The child of a working-class mining family of six children in Valdez, Egan was raised by his mother, Cora (Allen), following his father William's death in an avalanche in 1920.

[citation needed] Egan's godfather, Anthony Dimond, a local Valdez lawyer, two-time mayor and member of the Alaska Senate, ran as a Democrat for the territory's nonvoting delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives the same year.

Despite the position's inability to vote due to Tennessee Plan, a nonvoting delegate could address other House members and lobby for both bills and statehood.

[citation needed] Following on his godfather's footsteps, Egan ran successfully as the Democratic candidate from Valdez in the Alaska Territorial House of Representatives in 1940, a post he would hold until 1945.

On November 16, 1940,[2] Egan married Desdia Neva McKittrick (October 3, 1914 – January 19, 2011), a recent arrival to Valdez from Kansas.

During World War II, where Alaska's own Aleutian Islands saw bloody combat between American and Imperial Japanese forces, Egan continued his political career.

Following the end of the convention a year later, the Alaska Constitution was sent to Alaskans as part of a referendum in 1958, passing easily.

Egan also encouraged investment in the newest U.S. state, noting its slowly growing oil and tourist industries.