http://www.collectionscanada.ca/sporting-lives/05270509_e.html

National Archives of Canada (PA-209771)

Richardson Rink

Canadian Brier winning Richardson rink: left to right, Ernie, Arnold, Garnet and Wes Richardson raise their brooms following their victory, 10 March 1962, photographer unknown

One of the best foursomes in Canadian curling history, the Richardson rink won four Canadian and world curling championships between 1959 and 1963. The team consisted of brothers Ernie (skip) and Garnet (second), and cousins Wes (lead) and Arnold (third).

http://soudogcurling.tripod.com/WCC/mchampions.htm

1953 – Canada wins over Scotland

Canada – Ernie Richardson, Arnold Richardson, Sam Richardson, Wes Richardson
Scotland – Willie Young, John Pearson, Jimmy Scott, Bobby Young

1960 – Canada wins over Scotland

Canada – Ernie Richardson, Arnold Richardson, Sam Richardson, Wes Richardson
Scotland – Hugh Nielson, Watson Yuill, Tom Yuill, Andrew Wilson

1962 – Canada wins over USA

Canada – Ernie Richardson, Arnold Richardson, Sam Richardson, Wes Richardson
USA – Dick Brown, Terry Kleffman, Fran Kleffman, Nick Jerulle

1963 – Canada wins over Scotland

Canada – Ernie Richardson, Arnold Richardson, Sam Richardson, Mel Perry
Scotland – Chuck Hay, John Bryden, Alan Glen, Jimmy Hamilton

Quick Facts – Saskatchewan Tourism

Provincial Sport

Curling was named Saskatchewan’s official sport in 2001, although many have considered it so for years. Once called the “roaring game” because of the thunderous noise made by corn brooms used to sweep rocks down the ice, curling has a rich history in the province. The fabled Richardson brothers, curling out of Regina, won four Canadian and World men’s championships between 1959-63. History seemed to repeat itself when another extraordinary rink from Regina, the Schmirler team, won three Canadian and World women’s championships in the ’90s, followed by the first ever women’s Olympic gold medal in curling at 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, Japan.

http://www.halloffame.mb.ca/honoured/2004/rDunbar.htm

ROBERT H. “BOB” DUNBAR
Athlete/Curling
Inducted 2004

Manitoba’s first outstanding curler was born in Nova Scotia. An all-round athlete who excelled in track and field, ice skating, and roller skating, Robert H. (Bob) Dunbar was introduced to curling after he moved to Winnipeg in the late 1870s. Dunbar perfected the forerunner of the sliding delivery, a lower profile release utilizing more leg drive and a short forward follow-through. He also departed from the basic draw game to concentrate on a take-out style that soon became a recognized staple of curling in Manitoba.

Working as a bartender in a hotel close to the original Thistle Curling Club, he spent all of his spare time practising his shot making. During the 1890s, Dunbar dominated the Grand Points Game for individual performance in the MCA bonspiel, winning four times (1895-98-99 & 1900). He skipped Thistle teams that won the Tuckett trophy doubles title (1893 &’94), the Walkerville trophy (1896 &’99), and the Alfred Dodge International Cup (1900), all premier events. His performance in the 1898 bonspiel, when his team won both major trophies (Royal Caledonian Tankard & Grand Challenge) and he added the individual Grand Points title, was a spectacular achievement in curling for that time. In 1901, Dunbar moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, but continued to curl and returned to the bonspiel regularly, winning the tankard again (1907 & ’12), the bonspiel Grand Aggregate (1908 & ’15), the Tetley Tea Tankard (1912), the Purity Flour trophy (1915), and the Jerry Robinson trophy (1920).

Bob Dunbar received an Honorary Life Membership in the Manitoba Curling Association in 1920, and he was inducted into the Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame in 1996.

b. 1859
d. June 1937 –

Well, I’m a bit biased about this pick. My older brother Gerry was always the greatest curler of all time in MY eyes! I used to watch him and his friends curl all the time at the Granite Curling Club here in Winnipeg, and even played with him and my cousin at the Thistle Curling Club.

