HUMAN
Name: John Norman
Age: 80
Residence: Anchorage, Alaska
Occupation: My occupation now is retired. Prior to that, I was Commissioner of the Oil & Gas Commission of Alaska for 10 years, and previous to that was in the practice of law.
Years involved with Iditarod: I’ve been involved with the Iditarod for as many years as it’s existed.
Iditarod Role: My role in the Iditarod in the early years was as volunteer legal counsel for the Iditarod probably for the first 10 to 15 years, and gradually had outgrew my ability to donate my time. And so, it was passed on to others. And I have since evolved into working primarily with the Iditarod Trail Race Foundation, which is a sister organization created to provide financial support as needed to the Iditarod Trail Committee to conduct the race.
Current Location: Lakefront Hotel, Anchorage, Alaska
Date of Photo: March 4, 2020
Temperature: 10 F outside/ 68 F inside
What, who or how and when did you first get involved with the Iditarod?
I first got involved with the Iditarod race when I was introduced to Joe Redington in 1973. And he was talking about an idea for a race at that time that had already been formulated that would be a race to Nome. I have to admit, I received the idea with great skepticism. There was also a raffle involved. And Joe was a spellbinder, I have to admit that. I started out in disbelief, and the more I listened to him, the more I was drawn in. And his smile, his enthusiasm were infectious. And from that moment on, I was drawn in, and I became ever after involved with the Iditarod.
What is your Why?.. Why are you here today and involved in Iditarod?
I’m here today involved with the Iditarod, first of all, because the Iditarod is an Alaska institution. Nothing is more emblematic and reflective of our state of Alaska, our great state, than the Iditarod race. And I am here to do my best, as Joe Redington wanted us to, to see this race perpetuated. I visited Joe shortly before he died, and that’s one of the things he asked us to promise is that we would see this race continue. I am today in a role as a trustee of the Iditarod Trail Race Foundation. The foundation is an entity created separate from the Iditarod Trail Committee so that all the eggs aren’t in one basket. We operate separately, but we are a sister organization, and were created primarily to provide financial support as needed, and to manage a trust fund and provide assistance on an as-needed basis to the Iditarod Trail Committee. Our hope is to see this foundation grow in future years to the point that it will be able to take a lot of the fundraising pressure off of the people in the race, and be able to make a significant contribution to perpetuating this great race.
Tell me about just one of your most memorable Iditarod experiences?
One of my most memorable experiences was being in Nome at the end of the race in 1976, I believe it was. It was the year Emmitt Peters had finished the race. I remember Emmitt Peter’s winning it that year, so that would peg the year. And I remember being in Nome and flying out south along the Iditarod Trail, the great expanse, and it brought home to me the enormity of Alaska. We flew south toward Golovin, White Mountain, in search for … trying to find where the mushers were. I flew with then who was the Iditarod Air Force, Larry Thompson, a pioneer Alaska bush pilot who was donating his time. And as we flew south, I saw this great expanse of beaten, beaten pathway in the snow. I couldn’t figure out what that was below us. And then finally we came upon these reindeer herders, I remember that. And they were driving along in snow machines herding the reindeer. We continued on further south, and finally we came upon a musher along the trail, probably 60 miles south, 70 miles south of Nome. We landed along the trail. The musher stopped, set his snow hook. And I remember, he was covered. His beard, his face was blistered. His beard had ice all over it. And he was very curious. In those days there was a great lack of information about what other mushers were doing. So, he was very curious, “Who’s ahead of me, who’s behind me, what do you know?” They’d been out there on the race trail for probably 17 days or more and it had taken quite a beating on him. But we gave him that information. We flew on back, and in Nome I was there. And then I remember the night of the Iditarod Banquet in Nome. And I remember walking down Front Street and leaning into the wind. And this was at the end of the Iditarod, and the temperature was 40 degrees below zero with a strong wind coming in. And I remember being as bundled up as I could, turning my face and leaning into the wind, and going down Front Street and still thinking about some of those mushers out on the trail. And that, again, drove home to me what a great undertaking this is, and what a test of human, and the wonderful partnership between people and their dogs. And I cannot think, after that experience, of anything more emblematic of life in our North and our great state of Alaska than the Iditarod race.
What do you know for sure?:
I’ve been asked to say what in life do I know for sure. The older I get, I realize the less I know for sure, but there are some things I know for sure. And the things that seemed most important to me when I were young are really the things that are less important. A lot of our modern technology is less important. And the things that come home to me now are the friendships, the interactions, the ability to interact between man and nature, between dogs, to get out and to try to have some connection with our history, our ancestors, and the great outdoors, and, of course, family, friends. Those are the true important things in life; those are the things that will stay with you; and those are the things that will be with you until the day you die.