Saving Yakutat one basket at a time

[mouakter14]

There is a hoop in a driveway of a house in Yakutat that local youth from not just the block, but across the town use at all hours with no permission needed.

This is not uncommon in many homes across America, but in this tiny town of roughly 500 this basket is one of the last links to a failing basketball tradition that once won regional and state tournaments.

This is the house of Rose Fraker a Yakutat alum with high school trophies, and a Gold Medal jump shot who is trying to revitalize the passion of basketball as families have moved away and school numbers country wise email marketing list have dropped.

The Juneau Lions Club honored Fraker with the Walter Soboleff Award at the recent Gold Medal Basketball Tournament presented to a GMT player that best personifies sportsmanship, leadership, spirit, motivation, and pride in their team, their village and their community.

“I’m shocked, absolutely shocked,” Fraker said at that time. “I had no idea. I usually know all the things that are happening around me and I had no idea this was coming.”

Yakutat's Rose Fraker poses with her Walter Soboleff Award at the 2025 Juneau Lions Club Gold Medal Basketball Tournament. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Empire)
The award wasn’t just for a hoop in the driveway. Fraker is a local leader of her community in Northern Southeast Alaska in the lowlands of the Gulf of Alaska and dedicates countless hours to her community in youth activities and orchestrating community events.