A laska's Homegrown Governor: A Biography of William A. Egan. "Born in Alaska, Raised in Alaska, Schooled in Alaska" was how 25-year-old William A. Egan advertised himself during his first campaign for Alaska Territorial Legislature in 1940. Without an opportunity to attend college, Egan received his political education in the legislature. Fifteen years later, Alaskans chose him to lead the Alaska Constitutional Convention and then serve in Washington, D.C. as an Alaska-Tennessee Plan senator. In 1959, Egan, from small-town Valdez, became Alaska’s first state governor - the only governor born and educated in Alaska during the first 43 years of statehood.