RACING Toward RECOVERY
The Extraordinary Story of Iditarod Musher Mike Williams Sr.
By MIKE WILLIAMS SR. and
LEW FREEDMAN
Text © 2015 by Mike Williams and Lew Freedman
Photographs courtesy of Mike Williams
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission of the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Williams, Mike, 1952-
Racing toward recovery : the extraordinary story of Iditarod Musher Mike Williams Sr. / by Mike Williams and Lew Freedman.
pages cm
ISBN 978-1-941821-44-2 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Williams, Mike, 1952- 2. Recovering alcoholics—Alaska—Biography. 3. Alaska Natives—Biography. 4. Iditarod (Alaska)—History. I. Freedman, Lew. II. Title.
HV5293.W544A3 2015
362.292092—dc23
[B]
2014034748
Also available in e-book (978-1-941-821-67-1) and
hardbound (978-1-941-821-77-0) formats.
Design by Vicki Knapton
Published by Alaska Northwest Books®
An imprint of
P.O. Box 56118
Portland, Oregon 97238-6118
503-254-5591
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Mike Williams Sr. is a resident of the village of Akiak in Alaska. He is a longtime competitor in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, a leading figure in the Sobriety Movement for Alaska Natives, and an activist for improved living conditions for Natives in the Alaska Bush.
Lew Freedman is a veteran journalist and author who lived in Alaska for seventeen years and is the author of numerous books on dog mushing and stories from Alaska.
FOREWORDS
I have known Mike Williams since 1976 when I lived in Bethel. I knew Mike, his brother Walter, who was a really good sprint musher, the best of the best, and I knew his father Tim, who was a fisherman. I moved to Bethel to work for Alaska Fish and Game and everybody fished for salmon for their dogs.
When I first knew Mike, he and his brothers, and just about everyone else in the Bethel area, were subsistence fishermen. Mike and his brothers had a substance abuse problem. It is hard to watch people you really like self-destructing. It was just so sad. So it is incredible what Mike has overcome in his life.
Mike would come from Akiak and stay with me and my husband, Mike, in Bethel. So did his brothers. We loved to have them, but we were so worried about them. Once, I remember somebody going out in the winter without a coat because he was drunk. We prayed they didn’t freeze to death on their way home.
Mike’s brothers all were lost due to problems with alcohol, but Mike overcame the problem. You have to really respect where that man has come from. He is a spiritual inspiration.
Dog mushing was a big part of the Williams brothers’ lives. It brought them into the forefront of the community and gave them some success. The key for Mike being strong was in part due to dog mushing. He recognized the destruction facing his family. His faith in God was the only thing strong enough to change him. And his wife, Maggie, was driven to be successful. She has been incredibly strong for Mike.
The Iditarod became a big part of Mike’s life, too. I always thought that dog mushing can be a real savior for rural Alaska. It gives Alaska Natives a closeness to their culture. I love to see it when Alaska Natives do well in the Iditarod. There is a realization they can be the best in the world. This is one thing that can help save the culture.
When Mike announced that he was going to carry signatures of Alaskans pledging sobriety along the trail to Nome during the Iditarod I was really proud of him. I knew Mike had made a big change in his life.
I think that the Iditarod can be a platform for more than a single year’s race. It is an opportunity to connect with people everywhere. You can squander it or use it. Mike used it and built it so that he became known as the musher for sobriety. Doing well and being out there is admired in his culture, too.
Dog mushing and the Iditarod are so loved and respected in the villages. The people respect that you are regularly taking on the challenge of the thousand miles of the Iditarod. They understand the weather, the elements, and how hard it can be to be out there. The fact that you are in first place or fiftieth place, they don’t care. They respect that you, that Mike, is tough enough to stay with it. Mike has been using his platform in the Iditarod to build something for his people.
Over the years Mike and I have done training runs together. I have been in Akiak and he has been in Willow. I spent the night at their house. Our families are close.
Mike can get a little bit radical at times and there can be differences of opinions over issues, but the person behind what Mike says is someone who is watching his Eskimo culture diminish. At one time Akiak was more of a metropolis than Bethel was. Mike knows of the days when things were really rolling. He remembers the times when there were only honey buckets instead of flush toilets in the Bush. He has worked to make sure his people retain their dignity.
He is right about so many things. Many of our people in Alaska live in more deplorable conditions than in other countries where we send foreign aid.
Mike Williams does what’s good for his people. I think Mike is very sincere. He’s passionate, and his passion shows that he has a great heart. His motivation is correct, that he wants to help people.
—DeeDee Jonrowe
Veteran Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race musher
I first met Mike Williams about thirty years ago. He introduced himself to me when I was coordinating an Elders conference in the Bethel region. He said he was interested in doing things to help his people. My wife, Amy, and I had fostered what had become known as the Sobriety Movement.
There was a blue ribbon commission to evaluate the problem of alcohol in Alaska’s Native villages and it was concluded that Native leaders needed to take responsibility if they wanted to make meaningful change in the villages.
The first tangible action that was taken was that Native Alaskans discontinued the availability of alcohol at their meetings and functions. Mike was modeling the behavior he was advocating. We have spoken pretty regularly over the years about the problems created by alcohol in the Alaska Bush.
We talked over ideas and what could be done. Mike came from a family that was severely impacted by alcohol use. He lost all of his brothers to alcohol-related accidents and Mike drank, too, before he got sober and began raising awareness about sobriety and recovery issues.
As long as people are hurting there have to be people who are willing to step up and face the issue. Mike is willing to do that. It takes a special kind of stamina and commitment to do that and to keep doing that.
Mike told me he was going to gather signatures of Alaska Natives pledging their sobriety. And then he would carry all of the signatures to Nome during the Iditarod in his dogsled. I told him I was looking forward to his involvement. I thought, This is great.