So, what was going on in sport 50 years ago?

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/01/2017 (3275 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As we begin to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday in 2017, I thought it would be interesting to see what was happening in the world of sport 50 years ago.

The Metro Winnipeg curling zone playdowns were the feature story on Jan. 18, 1967. Winning a zone was a way into the provincial Consols championship and meant that the seven zone winners didn’t have to battle for one through the tough grind of the MCA bonspiel.

Looking at the names of the competitors was a trip down the curling memory sheet.

After losing his first game to the Granite’s veteran Clyde Allan, defending provincial champion Hersh Lerner stayed alive with a win over the Heather’s Jim Dunstone. Jack Grassie, 19, was skipping a Valour Road team. Now he coaches his son Sean’s competitive team.

Augie Haugen always iced a strong team from the St. Vital club and Roy Wiebe did the same from the Victoria. Ross Murdoch, who had played for Norm Houck’s provincial champion team from the Strathcona, was skipping a Rossmere squad.

Once all the rocks had been thrown later in the week, Lerner had survived with a final victory over John Hanesiak of Victoria and Haugen went through his zone undefeated. Terry Braunstein had to beat Murdoch twice to win his provincial spot. Former provincial champion Bruce Hudson of the Strathcona lost two in a row to the unheralded Mel Campbell team from West Kildonan. Ron Fliss of Heather, Fred Lay from the Thistle and Frank Storaschuk of Fort Rouge won the other zones.  

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The Manitoba Softball Hall of Fame will induct its 16th class in Portage la Prairie on May 6. Portage is the home of the HOF and Museum and the first induction was held there in 2002. The six players being honoured in the 2017 group are Mikki Cochrane and Ferdi Nelissen from Portage, Dave LaFrance from Pine Falls, Rick Elias, Terry Wallin and former Manitoba men’s curling champion Randy Dutiaume. Wayne Richardson, who played, coached and umpired in Portage will be honoured in the all-around category and former Softball Manitoba president Les Newman will be inducted as a builder.

The 2008 and 2009 Smitty’s senior A2 women’s fast pitch teams and the 1986 Portage Diamonds men’s fast pitch team are the latest teams to be recognized by the HOF. The Diamonds were formed by Larry Dewis and current Manitoba premier Brian Pallister, who was the team’s star pitcher. If the legislature isn’t in session and the premier is in Costa Rica at the time, maybe Pally will send a message via Skype.

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The Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame will announce its 2017 induction class at a media conference on Feb. 15 at the West Kildonan Curling Club. The induction ceremony is scheduled for May 7 in Winnipeg.  

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In our first column of the year, we attempt to recognize the Manitoba sporting figures we lost during the previous year. In our Jan. 5 column, we missed Mary Johnson, who was a provincial and Canadian speed skating champion the late 1940s.

Memories of Sport appears every second week in the Canstar Community News weeklies. Kent Morgan can be contacted at 204-489-6641 or email: sportsmemories@canstarnews.com