
| Skookum Jim - Skookum Jim, a Tagish
Native, discovered the gold in Rabbit Creek that started the Klondike
Gold Rush. |
|
| Jack London - Writer and adventurer,
Jack London spent the winter of 1897 in the Yukon and from that
experience wrote the books, "Call of the Wild" and "White
Fang." |
|
| Wyatt Earp - After the infamous shootout
in Tombstone, Arizona, Wyatt would live almost another 50 years,
well into the 20th century. He was never able to settle down in
all his further years, and was mining almost to his death at age
80 in 1929. He continued to move around to different towns in the
west and spent several years in Nome, Alaska during the gold rush
of the late 1890s. |
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law. | Tyler Eddy - P.O. Box 3055 - Sitka, Alaska 99835 | (907) 747-3313
