Marg Sihvon – who as Marg Curry was a standout in the sport throughout the 1960s and early 70s – was revealed as one of eight inductees during a special ceremony at the Hall of Fame in Regina recently, joining Chris Biegler (Regina, basketball), Wendel Clark (Kelvington, hockey), Jacki Nichol (Saskatoon, softball), Kelly Parker (Saskatoon, soccer) and Colleen Sostorics (Kennedy, hockey). Joining them in the builder category are Bill Kinash (Regina, cycling) and Clarence Campbell (Fleming, hockey) as the 2019 inductees.
Sihvon’s success in the sport began in 1960 when as a member of Central Collegiate Cyclone she won three straight city championships – and in the process was named Moose Jaw’s athlete of the year in 1961 and won the Central major athlete award in 1963.
That led her to the University of Saskatchewan Huskiettes, where her basketball career really took off as the U of S won back-to-back WCIAA championships in 1964-65 before finishing second at the Canadian women’s basketball championship twice in 1967-68. Curry was named to the All-Star team both years.
It was in her fourth year with the Huskiettes that the Canadian National Women’s Basketball team came calling for the first time, and in 1967 she took the court with the bronze-medal winning Team Canada squad at the 1967 Pan American Games in Winnipeg.
Curry would eventually become Captain Canada, carrying the ‘C’ for the team during a tour of Cuba in 1969 before suiting up for the 1971 world basketball championship in Brazil and Pan American Games in Colombia.
Curry’s final tour of duty with team Canada took place in 1972 with tours to Italy and China.
From there, it was into the high school coaching ranks in Swift Current, where Sihvon once again found plenty of success, winning provincial titles in 1974 and ’75 to go along with a third title in 1977 as part of an eight-year run.
Most recently, Sihvon coached at Medicine Hat College from 1980-84, where her teams won ACAC titles in 1982 and ’83 to go along with bronze medals in each of those years.
The Saskatchewan Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place on Saturday, Sept. 28 in the Convention Hall at the Conexus Arts Centre in Regina. Tickets are $100 and include a $25 charitable tax receipt.
