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Inupiaq Power

Herbert Nayokpuk

by Raine Hall

11/17/2006

My old friend Herbert Nayokpuk is lying in a coma in the ICU at Alaska Native Medical Center.

Herbert, also known as the Shishmaref Cannonball, has earned the love and respect of Alaskans far and wide as the strongest Inupiaq Iditarod driver to date. He finished second in the 1980 Iditarod Sled Dog Race and then drove his dog team down Pennsylvania Ave. in President Reagan’s Inaugural Parade. His smile and charisma may be rivaled by only one other, his good friend Susan Butcher. At Susan’s Memorial Service this past September Herbert flew in from Shishmaref and took the stage with his wife Elizabeth, his children and grandchildren. They sang a hymn and gave a blessing in both Inupiaq and English. There was not a dry eye in the house. Even after such moving speakers as George Lucas, Joee Redington and Melinda Gates, Herbert and his brood made us feel the force; Life Force. David Monson, Susan’s husband told me later that that was the moment he lost it and the tears finally came.

Herbert needs to feel that force now.

On Monday afternoon Herbert bent down to put on his slippers and was hit by a massive stroke. Fortunately there was a doctor visiting the tiny village of Shishmaref, 180 miles north of Nome. Bering Air med evacuated him to Anchorage in two hours flat but Herbert had already slipped into a coma.

His family has gathered from all points…30 plus people standing vigil. His daughter Mary told me to, “Be strong for Dad. We can’t do it by ourselves. Dad taught us to ask for the power… and the spirit will put it in you. When people go into see him I tell them talk to him. The power is in your voice. It will make him strong.”

Herbie needs our love and prayers now. Perhaps with a little help from our friends, the Shishmaref Cannonball will roll again.