What's Up Yukon contributor Doug Sack, 70, is the editor of Sourdough Chronicle, the quad-annual newsletter of the Yukon Council on Aging (YCOA). Before that, he was young.
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Doug Sack
Issue: 2018-04-18, PHOTO: courtesy of the Government of Yukon
The Yukon's Magnificent 11 - Part 5 of 6
The Top of the World Highway is neither on top of the world nor is it a highway, but is certainly one of the most memorable drives in both Alaska and the Yukon. Technically, it runs 127 kilometres from Jack Wade Junction in Alaska, which is the... more
Issue: 2018-04-04, PHOTO: New York Daily News 1920
The sordid saga of ‘Shoeless Joe’
It's possible baseball sluggers George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr. and Joseph Jefferson "Shoeless Joe" Jackson bonded because of the similarities of their impoverished childhoods. Ruth was raised primarily in an inner city Baltimore orphanage, even... more
Issue: 2018-03-28, PHOTO: courtesy of the Government of Yukon
The Yukon's Magnificent 11 - Part 4 of 6
On Friday, February 18, 1949 under a bold headline reading: “No Excuses, Please,” Horace E. Moore, publisher of The Whitehorse Star, wrote a scathing editorial directed at federal and territorial politicians in which he reminded them 1949 was an... more
Issue: 2018-02-21, PHOTO: Government of Yukon
The Yukon's Magnificent 11 - Part 3 of 6
The Robert Campbell Highway (Highway 4), which runs diagonally across southern Yukon from Watson Lake on the Alaska Highway (Highway 1) to Carmacks on the North Klondike (Highway 2), is certifiable proof that all you needed in 19th century Canada... more
Issue: 2017-12-20, PHOTO: courtesy of Government of Yukon
The Yukon’s Magnificent 11
From a comfortable, 21st century perch, the casual Yukon visitor might mistakenly assume The Klondike Highway (Highway 2) was planned to be a Skagway to Dawson tourist route, roughly following the journey made by the stampeders in 1898, but... more
Issue: 2017-11-22, PHOTO: Luigi Zanasi
The Yukon's Magnificent 11
Your humble word servant has wanted to write the following series for more than 40 years, but was pathetically unqualified to do so because there are 11 magnificent numbered roads in the Yukon and he had only been on nine of them... more
Issue: 2017-11-01, Photo: foter.com/National Library of Ireland on The Commons
Jack 'n Sack
The night before the official opening I was surprisingly nervous and had trouble sleeping, not because this time I would be carrying for the greatest golfer of all time, but because I've had a lifelong fear and loathing of crowds and I knew the... more
Issue: 2017-09-27, PHOTO: Bowman Gum - Heritage Auctions, Public Domain
The Wisdom of Yogi the Berra
Other than Samuel Clemens, who wrote as Mark Twain, few historical Americans are more oft-quoted than former New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra, who died in 2015 at the age of 90, but will live forever for the things he said while he was alive... more
Issue: 2017-08-30, Quotation: Doug Sack
Gertie's Begins with a Losing Streak
If anyone ever tries to tell you the first legal casino in Canadian history – Dawson City's fabled Diamond Tooth Gertie's Gambling Hall – was a raging success from the moment the doors first opened in June, 1972, perhaps you should clip and save... more
Issue: 2017-08-16, PHOTO: United States Mint
Jack 'n Sack
Although I can't absolutely verify the factual accuracy of the following "claim to fame," if I'm not the only person who had the unique opportunity to caddy for Jack Nicklaus both before he won his first professional major (1962 U.S. Open) and... more
Issue: 2017-08-09, Photo: Caitlin Press
Memoirs of an Atlin School Marm
If there is any failing in Terry Milos' excellent memoir North of Familiar: A Woman's Story of Homesteading and Adventure in the Canadian Wilderness, it is this: nowhere within these wonderful 208 pages does she get around to physically describing... more
Issue: 2017-07-12, PHOTO: United States Library of Congress
Grandpa's Baseball Book Part Four of Four
It occurred to me while watching the 2016 World Series between the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians with my grandchildren – their first World Series – that I wasn't doing a very good job of explaining the game to them because we were all too... more
Issue: 2017-07-05, PHOTO: Pixabay
Gertie's First Season
Once upon a time, long ago, a young truck driver in Whitehorse found himself with five days off work to celebrate the May long weekend and decided to finally visit Dawson City for the first time. It was either 1971 or '72, and he had been... more
Issue: 2017-07-05, PHOTO: Pixabay
Ten Glorious Days of ‘PLAY BALL!’
Less than a week after Canada finally celebrates our 150th birthday, the top men's softball (fastpitch) players in the country will be saddled with facing an angry New Zealand haka performed by disgruntled Black Sox players to begin the next 150... more
Issue: 2017-06-14, PHOTO: Pixabay
Grandpa's Baseball Book Part Three
It occurred to me while watching the 2016 World Series between the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians with my grandchildren – their first World Series – that I wasn't doing a very good job of explaining the game to them because we were all too... more
Issue: 2017-06-14, PHOTO: Pixabay
Jack 'n Sack
I knew on the Saturday morning warm up on the driving range I was in for a unique caddying experience. This was the days of the "shag bag" when caddies would stand out on the range serving as targets for their golfers and often catch their shots... more
Issue: 2017-06-07, PHOTO: Pixabay
Grandpa's Baseball Book Part Two
It occurred to me while watching the 2016 World Series between the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians with my grandchildren – their first World Series – that I wasn't doing a very good job of explaining the game to them because we were all too... more
Issue: 2017-05-17, United States Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Joe Dye
Jack 'n Sack
Although I can't absolutely verify the factual accuracy of the following "claim to fame," if I'm not the only person who had the unique opportunity to caddy for Jack Nicklaus both before he won his first professional major (1962 U.S. Open) and... more
Issue: 2017-05-17, PHOTO: Pixabay
Grandpa's Baseball Book
It occurred to me while watching the 2016 World Series between the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians with my grandchildren – their first World Series – that I wasn't doing a very good job of explaining the game to them because we were all too... more
Issue: 2017-03-29, PHOTO: Pixabay
Baseball's Only Perfect Season
As a retired sportswriter who bleeds baseball Red and could steal second base before I was able to walk to first, I was recently deep into the internet researching the history and origins of the game when I stumbled on a fact that had somehow... more