Philip Esai, who provided food, shelter and a friendly welcome to Iditarod mushers en route from Nikolai to McGrath, will be the honorary musher for the 2015 Last Great Race.
Esai, who died in May at age 72, had been a volunteer since the Iditarod got its start in 1973. In the early years, he and his wife Dora opened their Big River cabin to mushers in need of sleep or a steaming bowl of moose stew.
"There was no room in the cabin because mushers were sleeping everywhere," daughter Marty said in a press release from the Iditarod, which announced Esai's selection as honorary musher on Friday.
The honorary musher, selected annually by the race's board of directors, by tradition is awarded the No. 1 bib. The honored man or woman, or a representative, wears the bib during the ceremonial start in Anchorage on the first Saturday in March.
Esai helped break trail from Rohn toward McGrath in preparation for the first Iditarod, moving trees and brush in temperatures that dipped to minus-20 and below, according to the Iditarod. More recently he helped to re-open 28 miles of trail in the Farewell Burn that had been destroyed by the Turquoise Lake fire, the Iditarod said.
Esai additionally greeted and housed mushers for years at the Runkles bison camp 40 miles out of Nikolai. In recent years, he and Dora set up a wall tent with a wood stove and spruce bough floor for mushers to sleep in at the Nikolai checkpoint, the Iditarod said.
An Athabaskan who mushed dogs as a kid, Esai and his family -- Dora and children Marty, Jacque and Daniel -- "would cook pots of moose stew, moose steaks, beaver and the occasional lynx fry," according to the Iditarod press release. "The coffee pot was always on for anyone traveling the trail, not just the mushers."
Honorary mushers through the years
1973 -- Leonhard Seppala
1974 -- Leonhard Seppala
1975 -- Leonhard Seppala
1976 -- Leonhard Seppala
1978 -- Leonhard Seppala
1979 -- Leonhard Seppala
1980 -- Leonard Seppala & "Wild Bill" Shannon
1981 -- Edgar Kalland
1982 -- Billy McCarty
1983 -- Charles Evans & Edgar Nollner
1984 -- Pete MacMannus & Howard Albert
1985 -- William A Egan
1986 -- Fred Machetanz
1987 -- Eva Brunell "Short" Seeley
1988 -- Marvin "Muktuk" Marston
1989 -- Otis Delvin "Del" Carter, DVM & John Auliye
1990 -- Victor "Duke" Kotongan & Henry Ivanoff
1991 -- Wild Bill Shannon & Dr. Roland Lombard
1992 -- Herbie Nayokpuk
1993 -- Leroy Swenson & Pat Curan
1994 -- Dick Tozier & Mike Merkling
1995 -- John Komak
1996 -- Bill Vaudrin
1997 -- Dorothy G Page
1998 -- Joel Kottke & Lolly Medley
1999 -- Vi Redington & George Rae
2000 -- Joe Redington Sr., Edgar Nollner & John Schultz
2001 -- Don Bowers & RW Van Pelt, Jr., DVM
2002 -- Earl Norris & Isaac Okleasik
2003 -- Howard & Julie Farley
2004 -- Terry Adkins & Harry Pitka
2005 -- Larry Thompson & Jirdes Winther Baxter
2006 -- Gene Leonard
2007 -- Susan Butcher
2008 -- Max Lowe
2009 -- Rod and Carol Udd
2010 -- Orin Seybert
2011 -- Tom Busch & KNOM
2012 -- Dave Olson
2013 -- Jan Newton
2014 -- Deby Trosper
2015 -- Philip Esai