Longtime Fort Hall Recreation Director Mike Sakelaris retires
Mike "Sak" Sakelaris passes off keys he's carried to Timbee Hall for the last 55 years.
By LORI ANN EDMO
Sho-Ban News
FORT HALL — After 55 years on the job as Fort Hall Recreation Director for the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, Mike Sakelaris or “Sak” decided it was time to retire and February 3 was his last day.
He walked into the Recreation Office that day with a reusable grocery bag to gather his belongings, answered a few telephone calls, attended a celebration party in his honor and was done. Sak didn’t need a bigger container for his things because he has lots of memories.
“I’m tired, I just turned 79, supposed to retire when 70 but things out here have changed,” he said. “I’m set in my ways and I’ve had a hard time with some of the decisions made out here (recently) and I would rather retire, stay at home and have peace of mind than have hassles.”
He already has a weekly plan in place with his wife Rube – go to the Pocatello Senior Center for lunch once a week with the “old people,” he intends to get in on the pinochle games with those old ladies down there and maybe he can take some of their money. One day a week he will walk at the mall and one day a week go to Lava Hot Springs.
People asked if he had a hobby but he said he needs to rest. He noted life expectancy is 78 to 79 years but he believes he has ten more good years. “You never know.” “I’m retiring at a good age, I can still walk around and my wife’s retired.”
Sak speaks at his retirement gathering on Thursday, February 2.
Sakelaris recalled his first day on the job as Recreation Director was February 4, 1968. The late Bernice Edmo was secretary and she was sitting across from him. He had a suit and tie on. The Recreation program was still under the Bureau of Indian Affairs at the time and the then superintendent Bill Mehojah walked in to see if he was still there. That was the last time he wore a suit and tie to work.
Prior to getting hired, he did a practicum for six months in 1965 at Recreation while still in college. Reaves Nahwooksy, the first Recreation director was his supervisor. He helped with anything that needed to be done and gave ideas for new programs. “Reaves was such a nice guy,” Sak said. He recalled going to summer camp where he helped cook and with arts and crafts. He graduated from college in 1966 went into the U.S. Army then came back to work on his masters degree. However he got called to come to work in Fort Hall and was 24 years old at the time.
When he graduated from college jobs were plentiful. He had offers to work in Boise and Idaho Falls but he chose Fort Hall. “I knew a lot of the guys,” he continued. “Me, Milo Edmo, Darrell Shay and Bernie Edmo would play basketball – it wasn’t new to me and I wasn’t afraid.” He remembered sitting in branch meetings with older guys and he was the youngest branch chief.
Sak remembered Timbee Hall was four years old when he began. He’s not sure why the design included a flat roof considering icy Idaho winters and having steps as tribal elders had a tough time coming up the steps.
When he first started, the only programs were men’s basketball and women’s basketball. The women played old time basketball with six players on the court. Bernice did arts and crafts and Kilburn Buckskin was the custodian.
He started building programs after he got there. “I always tell people I had a really big advantage — I was so young, I had people like Wilson Preacher, Jimmie Dann, Jimmy Yupe, Austin Gould and Sam Uribe. I had a lot of the older people that helped in the Recreation program. It was really fun at that time.” He also recalled Herb LeClair being a softball umpire and camp cook. Those he mentioned tutored him, “I learned from those guys.”
He noted when working in Fort Hall one has to have patience — it’s a different type of atmosphere setting things up, “We didn’t really have Indian time, we had recreation time,” Sak said so things had to start on time. He grew up with those guys, “they taught me how to do things, how to be out here — it was a big compromise.” The atmosphere, that group of people, that age, you didn’t have to ask, they volunteered, now you have to pull teeth to get people to do things.
In the half century he worked, he didn’t have anyone looking over his shoulder and he said he got along with just about every tribal council. When he first started, it was scary going before them because he was so young because they were in their 60s and 70s. Sak remembered Angela Butterfield always got elected in Bannock Creek and she was a stickler on abiding by the rules. But that’s the way it was and he got along because they saw what he did.
Bannock Creek District was his favorite and they favored him. The late Jimmy Yupe, a Bannock Creek tribal elder always helped. He recalled they would do activities in the reservation districts. Each one had their own basketball team and on Saturday morning they’d come play basketball against each other. “It was fun doing a fun job until it got to be a hassle – those days are completely different than now,” he said.
Sak’s best memories are camping with Jimmie Dann and Herb LeClair at 30 Day at Mount Putnam.
