Bill Brokaw
Hearse To Hoops "Hearsing the Old Alaska Highway 176 pages, soft cover, b/w photos, 6" x 9" $14.95 |
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Back Cover Text
1962....What type of vehicle am I going to drive to Alaska? It wasn't an easy question to answer as I had extremely limited funds. With the classifieds in hand, I began the search for a suitable vehicle that would transport me north to Anchorage, Alaska. There was also the possibility that a wife might accompany me. I say a possibility because at that time I hadn't asked Pat Bires to be my wife.
A van of some type was at the top of my vehicle list. Without being privy to large financial resources, I found that most vans were more bucks than I could afford. One "vehicle for sale" newspaper classified ad caught my attention. It was for a 1950 Cadillac hearse that had just been retired from body hauling. And the ad indicated that it was in decent running condition and only four hundred dollars. I made the phone call, and I was on my way for inspection. I found it to be rather noisy due to an exhaust problem, but it did have good power and three of the four tires were in excellent shape. So I paid for the big, black monster, and was then the proud owner of an Alaska-bound hearse.
I'll never forget the I-don't-believe-it expression on Pat's face as I pulled up to her home in my big, black body-hauling machine. Her countenance revealed total shock as she learned that this was to be our date transportation wagon. When Pat and I were leaving I was embarrassed when the big guy would not start. The neighbor kids came to the rescue and their pushing was just enough to get the hearse breathing again.
So starts Bill Brokaw's stories of four decades of Alaska adventures to include his passion for Alaska men's basketball, traveling the state playing on Earl Ramp's "over-40" teams when Alaska was truly a frontier! Also included are his 1964 Alaska earthquake photos and eye-witness narrative of the most powerful quake to hit North America.
Bill Brokaw
Table of Contents
Hearse for a Purpose Excerpt from:
Wedding and My Intended
Log of Hearse Highway
Anchorage - At Last
Mountain Home
Fishing
Basketball
The 1964 Great Alaska Earthquake
Alaska Military
Alaska Highway in Winter
From Then Till Now
Hearse To Hoops
Alaska Men's Basketball
Through the years our team played under different sponsors, with the dominate name being Barrett's. George Barrett, a successful business man who owned and operated a large office-supply store in Anchorage during the oil boom years, joined our team sometime in the '70s. He not only took over sponsorship of our team, but also became an outstanding guard. He applied the work ethnic used in his business to the game of basketball. If our team members had voted for the most improved player, George would have won hands down. A sponsor made in heaven was George. On many of our overnight traveling trips George would spring for the hotel bill. He bought us uniforms that wore like iron and on occasion would use his plane or luxury car to transport part of the team to an out-of-town game. I was so thankful for George's financial help as I was living on a very tight budget.
On one beautiful, winter-weekend day we were preparing to depart Anchorage in George's new Cadillac, for an overnight trip to Glennallen, a no-signal-light town located one hundred and eighty-five miles north of Anchorage. Five of us had just squeezed ourselves into his car when George made the following comment. "I have a new plane, a 206 sitting over at Merrill Field, and being that the weather is so nice, wondering if you guys would prefer flying to driving?" His wondering question was answered with a unanimous yes!! George immediately got on the phone and called Glennallen, arranging for a pickup truck to meet us at the small-town gravel landing strip. Earl had already made arrangements for us to overnight at a very rustic log lodge, located on a lake. I'll never forget the fantastic beauty of the huge glacier fields that we flew past on our one-hour flight to Glennallen. Fortunately, I was able to capture a portion of this beauty with my Cannon camera. I should mention that two other members of our team, brothers Jerry and Jack Hepler, were flying their small plane, but they were on skis which would allow them to land on the small lake. I can't remember whether we lost or won, but the beauty beheld from the plane and rustic beauty of the hotel put this experience in my memory bank to last forever. The proceeds from the ticket sales for these games went to the Heart Fund. I also remember that on this trip we had decided to try ice fishing. The folks running the lodge had no electric auger, but they would let us use their hand-operated one. After much effort, the comment from those supplying the energy: THE ICE TOO THICK!! Glennallen is noted for winter temperatures that range from fifty- to sixty- degrees below zero.......
The following is a funny happening that took place the year before I started playing on Earl's team. Earl and Abner Clark were on their way out to Fort Richardson to participate in a basketball game against the base military team. Low and behold, they had a collision with one of the many moose that roam the Anchorage area. The force of the impact caused Earl to hit the glove compartment lever with such force that it smashed a couple of his front teeth. Earl was taken on to the game by a couple of teammates that happened along after the collision, while Ab waited for the arrival of the wrecker. Later, the dentist said that if Earl could return to the destroyed vehicle and find the pieces of his teeth he might be able to do a good patch job. So Earl and Ab went to the damaged vehicle and found what they thought were pieces of his teeth. A good laugh was had by the dentist and others when the gathered pieces turned out to be gristle from the dead moose.
"Do you want to travel to Homer for a couple of games?" This was a question that Earl asked in either '68 or '69. My family and I had traveled many times the 225 scenic miles to beautiful Homer for summer camping, but I had never been there in the winter. A caravan of three cars would transport us down to Homer in the darkness after work on Friday, with the return trip to Anchorage happening on Sunday afternoon. It was another long drive for a couple games and a chance to experience the friendship of the Homer players.
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