Joe Redington

Joe Redington, Senior (February 1, 1917 – June 24, 1999) was an American dog musher and kennel owner, who is best known as the "Father of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race", a long distance sled dog race run annually from the Anchorage area to Nome, Alaska.

Redington was born in Kingfisher, Oklahoma on February 1, 1917 and lived there until he was six years old. His mother left him shortly after his birth, and he grew up with his father and his brothers James and Ray. Joe said there were rumors that his mother was the outlaw Belle Starr. Joe Redington's father was a laborer who worked was a rancher, on the oil fields, and even traveled with Irish Gypsies for two years. Because of this, Joe went to school in many different places. He attended school in Spearman, Texas, Fairberry, Nebraska, Aurora, South Dakota, and Geary, Oklahoma. After living in Jersey City, New Jersey for one year, they settled on a farm in Kintnersville, Pennsylvania in 1930.

In 1940, Redington enlisted in the United States Army, and joined the 6th Field Artillery Regiment at Fort Hoyle, Maryland. He was later transferred to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where he became part of the infantry, and was trained in the Field Artillery Jump School. He fought in the Pacific Theater of World War II, and was part of the Seabees, building runways and depots. He was discharged from Fort Dix, New Jersey after the war and returned to Pennsylvania.

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