HUMAN

Name: Mike Sherman
Age: 89
Residence: Anchorage, Alaska
Occupation: Retired from State Maintenance

First Year Ran Iditarod: 1975

Years involved with Iditarod: 1

Iditarod Role: Musher

Current Location: Anchorage, Alaska

Date of Photo: March 3, 2026
Temperature: 68F Indoors

What is it about running sled dogs that you love so much?

 

I ran dogs all my life. My dad was a trail staker out of Candle, and he staked Kotzebue, Cape Espenberg, Deering, Buckland and Elephant Point out of Candle, and he had dogs. He had 12 dogs. Then he just kept them up and had new ones. When I grew up, I started taking them, and dad got a little bit up in age, so I started going to Noorvik and Kiana caribou hunting and move something all around. So I was in pretty good shape.

Question 2: What, who or how and when & why did you first get involved running the Iditarod?

The way I got involved in the Iditarod was this guy broke his hand, and he wanted to sell his team for only around 3,000. So I bought it. With the entry fee and everything, and it was so close to the Iditarod, I didn’t even know the dog’s names. I just bought the team and went on to Iditarod and at least I made it. So Iditarod was… It was nothing but… The dogs I had weren’t really the best for Iditarod.

Tell me about just one of your most memorable experiences running the Iditarod:

 

Anyway, they’d give up the middle of the day and wanted to rest and all of that, so that’s why I was so far behind, and I couldn’t do a thing about it, and I couldn’t do nothing, so just had to try to make it. So that was a big thing about that Iditarod, which I enjoyed it anyway. At least I made it. Thank God.

What in life do you know for sure?:

I don’t know. Pay your bills. Pay your bills and keep on smiling and don’t get involved in drugs and alcohol, and you’re okay.