2014 Recipients of the Herbie Nayokpuk “Spirit of Iditarod Award”

Posted by in Iditarod
Date: May 14, 2014 1:15 pm

From time to time, Iditarod recognizes individuals who have demonstrated dedication and service to the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.  At the end of the 2014 Idtiarod, two individuals, Colleen Easley and Greg Bill, were recognized for their years of service and dedication to the race.  Colleen and Greg received The Herbie Nayokpuk “Spirit of Iditarod Award”.

 

Colleen Easley

 

ColleenawardAfter 20 years of being an Iditarod volunteer, one of our supervisors is calling it quits to move on to other things.

Colleen Easley was a tour guide for GrayLine when she learned about volunteer opportunities with the Iditarod Race from a fellow tour director who lived in Anchorage. She was intrigued so she showed up in 1995 at racetime at the Millennium. Once it was learned that she had computer skills, she was assigned to the “FAX room” where the “seven dwarfs” (7 macintosh computers) resided for the purposes of sending hundreds of reports daily to members of the media and fans who were paying for the FAX service.

She worked in the computer room (race stats)  and in other areas for the next several years and in 1999, because of her good computer skills and technical knowledge, she was drafted as the supervisor in that room, a position she has held the last 16 years. One year she was even called on at the last minute to be the “badge maker” . She jumped in to that unfamiliar territory and successfully produced hundreds of badges that year.

In 2001, when we needed a new program to record the race stats, Colleen worked closely with Ron Mohr, a computer programmer, to produce the kind of program that Iditarod needed. She and Ron worked together for the next 15 years, continually changing and improving the program. She also worked closely with the current web developers, Elevator 10, to make the program that was used this year what Iditarod needed.

Colleen is the ultimate volunteer. Her home is Olympia, Washington. Every March for the last 20 years, she has left her home and family to come to Anchorage to spend a month with the Iditarod. She has been a valuable asset to this Race and she will be missed. But we wish her the best and she and Dale move on to do other things.

Race Stats is an important area for race volunteers.  We’re grateful for the significant impact Colleen has played in making sure that race fans have been updated with the musher’s progress during the race: the dog counts and in and out times have been as precise as possible thanks to Colleen’s efforts and determination to get the information correct.   Managing the Race Stats room during the race is a 24/7 operation.  Thanks, Colleen!.  You’ve gone beyond the 24/7 dedication and we again, thank you.

 

gregawardGreg Bill

 

Greg Bill will retire at the end of June this year after 42 years of service to the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. In 1973, he volunteered working crowd control at the start of the race at Tudor Track, now Tozier Track, in Anchorage. At the time he worked for the A.L. French Company in Anchorage and was able to schedule a business trip to Nome to coincide with the finish of the Iditarod, but it took the mushers so long to get here that year that he had to go back to Anchorage before the finish.

Greg continued his volunteering with the Iditarod through the 70’s and early 80’s, working at the start, re-start, rounding up donations of food products for the Nome banquet and assisting with the sale of the honorary musher plaques, always staying in the background.

Greg became a member of the Fur Rendezvous Board of Director in 1976 and president in 1982. He always wanted to be more involved with the Iditarod and the Iditarod Board but his responsibilities with Fur Rendezvous prohibited that.

In 1983, Greg was appointed to the Iditarod Board of Directors and in 1984, he was named Executive Director, a position he held for the next two years. One of his first projects as Executive Director was arranging for the first Iditarod print fund raiser. The Iditarod Trust Fund had been established in 1976 to support the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race by creating funding that would grow in perpetuity to provide funds for the Iditarod as needed. Because that fund still had not grown as hoped, Greg arranged the fund raiser around a painting by famous Alaskan artist, Fred Machentanz, Reaching the Pass. That fund raiser provided a much needed shot in the arm for the Trust Fund raising over $200,000. Since then, other fund raising prints followed.

In 1987, Greg was appointed Development Director, a position he has held for 27 years. He is responsible for many of the current partners being part of the Iditarod family of race supporters.  Additionally, in 1996, Greg started the fund raising raffle that included Dodge trucks as prizes. That raffle has increased from one raffle a year giving away three trucks to a winter and summer raffle giving away a total of six trucks a year and other prizes totaling roughly $300,000 per year.  In his years with Iditarod he has raised about $45,000,000 for the Race.

Greg has been to Nome for all but three of the 42 Iditarod finishes, his main responsibility at the finish being managing the displays if the sponsor’s banners. Greg can be seen on Front Street in the most miserable weather trying to keep the banners from being damaged.

Greg’s wife says that it has been clear from the beginning that Iditarod came first with Greg. She says he has done it all “for love of the dogs”. A more dedicated, loyal and passionate Iditarod Race volunteer, employee and fan cannot be found. He will be missed.

 

Thanks, Colleen!

Thanks, Greg!