If you have any great GERRY Stories .. feel free to add them in the comments of this post ..

The Curling Blog also welcomes GERRY as a part-time contributor.

It should be exciting and I look forward to his commentaries and postings in here! Thanks GERRY for your first post, about another one of Canada’s greatest curlers .. Sandra Schmirler …

If you would like to contribute articles or write commentaries for the Curling Blog .. feel free to contact me directly.

HART

CBC: The Life and Times of Sandra Schmirler

Video excerpt from the documentary
Download RealPlayer
Sandra makes the shot of a lifetime

When she was growing up, Sandra Schmirler wanted to play hockey. But there was no girls’ team in Biggar, Saskatchewan. So instead of a hockey stick, she picked up a broom. And instead of a puck, she took aim with a 40-lb. stone. Her dream was to “wear the green” of the Saskatchewan provincial team. She went much farther. All the way to the top of the podium at the Olympics. Then it ended, too soon, with her untimely death. Life & Times of Sandra Schmirler is the portrait of an athlete, and a woman, whose family and friends were as important as winning the gold.

Sandra Schmirler

Life & Times of Sandra Schmirler traces her life from childhood through her painful divorce, second marriage and motherhood, realized Olympic dreams, and her battle with cancer. Success in curling didn’t always come easily – she and her teammates went through a very difficult time in 1995, when she lost focus, confidence, and felt terrible pressure from the media. The documentary features a never before seen interview with Schmirler, and candid comments from teammates, family and friends.

Sandra Schmirler with teammate Jan Betker

Schmirler’s team defined the sport of women’s curling for most of the 1990s and was also the first ever to win a gold medal in curling in Canada. Between 1991 and 1997, Schmirler skipped her Regina team to three Canadian and World titles – something that had never been done before. She topped that off by leading her team to the first-ever Olympic gold medal in women’s curling in the 1998 Games in Nagano, Japan. Schmirler hauntingly stated in a pre-Nagano Olympic Games interview with CBC-TV Sports: “I believe I’ve got it all…I’ve got everything I could possibly want in life right now. I have a daughter that I cherish. A husband that I love dearly and the sport of curling that has given me so much. I’ve got it all. I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

Sandra Schmirler in action at the ’94 worlds

Schmirler didn’t know it then, but in just a couple of years, she was going to face the greatest challenge of her life – cancer. Just six months after her father passed away from cancer, and after the birth of her second child, she herself was diagnosed with cancer and died in March 2000. Schmirler’s devotion to family lives on in the charitable foundation set up in her memory. So far it has raised 100,000 for children who face life-threatening illnesses.

Original Air Date – January 22, 2002

Links

Family, friends bid farewell to Schmirler: CBC.ca

Canadian Curling Association

The Sandra Schmirler Foundation

Women in Canadian Sport

(Note: CBC does not endorse the content of external sites)

Recommended Greatest Curler by Bette, December 26, 2005
I would like to vote for Sandra Schmirler for the greatest curler of all time! She was the skip of Canada’s first Olympic Gold Medallist Curling team and also won 3 Canadian and World Championships. Her death at the young age of 36 was sad and tragic. She was truly a great Canadian! Please help keep her memory alive by supporting The Sandra Schmirler Foundation, a non-profit organization whose mission is to help families with children challenged by life threatening illnesses!

Raymond “Bud” Somerville Biography

USA Curling 2001-02 Athlete Biography

RAYMOND “BUD” SOMERVILLE

Coaches: Tim Somerville, Mike Schneeberger, Myles Brundidge, John Gordon, Don Barcome Jr.

Born January 27, 1937 in Superior, Wis.
Hometown Superior, Wis.
Occupation Retired County Clerk, Douglas County, Wis.
Family Married (Nancy), one son (Tim), one daughter (Tracy)
Year started curling 1948
Height 6 feet, 2 inches
Weight 200 pounds

CURLING HIGHLIGHTS

Men’s Worlds:
* 1965 (champion; the first non-Canadian World Champion of the Scotch Cup.)

