HUMAN

Name: Jack Morris

Residence: Wasilla, Alaska

Age: 74

Occupation: I’m a veterinarian. Most retired, but I still work some.

Years involved with Iditarod: Years involved in Iditarod, my first year was ’74 and I don’t remember all the years anymore. I was probably out on the trail somewhere between 10 and 15, but it’s been a long time.

Past Iditarod Roles: I’ve always been a veterinarian. I was chief veterinarian three or four years, and I was on the board of directors for six 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 in the Iditarod in 1974. I was an army veterinarian up here. Terry Adkins, who ran the race that year, had been the veterinarian the year before and, basically, the only. And so, since he was running the race, he asked me if I would take his prior role. I went the whole trail. There were three or four other veterinarians who were at a specific checkpoint, but didn’t move along. I was brand new up here. No sled dog experience at all, so it was pretty deep learning curve there at the first. There was some really bad weather the first of the year. Ptarmigan Pass had wind chills in excess of 100 below. So it was a tough year, and I got to see them after that.

What was one of your most memorable Iditarod experiences?

One of my most memorable Iditarod experiences. There’s been so many, it’s hard to say. I think one of my favorites was Larry Thompson was a pilot. We were in Rohn River, which has a very short strip, and there were quite a few dropped dogs. So we were ferrying dogs over to Farewell, which was an FAA strip and had a long paved strip, and that way we could get more dogs in the airplane and get off with more. There were two guys there who were doing freelance photography. One of them finally turned to Larry and says, “How do you know when you’re overloaded?” Larry said, “Won’t get off the ground.”

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

Running the race, those first few years, it was hard to tell if it was going to last. I mean, there weren’t a lot of sponsors. No one had trained for this kind of a long distance race before, so there were all kinds of various dog teams. Once people learned how to run the race and how to train the dogs and what kind of dogs they wanted, it has changed so much. The dogs are much better athletes anymore, way more attuned to running these kinds of distances. It’s become a worldwide race. Whereas, at first, it was kind of just this local little thing in Alaska. So it’s hugely to changed. Like I say, first year I went, it was hard to say if this was something that was ever going to last.

What do you know for sure?:

Experiences like what happened to me in the first couple Iditarods only come along once.  So you really have to take advantage of it. I don’t do the Iditarod anymore, but I enjoyed it so much initially, and it was such a wonderful learning experience for me, and if you have those opportunities, you should grab it.