Native sports icon Big Bob Aiken, who called himself the world's largest Eskimo but whose considerable girth was outsized by the love and respect he commanded across Alaska, died Tuesday in Anchorage.
Born and raised in Barrow, Aiken, 62, was one of the biggest stars -- literally and figuratively -- at the World Eskimo-Indian Olympics.
Weighing in at nearly 500 pounds during stages of his competitive career, Aiken won a record 10 WEIO gold medals in the Eskimo stick pull, a game that tests brute strength, and was a seven-time champion in the Indian stick pull, a game that tests technique.
After retiring from competition in 1989, he maintained a high profile by serving as a WEIO board member and as the announcer at the annual WEIO and Native Youth Olympics competitions.
"He used to say he was the biggest Eskimo in the world, but he also had the biggest heart," said Sheila Randazzo, a longtime friend who, like so many, met Aiken through Native sports. "The biggest heart that loved everybody."
He was an ambassador, historian, coach, mentor and competitor who helped keep Native games alive in Alaska and beyond. He made it his mission to pass on his passion.
"Bob touched a lot of lives, and that's really quite something," said Reggie Joule, the mayor of the Northwest Arctic Borough and one of Alaska's most decorated Native athletes.
"When he chose to be involved in something, he gave it his all. And he gave it his all with the indigenous games of Alaska. He was a remarkable ambassador for the indigenous sports."
A living legend, Aiken stood 6-foot-4 and once weighed as much as 500 pounds, his brother Percy Aiken said.
He was down to about 300 pounds the last time he was weighed, said Percy, who moved from Barrow to Anchorage with his brother nearly three years ago so Big Bob could receive dialysis treatments. He lost one kidney and was on a transplant list for another, Percy said.
"I saw him at (the Alaska Federation of Natives convention) cruising around in a wheelchair with his brother, and he looked great," said Nicole Johnston, a WEIO board member who is among many who count themselves as longtime friends of Big Bob's.
"Even though he had been sick for the last few years, he always showed up at WEIO in between his dialysis appointments and he always showed up at NYO," she said. "It was always so important to him, because he knew how important it was for everybody else."
Johnston said she was a seventh grader when she met Aiken at the Native Youth games in 1983."I can't ever remember a moment of him not being there," she said.
In the years following his retirement from competition, Aiken remained an integral part of WEIO, working behind the scenes as a board member and running the show as the MC.
As the announcer, he distilled knowledge of the games and their history. He offered tips to athletes -- via loudspeaker -- and generally kept the mood light.
Once when an athlete lost his balance in the scissors broad jump, Aiken provided the commentary: ''Oops, he fell into the water. And it's cold, cold water.''
He commended ear pull champions for their "cast-iron ears" and he reminded spectators that WEIO ran on Eskimo time, which was to say the schedule of events was a mere suggestion of when things might happen.
One year in Fairbanks, WEIO's seal-skinning contest began several hours late. It was 3 a.m. and blood and guts were spilling onto the floor of the Big Dipper Arena when Aiken asked the crowd, "Anyone want breakfast?"
Randazzo called him a gentle giant. Johnston said his sense of humor -- and a competitiveness that ended as soon as the competition did -- made Aiken beloved by many.
"When my brother was 11 or 12, he came up to stay with me in Fairbanks and during WEIO he competed in the Indian stick pull and he beat Big Bob," Johnston said. "And I can just remember them pulling and my brother winning and Bob's big laugh. He was laughing at himself for being beat but he was also laughing out of happiness because this kid had just beat him.
"There was never a discouraging word. If he got beat, it was because the other guy was stronger and was better than him."
The second oldest of Robert and Martha Aiken's 15 children, Big Bob treasured his heritage. As the master of ceremonies at WEIO and as a coach at the Native Youth Olympics and Arctic Winter Games, he viewed his role as that of an educator. Teaching people about Native sports was a way to honor the life his ancestors knew.
"By explaining each game and where it came from, I hope they have a better respect for our lifestyle," Aiken told the Anchorage Daily News in 1995.
Aiken's faith in God was as strong as he was, Randazzo and Joule said. And his physical strength, born of genetics, lifestyle and sheer size, cannot be underestimated.
Percy Aiken recalled the time he competed against his brother in the Eskimo stick pull at WEIO:
"I was pulling the hardest I can, with all my strength, and I looked up into his face and he said, 'Are you ready?' "
Besides the stick pulls, Aiken was a champion in the four-man carry, an event that is exactly as described -- one man carries four people as far as he can.
"I used to hang around him -- literally -- when Bob did the four-man carry in the days when I was a little bit lighter," Joule said. "I was one of those four people he would pack around.
"... I first encountered Big Bob when he was in high school and he was competitive in Native Youth Olympics. Because he was so big, he posed somewhat of a challenge to other schools, because he was an intimidating guy in some of the strength events.
"But Bob was not a menacing person, but he was a strong person. Strong in body and strong in his mind. And just as strong in character."