Beyond the heavy wool sweaters, corn brooms and ashtrays out on the ice, there was the simple volume of games it took win, well, anything back in those days.
That’s what made the Terry McGeary rink’s 1980 Canadian senior men’s curling championship all the more impressive – and why the Moose Jaw and District Sports Hall of Fame made the local foursome one of their inductees for 2019.
The rink, including McGeary at skip, third Don Berglind, second Hillis Thompson and lead Clare Ramsay, was one of five individuals and teams honoured during the recent annual induction ceremony at Mosaic Place on Oct. 19.
“It’s very exciting,” said Terry’s daughter Lori McGeary, who accepted the honour alongside Bob Berglind, Don’s son. “For my dad, he had many years where he was close to going to the Brier, the closest was in 1974 when they were finalists and won the ‘A’ side and only had to win one more game.
“But 1980 was a thrill for them. They were part of three teams from Saskatchewan that did really well, two that won world championships in Marg Mitchell and Rick Folk, the last time anyone from Saskatchewan had ever won, and then them winning seniors. So it was really exciting for Saskatchewan curling.”
As an idea of how different things were in the sport 40 years ago, just getting to provincials itself was an absolute feat – through clubs, districts, regionals and southerns, rinks could find themselves needing to win 50 games or more along the way.
And none of it would be easy.
“This part of Saskatchewan was a real hotbed of curling, you had the Richardsons, the Mazinkes, the Campbells and you had to be really good back then to win,” McGeary said. “And there were hundreds of teams that entered clubs, the Nutana in Saskatoon would have over 100 teams that just entered from one club. So it’s a lot different now where you have a direct entry into provincials. Back then you had to win clubs, then regionals, you’d have to win so many games just to get to Southerns. Nothing was a gimme back then.”
But the McGeary rink rolled through it all. The Hillcrest Sports Centre foursome defeated Ed Zawata of North Battleford 6-4 in the ‘A-B’ final at the 1980 provincial championships in Esterhazy to earn the right to represent Saskatchewan at nationals in St. John, N.B.
Bob Berglind, son of Don Berglind and Lori McGeary, daughter of Terry McGeary, were on hand for the Moose Jaw and District Sports Hall of Fame induction of the Terry McGeary senior men’s curling rink.And, oh, what a run they put together out there.
The tournament format was a single round robin, with the best record claiming the national title. Saskatchewan found themselves sitting at 7-2 heading into the final day of competition, one win back of Manitoba in second place. That meant they’d need one win to have a chance at a one-game playoff and two wins to claim the title outright.
McGeary would go on to defeat New Brunswick 8-7 in the final end to improve to 8-2 and followed with a commanding 9-4 win over the Territories to close out the tournament with a 9-2 mark and the Canadian senior men’s championship.
“For dad, it was the crowning accomplishment of this curling career,” Berglind said. “He’d won all sorts of stuff, but this was the thing he was most proud of. And to do it with his friends was most important, the whole team were friends… Clare Ramsey used to come out and help on the farm, they always played cards together. These were friends, they got together and they had success.”
The McGeary team was inducted into the Saskatchewan Legends of Curling Hall of Fame in 2004.
