10 years ago
Kyle Fossman has gone pro.
The Haines High School all-star basketball player who won MVP honors at University of Alaska-Anchorage has signed a one-year contract to play in Germany for a “Pro B” team of the Frankfurt-based Fraport Skyliners, one of 18 teams in the country’s Federal Basketball League.
Fossman, 22, left Anchorage for Germany Tuesday and couldn’t be reached for comment.
“It’s an unbelievable opportunity we talked about happening,” said Steve Fossman, Kyle’s father. “You go over there and give it your best shot and try to enjoy the experience… Also, I think it’s neat for kids around here to see a guy from here doing this.”
Fossman said European teams had expressed interest in his son before the Frankfurt squad made the offer to Kyle’s agent. Kyle had been looking favorably toward playing in Germany, as a former UAA teammate had a good experience there, his dad said. “He was interested in trying to go to Germany in particular. There’s a lot of good basketball over there.”
The Skyliners’ season starts Sept. 28 and continues into March, followed by a post-season tournament.
At UAA, Kyle Fossman was a shooting guard and the team’s second-highest scorer in his senior year, averaging 17 points a game and leading the team in minutes played. “We don’t know what he’ll play over there. His three-point shooting were his big numbers. I’m sure they’re interested in that,” Steve Fossman said.
Fossman said Kyle will have a chance to prove himself. “If you can be seen, you have a chance to move up (to top-league teams) in Germany or in any other country. The main thing is to go over there and if they like you, and you have good numbers, you have a good chance of moving up.”
A former UAA teammate of Kyle’s who played in Germany went on to play in a more competitive league in the Czech Republic, Fossman said.
Kyle is registered with a Federal Basketball League team. “We don’t know if someone gets hurt whether (Kyle) can play (at the top-league level). It kind of happened quickly… It will be interesting to see how it works over there.”
In related news, Mark McNamara, a former NBA player who has helped the Haines High School basketball program in recent years, has launched an effort to retire Kyle Fossman’s #42 jersey. Fossman led the team to state 3A championships in 2008 and 2010 and is among the school’s all-time scoring leaders.
McNamara recently said he’d like to see the high school develop a “Hall of Fame” for top athletes and start keeping comprehensive records for achievements in school athletics and activities.
25 years ago
“Gus, will you bring us into the 20th century, while there’s still some of it left?”
With that invocation by Ken Seright, longtime resident Gus Jurgeleit closed a breaker and sent 7,200 volts of electricity to the end of Mud Bay Road, connecting the valley’s most alternative neighborhood to the power grid.
A crowd of about 20, including new customers and utility officials, turned out in a hard rain at 5.5 Mile Tuesday evening to cheer for the historic flip of the switch.
Jurgeleit, who is 86 and has lived 27 years on home electric at Mud Bay, said he felt honored.
“We’ve lived in the dark long enough. Now we don’t have to start the generators. We don’t have to do anything. We can just throw switches. It’s really great,” he said.
Seright launched the private utility in March. Twenty property owners along the three-mile stretch paid $10,000 each for connecting to underground electric and phone service, plus the cost of lines from their homes.
Electric rates will be comparable to those in town, but residential phone service will cost $36 monthly, compared to $19 downtown. Those who attended the switch ceremony and gathered at Seright’s for a celebration afterward said the utilities were worth the price.
“I love having electricity,” said fisherman Mike Saunders, a five-year resident who recently tripled the size of his home at 6 Mile. “I’ve already bought a garage-door opener.”
His wife Kate said she’s looking forward to unpacking a washer and dryer that are waiting in boxes in their garage.
Nineteen-year resident Marian Emde said her main generator blew up last week, and she’s been using an alternate. “We were nursing it until the 11th hour. It went right down to the wire.”
Randy Ericksen said he was ambivalent about connecting, but his wife wanted a regular phone instead of their cellular one and he’s looking forward to using email from the house. He’ll also be putting in night lights for his two young children. “That’ll be a nice thing.”
