Father Of Iditarod Dies At 82 -- Joe Redington Sr. Will Be Buried In Dog Sled Basket

ANCHORAGE - Joe Redington Sr., a plain-spoken homesteader who was the chief organizer of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in its early days, succumbed to esophagus cancer at his home in Knik. He was 82.

Redington's name was synonymous with dog mushing in Alaska, and his devotion to the sport ran so deep that he will be buried in the basket of a dogsled, his family said yesterday.

Redington first teamed with the late Dorothy Page to promote a race in 1967 called the Centennial Iditarod Sled Dog Race, a two-day event covering about 50 miles around Big Lake near Wasilla.

He got more ambitious in 1973, announcing a race from Anchorage to Nome and promising a purse of $50,000.

While Redington didn't run the first race, he entered every year but one from 1974 until 1992 and served on the race's governing board. His top finish was fifth place, a spot he filled four times - in 1975, 1977, 1978 and 1988.

In 1997, at the age of 80, Redington again was one of the racers heading out from Anchorage for the 1,100-mile race. It was his 19th and final Iditarod, although he was preparing to run next year's race. Redington finished the 1997 race a respectable 36th in 13 days, 4 hours, 18 minutes. That was faster than the winning time for 10 of the Iditarod's previous races.

Redington was saddened to see the Iditarod's pace quicken dramatically in the past decade.

"They've took the fun out of running the race," he said before the 1997 Iditarod. "You never see a campfire anywhere. There's never any time for visiting."

But in that race, Redington did take some time for visiting, speaking to friends in villages along the trail.

While the Iditarod may have grown into something Redington didn't envision in 1973, it has been a key force in keeping dog mushing alive. The continued use of dog teams wasn't at all guaranteed in the 1960s and 1970s as snowmobiles came to Alaska bush country and provided faster, more convenient transportation.

Redington was born Feb. 1, 1917, in rural Oklahoma, and his family wandered the country looking for farm work until they settled in Bucks County, Pa., just before the Depression. That's where he met his wife, Vi, when he was 14.

Redington and a friend set out for Alaska in 1934 but ran out of money in Seattle and had to turn back.

Then, in 1948, he and Vi drove two Jeeps to Alaska. At a border trading post, Redington picked up the first of thousands of husky puppies he would eventually raise.

The couple homesteaded in Knik, about 18 miles north of Anchorage, and had 40 dogs two years later. The Redingtons married in 1953.

In addition to his dog mushing, Redington worked as a commercial fisherman and a miner.

Surviving in addition to his wife are three sons, Raymie, Joe and Tim, and a daughter, Sheila.