Tough Town: Barrowites Dominate Ear-Pull Match

FAIRBANKS, Alaska - In Switzerland, it's watches. In Poland, it's sausage. In Russia, it's vodka. In Barrow, Alaska, it's ears.

Not just any ears, mind you, but just about the strongest ears in the world. Ears that would make Dumbo look like a wimp.

Every year, athletes from Barrow dominate the ear-pull competition at the World Eskimo-Indian Olympics, and this year was no exception.

The top three finishers recently in the men's division were from Barrow, as was the runner-up in the women's class.

``It comes to the point where you say, `Am I going to concede or am I going to cut my ear?' '' said Homer Lord, who lost to two Barrow men. ``Some of those guys from Barrow have tough ears.''

Meet Robert Okpeaha Jr., the man with the toughest ears in Barrow.

As spectators filed out of the Big Dipper Ice Arena, Okpeaha recaptured the ear-pull title he lost last year, beating Joshua Okpik, also of Barrow, in two straight pulls.

Rubbing the back of his ears, Okpeaha smiled after reclaiming the title. ``They hurt a little bit,'' the soft-spoken Eskimo said, ``but they'll heal in a few days.''

Pain is the name of the game in the ear pull, an Eskimo game in which two players loop a waxed string around one ear and see who can pull harder in a best-of-three series.

``It's pain endurance,'' veteran Alec Ahsoak of Barrow said. ``You might get hurt out on the tundra and you've got to make it home.

``You've got to learn to take it or just give in and die,'' he said.

In the ear pull, some say, practice doesn't make perfect - it makes for sore ears.

``There is no practice for it,'' said the 38-year-old Okpik, who has been yanking on opponent's ears in the WEIO Games since 1975. ``It just makes your ear worse.''

Or as three-time women's ear-pull champion Asta Keller of Nome put it, ``There isn't any skill involved. You either have strong cartilage on the back of your ears or you don't.''

Elizabeth Kavairlook is Barrow's most recent ear-pull superstar. At the age of 14, Kavairlook placed second to Keller.

After losing the first pull with her right ear, Kavairlook switched to the left and tied it 1-1. On the third pull, each player picked her strongest ear. Keller chose her right while Kavairlook stuck with her left. As Keller applied force by slowly moving her upper body back, Kavairlook's ear shriveled up and began turning purple.

Spectators groaned, Keller grimaced and Kavairlook gave in.

``It's painful,'' the shy Kavairlook said. ``It hurts worse and worse and then your ear gets numb.''

Barrow's most famous ear puller is probably Ahsoak - a rarity among ear pullers in that he actually practices the sport. As a taxicab driver in Barrow, Ahsoak's job involves a lot of waiting.

``People always say they'll be right back but they never are,'' he said. ``I've got a little piece of string in the car that I just tie to the steering wheel and pull.''