'Hockey mom' becomes surprise GOP VP pick

It is one of the most extraordinary entrances onto the national political stage in U.S. history when John McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate stunned the nation. Her selection was so secret that even Sarah’s parents were kept out of the loop.

CHUCK HEATH, SARAH PALIN’S FATHER: In the morning we got a call from Atlanta. Was it Atlanta?  And we had no idea this was happening. No idea at all. Complete surprise.

But just who is Sarah Palin? In her coming out party at the Republican Convention she gave her own simple description: hockey mom. But in an exclusive interview with ABC’s Charles Gibson we got our first unscripted look Sarah Palin.

CHARLES GIBSON: What insight into Russian actions, particularly in the last couple of weeks, does the proximity of the state give you?

PALIN: They’re our next door neighbors and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska.

GIBSON: Do you favor putting Georgia and Ukraine into NATO?

PALIN: Ukraine yes and Georgia, Putin thinks otherwise obviously he thinks otherwise.

GIBSON: And under the NATO treaty wouldn’t we then have to go to war if Russian went into Georgia?

PALIN: Perhaps so!

Sarah Louise Heath arrived on February 11, 1964 in Sandpoint, Idaho. She is the third of four children, all born in rapid succession to Sally and Chuck Heath. When she is two months old, the family moves to Alaska, eventually settling in Wasilla.

KAYLENE JOHNSON, BIOGRAPHER: There were only about 400 people in Wasilla about the time that they moved here.  It was just a  really wide spot in the road, on the way to Fairbanks. 

KRISTAN COLE, FRIEND: There was one gas station. So we ordered our school clothes out of the Sears and Roebuck catalog. You froze milk.  Your mom made bread, that type of stuff.

HEATHER BRUCE, SISTER: It was a fantastic little town the grow up in, to raise kids.  And it was a tiny little crossroads.

COLE: Sarah’s mom, Sally, I mean, any time we went over to the house, she was always saying, “Are you hungry, dear?  Do you want some cookies?  Come here.  Come on, now, you need to eat.” 

Sarah is close to her brother Chuck Jr. and her sisters Heather and Molly, sometimes almost too close for comfort.

JOHNSON: They shared a bedroom as they were growing up.  And they would sometimes, pile up all in the same bed together. 

BRUCE: She was an active, feisty, little pistol sometimes.

People who know Sarah well say that the tenacity she exhibits today took root in childhood.

JOHNSON: Chuck, Sarah’s father, has mentioned that when people come to him asking him to influence her on policy decisions as a governor, he just laughs.  Because he says he lost that leverage when she was two years old.

From the beginning, religion is a defining force in Sarah’s life. She attends church camps and vacation Bible schools. At age 12 she asks to be baptized, making a public statement of faith.

JOHNSON: They went to church on Sundays, sometimes twice.  They went to church on Wednesday evenings. 

COLE: Well, she is a person of faith, there’s no question about it.  And I think that is a foundation for her.

BRUCE: She doesn’t make any major decision in her life without seeking some really, really strong guidance.  And her faith is that guidance.

The great outdoors is another inspiration; a quintessential Alaskan family, the heath’s hunt and fish. Sarah shoots her first rabbit when she is 10 years old and in her teens she kills caribou with her father.

COLE: Hunting and fishing was really important.  It was a way to feed our families and certainly we all grew up; eating moose and caribou and sheep.

Sports are an integral part of Sarah’s life and help shape her character

BRUCE: And she was thin, wiry, built for sports.  And there was community nights that they had gym nights.  And then taking some basketball camps to begin our basketball that was kind of the big sport for us. 

CORDELL RANDALL: She wasn’t the best athlete in the world, but she worked so hard.  And she was in such good condition that she was very successful. 

By her senior year in high school, Sarah is not only a starter, but co-captain of the girl’s team. And there’s a hot-shot on the boy’s team who’s catching her eye.

Todd Palin is the new kid in school; a transfer student from Dillingham which is a remote fishing village. He’s part Eskimo.

BRUCE: I remember the first time I saw them together.  Because I was home from college.  Christmas vacation.  I was standing in the gym at Wasilla high school.  And I looked down and I saw this cute, new boy.  And he was sitting next to Sarah on the bleachers alone.  And I asked somebody, “Who is that?”

JOHNSON: They met on the basketball court. She was a point guard for the team. And he was a star player for the Wasilla Warriors.  So, they met and started dating. 

Back on the basketball court, Sarah earns the nickname “Sarah Barracuda” for her fierce competitive nature.

RANDALL: When she was playing defense on you, you knew that a barracuda was after you because she was on you all the time. 

In 1982, for the third year in a row, the Wasilla Warriors win the regional championships but just before the state tournament Sarah suffers a serious ankle injury.

JOHNSON: She was having to sit on the sidelines for part of the game but toward the end of the game, he could see that this was just agonizing for Sarah.  So, he put her back in the game. 

ANNOUNCER: “Sarah Heath coming back into the ballgame....23 seconds left to go..twelve seconds to go... Sarah Heath is fouled!... ...Wasilla 57, Service 53... the Warriors are ten seconds away from the girls state championship, Sarah’s shot is in there! Sarah Heath just iced the game for the Wasilla Warriors!!!

The victory will become a defining moment for Sarah, one that showcases the determination, focus and will to win that will later propel her career.

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