Memo: USA winner over CANADA in 1965
Team USA – Bud Somerville, Bill Strum, Al Gagne, Tom Wright
Team Canada – Terry Braunstein, Don Duguid, Ron Braunstein, Ray Turnbull

* 1974 (champion. Silver Broom);
* 1981 (silver medallist, Silver Broom)

U.S. Olympic Team – Curling:
* 1992 (bronze medallist, Albertville Olympic Winter Games – demonstration);
* 1988 (4th, Calgary Olympic Winter Games – demonstration)

U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Curling:
* 1992, ’88 (champion)

USCA Hall of Fame:
* 1984 (1st inductee)

Men’s Nationals:
* Five-time U.S. men’s champion

OTHER CURLING HIGHLIGHTS

* Wisconsin State Championships: 14 championships
* Possibly the only curler in history to have competed at world medal level in four decades – from the 1960′s through the 1992 Olympic Winter Games.
* Chair of the Cystic Fibrosis Charity Bonspiel for the past eight years, raising over $20,000 for the charity.
* Taught midwestern Wisconsin curlers, with Bobby Nichols, through the B&B Clinics, during most of the 1980′s.
* Known throughout his career as a gentleman who always exhibited “The Spirit of Curling” on the ice.

PERSONAL FILE

* Raymond “Bud” Somerville is perhaps the best-known U.S. curler ever. He was the first inductee into the U.S. Curling Hall of Fame, and he skipped the first U.S. team to win the world men’s championship, in 1965. Bud has skipped teams to 14 state, five national and two world championships.

* In his own words: “Both my parents curled, which got me interested and also started in the sport. I started curling in the late forties (age 11) but didn’t start organized league play until 1950.”

* Goals as an athlete: “Most of my goals as an athlete have already been accomplished. ”

* Off-season training: “I work out on my own, mostly in my basement and I also do a lot of walking.”

* Major accomplishments in curling: “14 – time Wisconsin State Champs; 5-time National Champion (1965, ’68, ’69, ’74, ’81); 2-time World Champion (1965, ’74).”

* Plans after leaving competitive curling: “I don’t think I will ever leave competitive curling. I will continue to play, but a t a lesser or lower level of competition.”

* Person most influential in my career: ” My father, Ray, who I curled under from 1951-1955.”

* Family members who curl competitively: “My son (Tim Somerville) finished close to the top in the Olympic trials (1992).” Tim is skip of the Somerville team, one of the final seven teams competing for a spot in the 2002 Olympic Winter Games.

* Other interests: “I enjoy doing most projects around the house such as building, remodeling, landscaping and gardening. I also enjoy traveling.”

http://www.curling.ca/championships/brier/history_champions.asp

Dave Romano (3rd), John Hanesiak (2nd), Orest Meleschuk (skip), Pat Hailley (lead)

http://www.halloffame.mb.ca/honoured/1985/1972MeleschuckRink.htm

THE 1972 OREST MELESCHUK RINK WORLD CURLING CHAMPIONS
Team/Curling
Inducted 1985

Curling out of the Fort Rouge Curling club, the Meleschuk rink was competitive in the Provincial Brier for many years. Perennial bridesmaids in the curling capital of the world. That all changed in 1972.

Orest Meleschuk. The Skip. Flamboyant, irreverent, smart as a whip and as good a shooter as there was in his time of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. Dave Romano. The Third. A quiet, thoughtful, terrific team player but not necessarily subservient. He could shoot the lights out. John Hanesiak. The Second. They called him “Black Jack” and he was the cheerleader. Exuberant without overdoing it, he could sweep all night. Pat Hailley. The Lead. The strong, silent, bookkeeper type. A better shooter than he is given credit for and has excellent weight judgement.

The “Big O”, as Meleschuk is known, and his lads first had to get out of Manitoba, which was extremely difficult. If you took Manitoba, you were almost there. Then they had to win the Brier in Newfoundland which was not a picnic.

