Halfbreeds – Aniak (AK) High School

Come again? 

I mean, Wikipedia is telling me that “Half-breed is a term, now considered offensive, used to describe anyone who is of mixed race; although, in the United States, it usually refers to people who are half Native American and half European/white.” Not exactly PC, is it?

So, if the Redskins became the Commanders, and the Indians the Guardians, how come we still have something like the Halfbreeds? Well, this is one that the community just so happened to chose themselves. As the school board president at the time commented, "Most people are of mixed race, mixed background. We're proud of it.” Kind of like the Fighting Irish, I guess.

The teams had formerly been the Apostles (boys) & Angels (girls). Surprisingly, Halfbreeds actually came along in the late 1970s. 

Aniak is a town of 500+ people and is about 300 miles east of Anchorage. It’s accessible only by boat (on the Kuskokwim River) or air.  Winters feature temps of -55 and snow accumulations of 60 inches. The town dates back to a gold strike in 1910.

The high school has 55 students and a staff of 7 (including the bus driver). Somehow or other, they manage to field 4 teams – basketball and volleyball squads for both genders. Not too surprisingly, those are both indoor sports.