Anchorage Daily News

Wearing a pinstripe suit with a lavender tie and light-blue shirt, Mark Schlereth looked comically out of place shaking hands with Rick Swenson in his weathered windbreaker and baseball cap Tuesday night.

But as the men shook hands, smiling and laughing while they talked about their induction into the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame, they were kindred spirits.

Indeed, Tuesday night's induction ceremony for the second class of athletes in the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame was a moment for connections.

Five Alaska athletes were honored for their outstanding accomplishments.

• Former NBA and current Euroleague basketball player Trajan Langdon;

• Utah Jazz forward and NBA all-star Carlos Boozer;

• Joe Redington Sr., father of the Iditarod;

• Swenson, the only five-time winner of the Iditarod; and

• Schlereth, an NFL offensive lineman and three-time Super Bowl champion.

Each one of them -- Langdon and Boozer via recorded message, the late Redington via his family, and Schlereth and Swenson in person made a point of noting their peers' accomplishments.

Swenson recalled his preoccupation with Schlereth's second Super Bowl championship with the Washington Redskins when he should have been enjoying the Kuskokwim 300 mushers banquet.

"After that, they moved the race a week earlier so that wouldn't happen again," he said.

Schlereth remembered how he became a Duke University fan "just because there were a couple of kids from Alaska (Langdon and then Boozer) who played for them."

And this, from Carlos Boozer Sr., whose acceptance on his son's behalf would be played on the Jumbotron during a timeout in Salt Lake City, where Boozer was playing Tuesday night: "This award means so much to him. He's going to continue to represent the great state of Alaska."

The Alaska Sports Hall of Fame now includes 10 athletes, who on the surface may seem as different as the colors of a rainbow but are united by their passion for their respective sports.

Olympic gold-medal downhill skier Tommy Moe was part of last year's inaugural class of individual inductees, joining sprint-mushing legend George Attla, four-time Iditarod winner Susan Butcher, two-time Stanley Cup hockey champion Scott Gomez and Olympic rowing champion Kris Thorsness.

Only Schlereth and Swenson could attend this year's ceremony to accept their awards.

Boozer and Langdon are in the middle of basketball season and Redington died in 1999 at age 82. But a large group of Redington family members were on hand to receive the award for their patriarch.

In a touching moment, Joee Redington pulled out an old, hand-written note he found while cleaning out his parents' house and handed it to Swenson. It was a letter dated 1973 and written by Swenson, who was 23 at the time. In it, he told Redington that he "hoped to run the race" one day.

That he did.

Boozer's parents flew in from North Carolina, where they are now living, to accept the award for their son. Langdon's parents, Steve and Gladys, also were in attendance to accept the award for their son, who was the first Alaskan to play in the NBA.

"Trajan was very aware in (East) high school that he was embraced and loved in Alaska," Steve Langdon said. "So he's made it a point to give back. He's very proud to come from this place."

In Langdon's recorded acceptance speech, taped in Russia where he now plays for the pro team CSKA Moscow, he said, "I've had a blessed career. I'm very grateful for this honor."

Then he spoke in Russian, translating the phrase: "Thank you very much. Good-bye, and all the best to everybody."

The evening concluded with two more awards, the best sports moment and the best sports event.

Last year's sports moments went to the first climb of Mount McKinley as well as Libby Riddles' daring victory in the Iditarod, the first by a woman. The Iditarod race itself was voted the best sports event last year.

This year, Moe's gold-medal winning ski run in the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer was added as a moment, and the Great Alaska Shootout, which started out as the Seawolf Classic and has become a Thanksgiving tradition for basketball fans, was the event.

Harlow Robinson, president of the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame, said he is pleased with this year's recipients.

Online public voting takes place in the fall, which determines the names on the final ballot that is handed out to members of a selection panel. The votes are determined on a 1-to-10 scoring basis to come up with the top five finalists.

Robinson said more than 1,150 votes were cast, which is almost double the first year and higher than he expected.

Afterward, Robinson spoke to a group of attendees and speculated on next year's selection process -- and potential inductees.

"If voting went like it did this year, we'll have an interesting class next year," he said, smiling.

The Hall of Fame is destined for a space in the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport this summer, where it can be viewed at any time.

Find Melissa DeVaughn online at adn.com/contact/mdevaughn or call 257-4482.

Class of 2008

TRAJAN LANGDON: East High basketball star who played at Duke University before a short career in the NBA. Langdon still plays professionally for the Russian pro team CSKA Moscow.

CARLOS BOOZER: Juneau-Douglas High star, played at Duke, winning a national championship with the Blue Devils. He plays in the NBA with the Utah Jazz.

MARK SCHLERETH: A Service High graduate who went on to win three Super Bowl rings as a Pro Bowl offensive lineman, first with the Washington Redskins, then with the Denver Broncos. Schlereth is now an ESPN football analyst.

JOE REDINGTON SR.: Known as the "father" of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Redington never won but competed in the race into his 80s. He died in 1999.

RICK SWENSON: The only five-time winner of the Iditarod. He posted wins in 1977, 1979, 1981, 1982 and 1991; and missed first place in 1978 by just 1 second.

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