Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame names new members

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This article was published 02/02/2022 (1698 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

On the eve of another Winter Olympics, Carolyn Darbyshire said her time at the 2010 Games in Vancouver provided some of her best memories as a competitive curler.

“In our semifinal game against Switzerland I had to make a hack-weight shot to get us out of trouble and (the actor) Donald Sutherland was watching and I saw him stand up and cheer when I made that shot and that was good,” said Darbyshire with a laugh Wednesday afternoon.

“And then after we won our silver medal, we had to go out and make all these appearances and we walked in to get a Starbucks and the barista there started singing O Canada to us. We’re all pretty much in tears… It was quite emotional.”

The 63-year-old Darbyshire, born in Arborg and raised in Portage la Prairie, has been inducted into the Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame in the Olympic curler category.

She served as the third on Cheryl Bernard’s Canadian team at the Vancouver Games, earning silver after losing a heart-breaking extra-end decision to Anette Norberg of Sweden in the gold-medal game.

“Hey, you win as a team, you lose as a team and we all played well all the way through and were quite proud of ourselves,” said Darbyshire, who moved from Winnipeg to Calgary in 1989.

“Some people didn’t think that we would be able to do anything at the Olympics because we were so green… We didn’t (think we were) but we if you listened to the media and listened to everybody talking, they thought we were but we knew that we could play against the people that were there.”

It was a momentus week for Darbyshire. In addition to getting the call from the Manitoba Hall, she also learned she had been inducted into the North American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Fame.

“It reminds me of how I got my start with my parents and listening to them talk about curling because my dad (Ken) taught my mom (Merline) and then mom won her two (provincial) championships and then I went on to continue that legacy,” she said .

Also among Wednesday’s honorees as an Olympic curler was Winnipeg product Ryan Fry.

The 43-year-old was the third on Brad Jacobs’ gold-medal winning team at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. On Wednesday, his dad Barry Fry was inducted for the fourth time — this time posthumously — into the Manitoba Hall as a member of 2001 Canadian masters championship squad.

“It’s obviously it’s an honour and being from Manitoba with my dad and a bunch of the people that surrounded us when I was a kid all being a members of the Hall of Fame, that’s what makes it cool,” said Fry, currently the third on John Epping’s team that will bid for an Ontario title later this month and a trip to the Brier. “As far as reminiscing on the past, I’m not really one to do much of that.

“I’m still focused on my (curling) career. I’m hoping to have a little push in the next in the next quadrennial and to finish up this year.”

The lone inductee in the builder category was long-time volunteer administrator Judy Brown.

Brown has a vast resume in the sport, serving in numerous positions including the board of directors of the 1991 Winnipeg World Championship committee, the Manitoba Ladies Curling Association and the Manitoba Curling Foundation, serving as its president in 1994 and ‘95.

Also in the ’90s, she served on the committee which finalized the MLCA-MCA Amalgamation.

Brown, 82, was unable to attend the Hall of Fame announcement but was represented by her daughter Andrea Pimlott.

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“I am pretty amazed by it,” said Pimlott of her mother’s accomplishments. “I was really a teenager through that time of her life. She was always busy and I knew it was pretty important but looking back on it I think of what she accomplished and I’m very, very proud of her.”

After having to cancel induction ceremonies in 2020 and 2021, planning is under for the Hall of Fame induction and fundraising dinner to be held on Saturday, May 14, at Canad Inns Destination Centre Polo Park.

Inductees from 2020 and 2021 will be recognized with the members of the class of 2022.

mike.sawatzky@winnipegfreepress.com

Twitter: @sawa14