Seright said he created the utility because a failed effort to create a utility district led some oldtimers to consider selling their homes rather than live without central power. “I just took the politics out of the situation (by financing the project.)”
Seright recently listed his home and grounds for sale in a Seattle newspaper, but said he intends to keep a smaller house he recently built nearby and will spend more time Outside in winter.
He said he agreed that the utilities would accelerate development.
“More people will want to live out here as a result (but) utilities are very essential part of modern life. To use it as a weapon against development is unjust.”
Seright said he didn’t believe that utilities would make the neighborhood look like ones in the Lower 48, a concern voiced by some. “We still live in a remote part of Alaska and it is a beautiful place. This will allow us to communicate with the rest of the world… In some ways it opens the neighborhood up to more interesting people.”
Most Mud Bay residents still generate their own power. Many have solar panels or windmills; a few have small hydro plants. Neighborhood tours of off-grid homes have been offered in recent years for newcomers to learn about home systems.
Nine-year resident Patty Kermoian said she doesn’t mind electric power passing her by. She figures the expense of grid power is still too high for most neighbors. “We don’t need to connect. We don’t need a monthly bill.”
George Figdor, a resident since 1974, said he’s invested about $8,000 in solar panels, batteries and a back-up wind generator. His system produces enough juice to run his washing machine, power tools and home computer.
“In the 15 years I’ve had it, it’s paid for itself. Now I get the service free from the wind and the sun,” Figdor said. Besides making him self-sufficient, lack of grid power has made him more attentive to electricity use and helped keep the neighborhood rural.
50ish years ago
FOR SALE Hoover portable washer, used two years, $125. Contact John or Diane Bruce, Apartment 3, Thunderbird Motel.
PART TIME WORK. Excellent earnings. WORLD BOOK ENCYCLOPEDIA. Write to Leroy Cook, P.O. Box 8326, Spokane, Washington 99203.
WANTED Lead. Used, any kind, any amount. Craig McCormick, P.O. Box 352. Haines, AK, 99827.
FOR SALE New Thermador built-in oven and cooktop. Like-new 1973 GE refrigerator. Phone 766-3771.
FOR SALE A few 1974 Chilkat Blizzards (yearbook) available at $4 each. Contact staff at secondary school.
FOR SALE Port Chilkoot Lot #4. Three fourths cleared. Water piped to the lot. Phone after 5: 6-3350.
FOR SALE 1963 Valiant sedan. $250. 3-speed and 10-speed bikes; cassette sound and 35-mm cameras; skis; 30lb bow; roller skates; etc. Call Dan or Ken Waldo 6-2131.
HELP WANTED: Waitress and cook. At the Feather and Fin.
HORSES FOR SALE: 8-year-old gelding $500. Small mare $300. Saddles available. Call Dorothy Fossman 766-2551.
TO GIVE AWAY Full-grown female Siamese cat and four free kittens. Kittens are housebroken. Call 6-5263.
BAHA’I FAITH Find out what it’s all about. Thursday evening 8 p.m. 2 Mile Small Tract Road at the Horn residence; Saturday evening 8 p.m. 4 & Union at the March residence.
WANTING TO TRADE our lovely farm which is located between Seattle and Bellingham, Wash., for a very nice, new, modern 2 or 3 bedroom home in Haines or Borough to N.W. Write Mrs. Einar Homstad, 402 308th St. N.E., Stanwood, WA 98292 or phone Area 206-629-3534.
PLYWOOD FOR SALE 4’x8’ x 5/8’’ inside. $12.50 per sheet plus tax. Howsers & Hyatt Ltd., 766-4000.
LOST by a California visitor July 29: Bifocal eyeglasses, black frames. Contact Helen Tengs 766-3181 or Pioneer Bar 766-9011.
FOR SALE: 1967 Belmont Mobile Home 10×50 Good condition. $4500. See Don Bertroch, or call 6-2371.