Manitoba curling hall announces 2022 class

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This article was published 03/02/2022 (1509 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was two decades ago when Carl German led his East St. Paul rink to a provincial and national senior men’s championship.

On Tuesday, that rink received arguably their most humbling honour to date as they were announced as part of the Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame’s 2022 induction class.

“When (Hall of Fame president) Peter (Nichols) told us that we were being inducted, all of the guys on the team were flabbergasted,” German said during a press conference.

“This was something that we didn’t think or ever thought would happen, so this is a very proud moment for all of us.”

The German rink, which included third Ray Fillion, second Brian Copeland and lead Ray McDougall, would be without their skip for the worlds that year in Bismarck, N.D. as he was ineligible due to the differing age standards at the time.

Ron Westcott filled in for German at the event and led Canada to a silver medal.

“We beat Ron in the final of the provincials that year so we had no choice but to bring him along, especially when I couldn’t go to the worlds,” German joked.

“It was all in good fun, though, and we’ve obviously thanked him a ton over the years for his contribution to the team.”

The German rink was one of nine inductees announced on Tuesday.

Joining them in the 2022 class are Judy Brown (builder), Keith Fenton (curler), Jeff Ryan (curler), Carolyn Darbyshire (Olympic curler), Ryan Fry (Olympic curler), Gary Ross’ 2001 Canadian senior championship team, the late Barry Fry’s Canadian masters championship team and the 2002 Canadian masters championship team that was skipped by Orest Meleschuk at the provincials and the late Ken Grove at the nationals.

Brown, who is currently battling Alzheimer’s disease, served as the Manitoba Ladies Curling Association’s president in 1990-91 and was made an honorary life member in 1992.

She was part of a leadership group that developed the original proposals to amalgamate the MLCA and the Manitoba Curling Association, in addition to encouraging the use of thinking time long before it was officially adopted in the sport.

“She was really pleased when I told her about the induction but I don’t think she really understands what it was all about,” Brown’s daughter Andrea said.

“I was barely a teenager (when Brown was MLCA president) but I always remember her running around and doing something. I knew she was involved in a lot of things but I was pretty amazed when I looked and saw everything that she did. It’s a pretty proud feeling for our family to see her inducted.”

Fenton and Ryan are best known for their time with Kerry Burtnyk’s 1995 Brier and men’s world championship rink. They won the latter title in Brandon.

The squad also reached the Brier and Canadian Olympic Trials finals in 2001, but lost both contests to Randy Ferbey and Kevin Martin, respectively.

Darbyshire and Fry both got their starts in the provincial curling scene before venturing elsewhere.

While she has spent the majority of her career in Alberta, Darbyshire’s first national appearance came at the 1985 Tournament of Hearts, when she was the second on Jacki Rintoul’s Portage la Prairie rink.

She was the second on Cheryl Bernard’s silver-medal-winning rink at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

Fry, who was the vice for Brad Jacobs’ gold medal squad at the 2014 games in Sochi, Russia, skipped Manitoba’s junior men’s champions in 1996 and 1997.

He was the runner-up at the 1996 junior nationals and won a bronze medal at the 2007 Brier as the third for Jeff Stoughton.

Ryan’s dad Barry — who died last May following a battle with cancer — led Manitoba to its first masters’ men’s title in 2001 as he played with third Don Duguid, second Winston Warren and lead Ken Orr.

The win was also the final national championship for Fry and Duguid, who won three senior championships together in 1992, 1994 and 1995.

Warren and Orr were also the third and lead on Ross’ 2001 national senior championship rink — which included the late Gary Smith at second.

The 2002 masters championship rink from Lac du Bonnet went a lineup change on their way to a national title.

Meleschuk was the skip at the provincials, but had to step aside due to health issues.

Grove joined the squad — which included John Usackis at third, the late Bob Lesko at second and Richard Schroeder at lead — as they posted a 7-2 mark on their way to the title.

The 2022 class will be officially inducted on Saturday, May 14 in Winnipeg, where they will be enshrined with the 2020 and 2021 classes.

The ceremony is the first formal celebration for the Hall of Fame since 2019, as their recent induction plans have been curtailed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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