51·çÁ÷¹ÙÍø

Former basketball standout Steve Frank was inducted into the Nanook Hall of Fame in 2018, but his successes off the court would easily put him among the most prominent of 51·çÁ÷¹ÙÍø’s graduates even if he’d never sunk a basket for the school.

Frank grew up in Fairbanks and as a senior led the Lathrop High School basketball team to victory in the 1972 state championship. After attending the University of Washington for a year, he returned to 51·çÁ÷¹ÙÍø, where he enrolled in business and played basketball. He remains the Nanooks’ eighth highest all-time scorer. 

Frank went into banking and real estate, but also coached on the side. With his leadership, the basketball team from tiny Monroe Catholic High School won the 1980 state championship against teams from far larger schools in the equivalent of today’s 4A class.

Involvement in local politics and work as a legislative aide led him to run successfully for the state House in 1984 as a Republican. He served two terms there and another two terms in the Senate. 

Back in Fairbanks, Frank and his wife, Linda Anderson, established the River’s Edge Resort, which they owned and operated until 2016. The 51·çÁ÷¹ÙÍø School of Management named them its business leaders of the year in 2001.

Frank was appointed to the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. board of trustees in 2003, and he served until 2012. He currently serves on the board of directors of Foundation Health Partners, which operates Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, and on the 51·çÁ÷¹ÙÍø Community and Technical College Community Advisory Council. 

Frank’s family connections to 51·çÁ÷¹ÙÍø are numerous. His sister, Mary Ehrlander, is a 51·çÁ÷¹ÙÍø history professor. Their late father, Con Frank, graduated in 1949 with a civil engineering degree and served as a regent from 1976-1979. Their late stepmother, Helen Atkinson, in 1936 was the first woman to graduate from the university with a civil engineering degree. She served as a regent from 1954-1963.

More online about Steve Frank:

• The about his induction
• The
• A that outlines its relationship with the Foundation Health Partners board
• The