KOYUKON ATHABASCAN CHAMPION SPRINT DOG MUSHER GEORGE ATTLA DIED
Born August 8, 1933, near Koyukuk, Alaska, George began mushing in the 1950s and quickly became a legendary open-class sprint dog racer. Revered internationally, the movie and song Spirit of the Wind were based on his life. His book, Everything I Know About Training and Racing Sled Dogs is the musher’s guide. Known as the “Huslia Hustler,” he won ten Fur Rendezvous World Championship Dog Races, eight North American World Championships and nine International Sled Dog Racing Association unlimited class medals. Alaska proclaimed April 29, 1988, “George Attla Day.” In 2000, he was named Best Musher of the 20th Century and, in 2007, inducted into the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame. In 2011, he won the Bergman Sam Memorial Koyukuk River Championship. Finally, he established the Frank Attla Youth & Sled Dog Care-Mushing Program in memory of his late son–a means for passing on his knowledge and passion for dog racing to the next generation. He died in Anchorage among family.
Source: “George Attla Jr., 1933-2015, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Legacy.com, 2/17/2015. Retrieved 6/8/2019, http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/newsminer/obituary.aspx?n=george-attla&pid=174171776 Photo: Courtesy of Alaska State Library Keller Family Photograph Collection, P303-046.
Indigenous America Calendar 