His fondest memory is starting the old men’s tournament as they look forward to it – it’s a gathering or reunion of all the old guys that used to play basketball. “I feel the best about that tournament,” Sak said and he will come back to Fort Hall for the tourney to sit at the door.
He’s proud that other reservations have done similar basketball tournaments or programs such as Fort Hall’s. He traveled to Wyoming to meet with their council and also provided information to the Shoshone-Paiute. He noted not everyone had double basketball tournaments with both men’s and women’s divisions at the same time. In addition, many other tournaments silk screen their awards but Fort Hall embroidered theirs, “I think that’s what I look back on, stuff we did, they copied it and did it at other places, that’s pretty cool.”
All of the tournaments are self-supporting and they don’t have to seek out any other sponsors.
On a sad note, being here this many years, he’s gone to a lot of funerals and seen a lot of young people die. But the one thing that hurt him the most was when Kilburn Buckskin passed away. “He was here from the very beginning just about — he carried on the boxing.” “Kilburn was in here every day just to see what we were doing. It’s people like that who were so loyal to the program and to the office.”
Sak pointed to the wall full of pictures from over the years including Kilburn’s, “It wouldn’t be Fort Hall Recreation if it wasn’t like this – all those pictures.” A photo of the late Willie George sat in a box next to his desk. He remembered visiting with him and was in awe of him because of his strength.
Sak with family members at the retirement gathering.
Recreation Supervisor Eddy Kniffin will serve as interim Recreation Director and Sak said he’s given Eddy what he needs to know. “I’ll take the good memories,” he said. The position will be advertised. He handed Eddy a ring with numerous keys on it and knew what each one was for. But he is worried about all those pictures downstairs from the early days and Festival because he wants them preserved.
One regret he has is the Wellness Center hasn’t been built. They have some funding that came from the Gaming Distribution Plan but it’s not enough to build the facility they want. “We are at a standstill with funding.” If an adequate Wellness Center is built they can have more things happening for all ages including a gymnasium with a walking path above it.
Something he’ll miss is people coming into the office every day to visit just to see what he is up to. Sakelaris would get to work around 5 a.m. each day to open up the weight room for those who came in early and to have some quiet time. He would go to sleep around 7 p.m. to get enough sleep to wake up that early because when one gets older, sleep is needed.
“I’ll miss a lot of the ones I grew up with — Darrell Shay, Larry Bagley — I play golf with them. If I have ten more years in my life, I’ve got to do something in that ten years for me,” Sak sad.
He wants to thank everybody out here that has helped him. “I thank all the volunteers that put in time as I think about all the years we built the program.”
It doesn’t mean that he won’t see everyone again because he intends to come out to visit. “It’s not like that I’m dying — I just won’t be right here. It will be different for a while.” “A lot of people said they’ll miss me — I don’t have one foot in the grave.”
His wife asked him if he was ready to retire, “It wasn’t a big decision, it was the right decision, I don’t’ feel good — I ache,” he continued when he gets up in the morning.
Sakelaris said he’s worked through five generations and feels good when those that used to work for him at Recreation are doing well for themselves and their children. That makes him proud.
Someone asked if he has written things down over the years and he replied, “It’s all in my head.”
He said many have gotten emotional when speaking with him about his retirement but he hasn’t because he said, “I’ll be back.” He can be reached through email sak1944@gmail.com.
Community bids farewell to 'Sak'
Fort Hall Recreation staff organized a surprise gathering for retired director Mike Sakelaris February 2 at Timbee Hall.
As people entered the gym, they were asked to sign in and give comments on his retirement. A banner congratulating him was hung on the north side of the gym and a slideshow of memories was played on a big screen.
More than 50 people attended including Sakelaris wife Rube, his children and grandchildren.
Bob Johnson served as the emcee and gave the opening prayer. Spring Creek Singers sang an honor song for Sakelaris.
A cake with the number 55 signifying the number of years he worked was served that was decorated with a golf cart and his favorite football team the 49ers.
People had the opportunity to wish Sakelaris well and presented him with gifts. Larry Bagley gave him a driver to play golf. Fort Hall Police Chief Pat Teton gave a plaque. Glenda Marshall from Early Childhood Program gave a gift bag, along with numerous other items.
Prior to the gathering, Sakelaris opened a gift from Emmett Duncan from the Ute Tribe that was a Pendleton blanket. The fifth one he’d received so far.
A lunch featuring Mexican dishes was served after the presentations.
