Spartan Profiles: Bruce Lee

HOUSE OF MUSHERS

            The foremost Alaskan sled dog races are long distance events like the Iditarod and Yukon Quest, where mushers (dogsled drivers) traverse more than 1,000 miles of terrain through mountain passes, facing inclement weather conditions and trails laden with craters of water and shards of ice. But those conditions don’t faze star musher Bruce Lee, w’76, of Denali Park, owner of the Denali Mountain Kennel with his wife Jeralyn Hath.

            “Hostile conditions? Driving on the freeway from Detroit to Pontiac is hostile,” says Lee. “This is a spiritual journey for us. Sure, it gets cold here. But it’s our home. The land provides our food, our spiritual base. We have a connection with the land. The races fit in with our sense of the world.”

            In 1976, Bruce and Jeralyn, both natural resources majors, got a summer job at the Denali National Park, fell in love with Alaska, and stayed ever since. “We wanted to experience the last of the American frontier,” explains Bruce. “We lived in one of the most remote places, 250 miles from the nearest road. We cut our own firewood, fished and hunted and made everything we needed. Summers, for cash, we worked at the national park.”

            In 1986, they built their log home in Denali Park, and he began mushing. Today Bruce is major star, sponsored by a Wisconsin dog food company. In 1998, he won the Yukon Quest win after many top five finishes. “The sled dogs are an indigenous species,” he notes. “No land animal on earth can travel longer distances in a faster time.”

            In the 2000 Iditarod, Bruce is proud for having won the Humanitarian Award, given to the best cared-for dogs. “That ties to MSU,” he says, having worked at a veterinary clinic as a student and learning about dog care. “MSU was a good learning experience. I greatly admired Paul Risk, who taught a course on natural resources and environmental education.”