Our History


Honoring the Founders of KNIK Little League

In 1963, Lee Jordan joined Dell Spellman and Tom Slanker to create Knik Little League. The first year the league sported only four teams, all in the Majors (ages 10-12) level. Since then, KNIK Little League has grown exponentially in size. In 2017, we had more than 500 registered players making up: 10 Tball, 8 Coach Pitch, 7 Minor League, 8 Major League, 2 Intermediate, 3 Minor Softball, 2 Major Softball and 1 Junior Softball teams. “Perhaps it is true that when summer ascends, we Alaskans tend to worry more about sockeye salmon returning safely home than base runners. But the game is still beloved in the Far North because baseball, like the Last Frontier itself, is about heroes, renewal and second chances. “Baseball,” writes sports historian John Thorn, “served as a beacon, revealing a path through the wilderness.” Indeed, the game was brought, played and passed on to the next generation by dissimilar people filled with similar hopes and dreams, who in the end, see salmon and ballplayers with the same goal: They both want to complete a cycle, get home safe, and score,” courtesy of the Anchorage Museum.

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