Milo Griffin

Milo Griffin died on Tuesday, November 10, 2026, at the age of 82. The news was shared on social media by Lathrop High School and the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and hundreds of people added their memories. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported his death under the headline "We lost a great, great man," quoting former UAF coach George Roderick. The cause of death and the place of death have not been made public, and no funeral or memorial details had been announced at the time of writing.

Milo Griffin was a native of Barbourville, Kentucky, according to the University of Alaska Fairbanks. His exact date of birth has not been made public; he was 82 when he died in November 2026. Details of his parents and childhood have not been published.

He came to Alaska in the 1960s almost by chance. In a 2022 interview for the Black in Alaska series, he explained that his start in the state came after he mixed up his flights. He went on to spend more than 60 years in Fairbanks.

Griffin attended the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where he starred for the Nanooks men's basketball team from 1966 to 1969 and is listed by the university as a member of the class of 1969. He went on to a long career as a physical education teacher in the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District.

As a Nanook, Griffin scored 1,682 career points, the school record for 36 years until Brad Oleson passed it on February 10, 2005. He still holds the UAF single game record of 43 points, set against Saint Martin's on February 3, 1968, and the single season scoring average record of 26.0 points per game from 1967-68. He also set career records for free throws made (438) and attempted (575), and tied Oleson for career field goals made (622). He played outfield and first base for the Alaska Goldpanners baseball team from 1967 to 1969.

After graduating he became a teacher and coach. He spent about 30 years at Lathrop High School, where he was head coach of the Malemutes boys basketball team for 28 of the 31 seasons up to his retirement from that post in 2015. Lathrop reached the state tournament 25 times under him, with a best finish of second in 1999 and fourth in 2013. In 35 years of leading high school basketball teams he earned 33 state tournament berths. He also coached football, tennis, baseball, softball and track and field, and worked at Eielson and West Valley high schools, staying on as head coach of West Valley track and field after stepping down at Lathrop.

At UAF he was an assistant men's basketball coach under George Roderick from 1993 to 1996, and an assistant again with the men's team in 2023-24. In September 2024 he joined head coach Amy Donovan's women's basketball staff as an assistant coach.

Griffin made Fairbanks his home for more than six decades. He was a frequent golfer and a familiar face at fundraising tournaments, where people remembered that he knew almost everyone by name. Details of his family have not been made public.

Griffin saw his work with young people as his proudest achievement. In the Black in Alaska interview recorded in 2022, he said that despite his records and Hall of Fame recognition, he was most proud of his 30 year career in teaching and coaching. When UAF retired his jersey in 2006, he called it the highlight of his athletic career.

Griffin is remembered as one of the defining figures of Fairbanks sport. UAF coach Frank Ostanik said in 2006 that Griffin "opened the door for other great players to play at UAF." Regis University assistant coach Jessie Craig said that "one would be hard pressed to find an athlete in Alaska during all these years who hasn't been impacted by him." His number 44 hangs in the Alaska Airlines Gymnasium at the Patty Center, and former pupils describe him as a mentor and father figure to many children in the city.

UAF retired his number 44 on January 19, 2006, the first Nanooks player jersey number to be retired. He was inducted into the UAF Athletics Hall of Fame in its first class in 2008, and into the Alaska High School Hall of Fame in 2023. He was also nominated for the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame.

Griffin was profiled in the Black in Alaska video series, in an interview recorded in March 2022 and published on YouTube by Akela Space, in which he told the story of how a flight mix up brought him to Alaska.