Regina Leader Post.
May 16, 1952. p.8
Curling was making its presence felt in this part of Canada before the province of Saskatchewan was formed in 1905 and it is a matter of record that an association for fostering the game was organized in 1905. This early beginning was humble, but curling grew up with the province and it was fitting indeed that the four Campbell brothers from Avonlea won the Canadian championship this Jubilee year on Regina ice - the province’s first senior victory since the all-Canadian bonspiel was inaugurated in 1929. The 1955 bonspiel in Regina shattered all records for Brier trophy play, with some 52,000 tickets sold to fans who packed the Stadium for 11 draws which were held March 7-11.
Saskatchewan has the largest number of curling participants in the world. Registered with the Saskatchewan Curling Association are 553 clubs and male curlers. There are thousands of women curlers and an almost equal number of boys and girls participating each winter. Saskatchewan high school rinks have dominated the Canadian championship for boys.
Between 1880 and 1904, curling in these regions was under the control of the North West Territories branch of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club of Scotland. The idea of forming a “local” association was first mooted at Indian Head and the honor of being the group’s first president fell to A. J. Angus of Regina, with J. W. Smith, also of Regina, appointed the secretary.
Regina had a curling club in 1889 and Indian Head and Qu’Appelle curlers were also active around that period and most of the Main Line towns were not very long in following the lead of their brethren in Indian Head and Qu’Appelle. Curling, a man’s game, was in full swing by the time of the First World War and bonspiels were the big events of the winter in almost every village, town and city in the province.
It wasn’t so many years ago that a curler had to lug his own rocks from his home town to the bonspiels in other centres, but as clubs prospered they purchased their own “matched” rocks and with that new era in curling came the vast army of men and women who belonged to office or workshop leagues and who kept the rinks humming in the afternoons and on weekends.
With the new era there also came artificial ice plants and there are now some 92 sheets of ice in the province serviced for any kind of weather. Regina has four such clubs, with 33 sheets in all; Saskatoon has 23 sheets in three clubs; Swift Current has seven; Weyburn, six; Moose Jaw, 10; Maple Creek, four; Lloydminster, five and North Battleford, five.
Although Saskatchewan has competed since 1927 for the Canadian title and did not win it until this year, the names of some remarkable curlers are shown in the game’s history book. For many years the Regina bonspiel was the official SCA event and those who won the aggregate at Regina were certainly among the best.
Among those who won the aggregate at Regina twice or more were A. W. McIvor of Regina, J. W. Smith of Regina; Dick Ross of Regina, J. E. Adams of Regina, Joe Dundas of Moose Jaw, Jim Robinson of Indian Head, Aubrey Cochrane of Shaunavon, E. J. McKee of Regina, and Garnet Campbell of Avonlea. Dick Ross won the aggregate five times in the period between 1912 and 1929. The Campbells took it four times in the past five years.
In the matter of provincial championships since 1927 the northern part of the province has the edge with 19 winners. Two-time winner include R. B. McLeod of Saskatoon, Bull Dunbar of Kinley, Johnny Franklin of Rosetown and Garnet Campbell of Avonlea.
These skippers are in the record book, but there are scores of others in this province who could be listed if space would permit and even then a number probably would be overlooked.
Ladies have been involved in provincial play since 1948 and for the last two seasons have sent their champions into western bonspiels. The northern clubs have dominated this play off. Provincial playoffs for girls were organized a couple of years ago.
In the boys’ division, Saskatchewan has topped the field in Canada with no fewer than six titles in eight bonspiels. These champion rinks were skipped by J. Thompson of Humboldt in 1949; Bill Clarke of Regina in 1950; Gary Thode of Saskatoon in 1951 and 1952 and Bayne Secord of Saskatoon in 1954 and 1955.
