GA
The basics
Quick facts
Intro
Musher
Gender:
Male
Places:
Work field:
Birth:
8 August 1933(Koyukuk, Yukon–Koyukuk Census Area, Unorganized Borough, USA)
Death:
15 February 2015(Alaska Native Medical Center, Alaska, USA)
Star sign:
The details
Biography
Introduction
George Attla (August 8, 1933 – February 15, 2015) was a champion sprint dog musher. Attla won ten Anchorage Fur Rendezvous Championships and eight North American Open championships with a career that spanned from 1958 to 2011. Attla was the subject of a 1993 book titled George Attla: The Legend of the Sled-dog Trail, by Lewis "Lew" Freedman.
In 1974 Attla wrote a book titled "Everything I Know About Training and Racing Sled Dogs". Attla died of B-cell lymphoma in February 2015.
Major Mushing Victories and Finishes
- Anchorage Fur Rendezvous First place finishes: 1958, 1962, 1968, 1972, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1981, and 1982.
- Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race In 1973 Attla placed fourth in the inaugural Iditarod.
Legacy
- On April 25, 1998, the governor of Alaska, Steve Cowper, declared April 29 as George Attla Day.
- Attla was the focus of the movieSpirit of the Wind.
- He inspired the 2017 single "You Got to Run (Spirit of the Wind)", a collaboration between Buffy Sainte-Marie and Tanya Tagaq.