The fourth class of inductees, announced Monday, includes:
• Cross-country skier Kikkan Randall of Anchorage, a three-time Olympian, World Championship medalist and the most successful American woman in nordic skiing history;
• Basketball coach Chuck White, who earned more than 900 victories and 18 state championships -- 14 at East High, four at West High -- in a 45-year career;
• Mount Marathon, the annual mountain race in Seward;
• The 2000 visit to Anchorage by the Stanley Cup, courtesy of NHL star Scott Gomez.
Hall of Fame president Harlow Robinson said 2,100 people participated in the on-line public vote, which constitutes one of nine selection-panel votes.
Robinson said the class of 2011 was one of the toughest to select, because the diverse history of sports in Alaska presents so many options. There were 40 people, 20 events and 20 moments on the ballot.
"The people who get in are the best of the best," he said.
KIKKAN RANDALL
Robinson said Randall's accomplishments in the past year, when added to her long list of successes, made the timing perfect for her induction.
Randall turned in the best Olympic finish by an American woman in cross-country skiing when she placed eighth in the classic sprint race, and also posted one of the fastest legs in the relay, at Whistler Olympic Park in Vancouver. A couple weeks later, Randall won a silver medal in the freestyle sprint race at a World Cup in Oslo, Norway.
In less than a decade's time, Randall has fashioned an impressive resume -- 15 national championships, a silver medal in the freestyle sprint race at the 2009 World Championships in the Czech Republic and a first-place finish in a freestyle sprint race in Russia three seasons ago.
CHUCK WHITE
For Chuck White, the victories began piling up more than four decades ago, when he started coaching basketball at East High in 1965. His teams went 921-228 in 45 seasons for an .801 winning percentage.
In 34 years at East, White coached players like Muff Butler, Tony Reed, Trajan Langdon, Mao Tosi and Jumoke Horton. White also helped introduce Alaska basketball to the Lower 48 when he started taking his teams to Outside tournaments in the 1980s.
White's teams were known for their full-court pressure defenses and fast-break offenses. He had only one losing season, and only three of his teams lost 10 or more games. He won four state titles in a row with East from 1991 to 1995, and he accomplished two three-peats -- one with East and one with West.
MOUNT MARATHON
Historians must go back more than a century to investigate the start of Mount Marathon.
The race that began as a bar bet in 1909 has become the centerpiece of Seward's 4th of July celebration and is one of the most popular spectator events in Alaska. Thousands line the streets of downtown Seward and gather at the foot of the mountain to watch runners scramble up the 3,022-foot mountain.
The original bet challenged runners to race to the top of Mount Marathon and back in less than one hour.
The official race began in 1915, and since then, two runners have made the trip -- which measures about three miles, less than a mile of which is run on streets, with the rest on the mountain -- in less than 44 minutes. The record holders are Bill Spencer with the men's record of 43 minutes, 23 seconds and Nancy Pease with the women's record of 50:30.
Known as a festival of pain -- the medical tent at the finish line does brisk business -- the race is as popular with runners as it is with spectators -- participation is limited to 300 men and 300 women, and entries fill up fast.
Among the most storied champs in the 83 runnings of the race are Ephriam Kalmakoff, who as a teenager won three straight from 1928-1930; Sven Johanson, who dominated a generation later; Spencer and Pease, who ruled the '80s and into the '90s; Carmen Young, one of Seward's top runners; Nina Kemppel, holder of a record nine titles; and Cedar Bourgeois, another Seward woman who dominated the last decade.
SCOTT GOMEZ
Defining what constitutes a great sports moment can be difficult, Robinson said, but there is little question the day the Stanley Cup came to Anchorage in 2000 was an unforgettable moment for the 8,000 people who came to see it, especially hockey fans.
Gomez, who as Rookie of the Year helped lead the New Jersey Devils to the 2000 Stanley Cup, opted to share his allotted day with sport's Holy Grail with his hometown.
A crowd of 500 met the Cup at the airport, and later at the Delaney Park Strip, thousands stood in line for two to three hours for a chance to touch, photograph and admire the Cup as it sat on display for six hours. A Hockey Hall of Fame employee who escorted the Cup to Anchorage said it was the most amazing public display he had seen during three years traveling with the Cup.
Gomez and the Devils won another Stanley Cup in 2003, and again the former East High and Alaska All-Star player shared the Cup with Anchorage. Though perhaps not as star-struck as the first time, an admiring crowd again flocked to the park strip to see the most famous trophy in sports.
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