Alaska to highlight rich sports history with ‘Week of Dreams Kickoff’

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Visitors to the Mountain View Library on Thursday will have a chance to both read and hear about the rich history of Alaskan athletics.

The Alaska’s Week of Dreams Kickoff, organized by America250-Alaska, will feature speakers, presentations and exhibits highlighting the intertwined histories of sports and the 49th state, with a special emphasis on baseball.

“It’s the American pastime, right?” Alaska State Historian Katherine Ringsmuth, who will be presenting at the event, said. ″But what’s so extraordinary, is when baseball arrives, because Alaska is such a unique place, we really give it an Alaskan flavor.”

There exists perhaps no better example of that flavor than in the sport’s very first foray into what is now Alaska, with Saint Paul Island’s “Knock Down and Skin ‘Em” missionary squad, another of Thursday’s presentation topics, beginning play in 1868.

In the many decades since, the sport has blossomed in the Last Frontier, with Ringsmuth citing examples such as the indoor women’s teams in Nome helping to lay the groundwork for what is now the sport of softball, as well as all the future MLB superstars, from Randy Johnson to Barry Bonds to Aaron Judge, who have played summers in Alaska courtesy of the Alaska Baseball League.

The event itself is a preview for the Alaska’s Week of Dreams event, which will serve as part of the America250 organization’s nationwide celebration of the United States’ 250th birthday.

“This is a great opportunity to celebrate our past, but also remind not just Alaskans, but the whole country, the whole world, that here in Alaska, dreams can come true,” Ringsmuth said.

While plans for the week itself, set to conclude on July 4, are not yet finalized, Ringsmuth said events such as MLB youth clinics, special Alaska Baseball League games, and even a celebrity golf tournament to raise money for youth sports associations across Alaska, are in the works.

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