HUMAN

Name: Al Crane

Residence: Sterling, Alaska

Occupation: I’m retired and I have been for some years and years involved with Iditarod.

Years involved with Iditarod: I was involved with Iditarod in the beginning from 1974

Past Iditarod Roles: I was a volunteer immediately was elected into the hierarchy of the known kennel club, which was organized to bring the Iditarod to Nome. And then I eventually became the president of the Nome Kennel Club, then a board member of the Iditarod Trail Committee, and then the first out of town president for the Iditarod in Nome. And in those years I was not only I race coordinator, I was a pilot. I was a judge for the race. We organized one the first banquet to ever make money in Nome that was done by individuals. My wife was involved with that and I also was a musher in 1977 and Iditarod kind of was my life in those years.

Current Location: Settler’s Bay Lodge in Wasilla, Alaska
Date of Photo: March 1, 2022

Temperature: 68 F Indoors

What, who or how and when did you first get involved with the Iditarod?

I first got involved with Iditarod in 1974 when I transferred with my job to Nome from Dillingham. And it was my first opportunity to really get into why I came to Alaska. It was my Jack London adventure and this just paved the way to be, to doing that. And I feel like that I had Jack London in every sense of the word in my life.

What was one of your most memorable Iditarod experiences?

One of my most memorable experiences with Iditarod, aside from being in the organization part of it, which was all memorable, flying, everything was the actual year that I ran the race in 1977. And we flew from Nome with my dogs and we did the takeoff in Anchorage and then we went out to Big Lake and I took off on the trail. And I remember distinctly as if it was yesterday turning on the trail with those Iditarod banners, those little shields with Dick Divine’s drawing of the dog and it looked like a American flag on there. And this feeling that came over me that I was really on the Iditarod trail and I was really doing this thing, once in a lifetime thing to Nome and that never looked back, but it was the thrill of a lifetime.

What does the 50th running of the Iditarod mean to you?

This is Iditarod 50. How it makes me feel? I’ll tell you. The one thing that I think that all of us would say if we were interviewed in any way about Iditarod 50, is that we had something to do, not just Joe Redington’s dream, but to put Iditarod on the map and that we had something to do with something that has endured for 50 years and has become a worldwide symbol of Alaska’s history and it’s known throughout the world. And I think that’s probably the most important thing about Iditarod 50 to me to have been a part of it.

What do you know for sure?:

What I know in life For sure. Is that something an old time fisherman told me one time. It’s not catching the fish, it’s not how many or how big is it’s who at your elbow, who’s at your elbow.” And in this thing of Iditarod, I could look through this sea of faces that we’re going to celebrate here with tonight and I can see nothing but wonderful friends and wonderful memories. And they have made me a better person.