Remarkable Stories of Teamwork in Sports by Brad Herzog

Author:Brad Herzog
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781575425047
Publisher: Free Spirit Publishing
Published: 2014-08-20T00:00:00+00:00

“In order to have a winner, the team must have a feeling of unity; every player must put the team first—ahead of personal glory.”

—Paul “Bear” Bryant, Hall of Fame college football coach

Butcher was from Massachusetts. When she was little, her parents got divorced. It was a hard time for Butcher. But she found comfort in four-legged friends. “I was born with a particular ability with animals and a particular love for them,” she said. “An animal loves you, and you love them. I needed that as a child.” Butcher later became a veterinary technician. She also raised dogs called huskies. Eventually, her work led her to Alaska. She moved to a tiny town called Eureka. It had a population of six people.

Two of those six residents were Butcher and her husband, David Monson. Monson was also a dog racer. In Eureka, the couple lived in a log cabin. They didn’t have running water, flush toilets, or a TV. But they had lots of dogs. They raised huskies with names such as Sluggo, Elan, and Hermit. There were nearly 150 of them in Butcher’s Trail Breaker Kennel.

Butcher’s personal bond with the dogs started the minute they were born. She held each tiny puppy in her hands and breathed into its nose. That way, the animal would always associate her smell with comfort. She fed the dogs, trained them, and massaged them after long runs. She let a few of them sleep in the cabin each night. Once she even stayed up for five nights in a row with a sick dog named Granite. Butcher held Granite’s head in her lap until he got better. Eventually he became, according to Butcher, one of the best sled dogs ever.

Butcher won the 1990 Iditarod in record time. It took her and her team of dogs 11 days, 1 hour, 53 minutes, and 23 seconds. The victory was her fourth in five years, making her one of the sport’s all-time greats. She would eventually join the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame.

In 2006, at age 51, Butcher died of leukemia. However, she still has a place in the world of sled dog racing. The Iditarod begins on the first Saturday of every March. That day is now officially Susan Butcher Day in Alaska.

The Iditarod crowns an individual champion. But Butcher knew that she shared credit for the success. “This team has been absolutely incredible,” she said after that fourth triumph. “I’ve never had a team go as strong as this.” The secret? Butcher said, “It must be the combination working together.”

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