Father of the Iditarod

In a place where respect is not easily earned, the name of this homesteader, pilot, and visionary dog-musher generates awe. His is the classic image of an Alaska pioneer—rugged, independent, determined, hard-working. Meet Joe Redington, Father of the Iditarod, a man who found his destiny in Alaska. In an inspirational biography, Chicago Tribune sportswriter Lew Freedman chronicles Redington’s birth on the Chisholm Trail and his boyhood in the Depression—homeless, motherless, roaming the country looking for work as a field hand. Alaska was his rebirth in 1948. Redington found the home he never had. On his own piece of dirt, a man could raise a family, hunt, fish, run dogs, and stand up for what he believed. Almost single-handedly, Redington rescued Alaska dog mushing from extinction. With ambition, an abiding love for sled dogs, and refusal to accept “it can’t be done,” Redington created a legacy in the thousand-mile race across Alaska that has thrilled the world for more than three decades, the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Author Biography

Lew Freedman is a former Alaska resident who spent 17 years at the Anchorage Daily News as sports editor and columnist. The author of 58 books, Freedman is a graduate of Boston University with a degree in journalism and he earned a Master’s degree from Alaska Pacific University. He currently resides in Indiana with his wife Debra.