The end of the basketball season for the Tikigaq Harpooners leads directly to the start of another important season for the villagers of Point Hope.
When basketball is over, the Harpooners become harpooners -- players and coaches go from a sport that brings the village together during the winter to a sport that has been a way of life for centuries.
"Whaling and basketball, those are the two biggest things for us, and probably in that order," said Rex Rock Jr.
Rex Jr. is a former player and current assistant coach for the Harpooners basketball teams. When the whaling season begins near the end of April, he is the harpooner on a crew captained by Rex Sr., the head coach of the Tikigaq boys. Junior point guard Adam Sage and sophomore guard Reece Rock, the younger brother of Rex Jr., are paddlers on the crew.
"Everybody gets ready for whaling about this time of year," Rex Jr. said. "The boats are in the shops and the boys are out shoveling snow. That's how they got their workouts in before coming down here: Some good old-fashioned workouts."
Built on the coaching of the Rocks, the basketball teams have a solid foundation. Ramona Rock, the wife of Rex Sr., is the head coach of the girls team and the school's athletic director. Rex Sr. coaches the boys and assists with the girls, while Rex Jr. is an assistant coach for both teams. Ryan Rock starred for last season's Point Hope team and was a redshirt freshman at UAA this season, and Reece Rock comes off the bench for this season's squad.
"It makes for some real interesting nights," Rex Sr. said. "All we talk about is basketball. When we get up in the morning we are talking about it and asking, 'What should I have done here?' and 'What could we do there?' "
Whaling is an even bigger family tradition. Rex Sr. has been whaling for 23 years and coaching for 20 years. He has been the captain of a whaling crew for the past six years.
The basketball seasons have brought plenty of glory to the village in recent years. The boys won the state championship last season and both the Harpooners and the Harpoonerettes made it to state this season.
The whaling seasons have been less successful lately. The village harvested one bowhead whale last year.
"It was a rough season," Rex Sr. said. "We had rough ice."
Point Hope rests on a finger of sand jutting into the Chukchi Sea, a place where whales come close to shore. It's one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in North America, although in 1970 villagers had to move because of erosion from rising seas. They uprooted homes made of whale bones and sod, and relocated to two miles away to a spot that's still on the spit, but is on a flat, rectangular grid.
Boys in Point Hope work their way up to become members of the whaling crew. They begin by watching the whaling crews, then graduate to taking food to the crew. Once on the boat, they start as paddlers and move up to helping cut the whale meat and learning where the organs are, and where to harpoon a whale. Then they can advance to steering the boats or throwing harpoons. Some might even become assistant captains or captains.
"You have to go through the chain," said Rex Jr., who has been a harpooner since he was 18 and will someday likely be a captain like his father and grandfather.
Rex Jr. has landed two whales while working on his father's boat and before that landed two working for his grandfather.
When a whale is landed, the entire village cuts it up and saves some of the meat for the Whale Festival in June and for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
"We think of it as a gift. The whale gives itself to you. It is a blessing," Rex Jr. said.
Once a crew spots a whale, the boats get as close as possible so harpooners can shove the weapons in. The harpoons have small brass bombs of gunpowder attached to their shafts that explode in the whale while buoys trail behind, marking where the whale goes.
"You can tell when they are about to die," Rex Jr. said. "The whale goes on its side and it is no longer just water coming out of their blowhole. It's darker."
Then the whale is tied to boats and hauled to shore, where it is cut into food for the village.
For the Rocks and the rest of Point Hope, the basketball season ends today and soon it will be time to hunt whales, the reason for the village's existence.
"You feel kind of at peace," Rex Jr. said. "The quiet, the fresh air, ducks flying overhead. I love being out there."
Find Richard Larson online at adn.com/contact/rlarson or call 257-4335.
By RICHARD LARSON
rlarson@adn.com