There was little in Sarah Palin’s upbringing to suggest that she’d later become such a key political figure. She was born in the Idaho city of Sandpoint in 1964 to a school secretary mother Sally Heath and science teacher father Chuck Heath. She did, however, show her prowess as a sportswoman from an early age, particularly after the family moved from Skagway, Alaska to the nearby town of Wasilla.
For example, while studying at Wasilla High in the early 1980s, Palin served as point guard of the state championship-winning basketball team where she was nicknamed “Sarah Barracuda.” Yes, even as a teen, the future governor was super competitive. She was appointed head of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and was a member of the cross-country team, too.
In another early sign of her political persuasions, Palin also began hunting from a young age, and has become a National Rifle Association lifetime member. She also enjoyed spending much of her childhood on a snowmobile. Victory at the 1984 Miss Wasilla beauty pageant, meanwhile, further proved that she was a young woman of many talents.
