Statue of dogs and musher William "Billy O" Orazietti.

Statue of Drowned Dog Musher

Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

William Henry "Billy O" Orazietti grew up in Sault Ste. Marie and was once "Mr. Canada" as a bodybuilder, as well as the city's Maytag repairman. He was also a long-time dog musher. At age 50, on February 19, 1994, during a race on frozen Lake Michigan, Billy O became disoriented, went off-course, and his nine sled dogs fell through some thin ice. Billy O went into the water after his dogs. He saved two. The other seven, and Billy O, drowned.

In honor of Billy O, the race organizers retired his bib number.

Three years later, Sault Ste. Marie erected a bronze statue of Billy O next to its waterfront. Billy O wears his musher clothes and is flanked by two sled dogs, which we will assume are the ones that he gave his life to save.