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George Attla

George Attla

George Attla grew up in Huslia, Alaska when dog teams were used as basic transportation. After suffering tuberculosis as a child, George was limited in his physical abilities but his father gave him puppies to raise. This started a life-long love of dogs, mushing, and eventually dog racing. George, nick-named "The Huslia Hustler," became well known for his sprint racing success in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.  For more about George Attla, see: Spirit of the Wind: The Story of George Attla, Alaska's Legendary Sled Dog Sprint Champ by Lew Freedman (Kenmore, WA: Epicenter Press, 2000); George Attla: The Legend of the Sled-Dog Trail by Lew Freedman (Harrisburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1993); and Spirit of the Wind, a 1979 film directed and produced by Ralph Liddle. George Attla passed away on February 15, 2015. See articles written about him after his death in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and the Alaska Dispatch News newspapers and his obituary in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner newspaper.
Date of Birth:
Aug 8, 1933
Date of Death:
Feb 15, 2015
George Attla appears in the following new Jukebox projects:
Interview Title Abstract Archive #: Oral History Project Date of Interview
George Attla George Attla was interviewed on June 27, 2011 by William Schneider, Kathy Turco, and Karen Brewster at Elmer E. Rasmuson Library, University of Alaska Fairbanks in Fairbanks, Alaska. In this interview, George talks about how he got into dog mushing and racing, how he trains dogs, memories of specific races, and what dogs and mushing mean to him personally. 2011-19-08 Dog Mushing in Alaska Jun 27, 2011