Monday, March 16, 2026

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The Chandler Museum in Arizona has a new exhibit called “Being Eddie Basha.”

It is a retrospective of the hometown-turned-statewide grocer who died in 2013.

And as KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio reports, this 3,800 sq ft installation is all about unpacking the man behind the grocery king persona.

Chandler Museum’s storytelling coordinator, Sarah Biggerstaff, literally leaned on Basha’s own words for one interactive display.

“This is our telephone. There’s about 20 clips, and they range from, like, 20 seconds to a minute. You can pick it up, give it a couple seconds, but then you hear him actually speaking. And at our opening, it was really moving.”

“I would want my epithets to have to say, ‘Eddie Basha, he was a good man, but a bad boy.’ And that’s how I want to be remembered.”

Another one of his principles was putting people over profits.

The great-grandson of Lebanese immigrants brought his family brand to tribal lands beginning in 1981 with the Diné Supermarket in Chinle.

Basha even committed 25 cents of every dollar to the Navajo Nation.

“And of course, the relationship with the Navajo became extremely powerful and fruitful and still exists today.”

From Tuba City to Window Rock, stores kept popping up.

More locations would follow on Apache land in Peridot and Whiteriver.

The one-time gubernatorial candidate was also an avid collector of Western and American Indian art.

Basha owned one of the world’s largest private collections, most of which has since been donated to the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Ariz.

Athletes, coaches, and spectators crowded Main Street in downtown Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada Saturday for the closing ceremonies of the Arctic Winter Games, also known as the Olympics of the North.

And Team Alaska had a lot to celebrate.

Among the six Arctic nations, it led the count for ulus, the medals shaped like the curved knife emblematic of Arctic life.

Alaska had 227 ulus, followed by Team Yukon with 174 and Alberta North with 127.

As KNBA’s Rhonda McBride tells us, Parker Kenick of Nome took home three gold ulus and many lessons about life.

Although Parker Kenick started learning traditional Alaska Native games when he was eight, he did not take part in the Arctic Winter Games until later in life.

This year he competed in the adult category and won gold ulus in the Two Foot High Kick, the Alaskan High Kick, and the One Hand Reach.

Kenick says he is grateful for the community support that made it possible for him to travel to the games.

“Our spirits get lifted here because there’s so many people here that want to see us do our best, to our absolute limit.”

Kenick competed in his first Arctic Winter Games in 2023 and says he was lucky to be mentored by some of the best Indigenous athletes in the world. Now he’s returning the favor.

One of his coaches, Candace Parker, says when Kenick first started out, he was very quiet and kept to himself. Today, he readily volunteers to coach the younger athletes.

“I would say full circle moment for him to be out on the floor passing on the knowledge. May not have been technical but doing more encouraging.”

Parker says young people can be self-absorbed, but the games teach them to think beyond themselves. She says it is an important exercise in humility, one that athletes like Kenick have embraced.

Parker has been coaching since 1996, but this year she reached an important milestone – having three generations of her family compete in this year’s Arctic Winter Games.

 

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Check out today’s Native America Calling episode

Monday, March 16, 2026 – What’s in a (tribe’s) name?