Then it was on to Garmisch-Partenkirschen in the Bavarian Alps. It was the warmest springtime on record for West Germany and everybody had a great time at and away from the rink, but mostly away from it. Inside, it became more than the Air Canada Silver Broom; it was the “Great Kicked Rock Caper” as the young Bob Labonte of the United States committed the most outrageous gaffe in the history of the grand old game. He had the final game won and in his premature celebration, jumped and fell on his behind and scrambled some rocks that led to an extra end in which Meleschuk was stupendous. In and around Grafton, North Dakota, Labonte’s stomping grounds, they still say that the “Big O” did not deserve the world championship. Sour grapes for the U.S.A., the sweet taste of victory for Canada.

Copyright © 2005 Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame

This Great Curler recommended by Kilgour Trout, December 19, 2005

THE GREATEST CURLER OF ALL TIME! …… For my choice as the second best curler of all time I would pick the big “O” Orest Meleschuk…..

DON DUGUID

1970 Macdonald Brier – Winner from Manitoba
Bryan Wood (lead), Rod Hunter (3rd), Don Duguid (skip), Jim Pettapiece (2nd)

1971 Macdonald Brier – Winner from Manitoba
(lead to skip) Bryan Wood, Jim Pettapiece, Rod Hunter, Don Duguid

Runner up against USA in 1965
Terry Braunstein (skip), Don Duguid, Ron Braunstein, Ray Turnbull

Winner against Scotland in 1970
Don Duguid (skip), Rod Hunter, Jim Pettapiece, Bryan Wood

Winner against Scotland in 1971
Don Duguid (skip), Rod Hunter, Jim Pettapiece, Bryan Wood

THE 1970 & 1971 DON DUGUID RINK
Team/Curling
Inducted 1981

In 1970, Rod Hunter, Jim Pettapiece, and Bryan Wood sought another curler to replace Hunter’s brother John who had left their team the previous year. Hunter contacted Don Duguid, a fellow Granite Curling Club member and former teammate, and asked him to be the new skip of the team. Duguid had retired from competitive curling in 1969 after a lengthy career that included victories in the 1957 Manitoba Consols and the Canadian Brier in 1965, but Hunter’s persuasiveness brought Duguid out of retirement and established the most successful combination to date in world curling history.

With little preparation, the team in 1970 won the Grand Aggregate Championship, the Henry Birks Trophy, the CBC Curling Series, and the Crystal Trophy that was contested in Zurich, Switzerland. Locally, the team won the club championship of the Granite Curling Club, the Winnipeg City Playdowns, the Manitoba Consols, and the Canadian Brier; all necessary to have them represent Canada at the Silver Broom World Championships in Utica, New York. The strong-shooting team defeated Scotland in the final and posted an eight game undefeated performance in international play.

In 1971, the team enjoyed similar success with the exception of their absence at the CBC Series and the Crystal Trophy competitions. As the Canadian representatives at the 1971 Silver Broom in Mejeve, France, they defeated Scotland in the Final for the second time and boasted a record of nine wins and no losses during the championships. Their record of seventeen straight victories in two Silver Broom competitions remains intact. In this modern era that has developed many outstanding curlers, especially in our province, the team’s consecutive Manitoba and Canadian titles were considered remarkable accomplishments as well. In 1974, the Don Duguid rink was inducted into the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame.

We have set-up two new pages here at CurlingBlog.com ..

* GREAT CURLERS IN HISTORY

We would like to know who you think are the great ones!… and why! This is not subject to Canadian curlers – but around the world!

* GREAT CURLING MOMENTS

We would like to what you thought were the best curling moments in history and why! This is not subject to Canadian curling events – but all curling events around the world and even could be your local curling club story kicking around!

FEEL FREE TO POST A COMMENT ON THESE PAGES AT ANY TIME

I will try to further post information in this blog under similar new categories in the sidebar “Great Curlers” and “Great Curling Moments” about your picks. If you want information to be posted directly, please provide me details and/or a URL link in our Contact Us page.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I would like to remind all curlers of our previous post:

www.curlingblog.com/2005/11/attn-curlers-from-around-the-world/

If you would like a permanent voice on this blog … let us know! We would love to have co-contributors of content to this blog, and we’ll set you up with access and privileges and instruction.

HART