The Governor General’s Curling Club is an organization under the patronage of the Governor General of Canada, since its inception by Lord Dufferin in 1874. It has as its members those who have served the sport for an extended time with significant achievement and distinction locally, provincially, nationally and internationally and whose selection is endorsed by the sitting Governor General of Canada.
In addition to Adam others inducted were Rob Dewhirst of Regina, Dianne Barker and Norm Daley of Kamloops, BC, Ken Duggan and Laura Lochanski of Edmonton and Rick Mutton of Winnipeg.
“I was kind of shocked,” Adam told Yorkton This Week. “For a small town Saskatchewan boy from Tonkin to even get nominated ... it’s quite overwhelming ... You don’t expect honours like this.”
For Adam it truly has been a lifetime of involvement in the sport.
“I would probably have been eight, nine when mom and dad took me to the Tonkin Curling Rink,” he said.
At the time three Pearce brothers ran the rink, and Adam said they took a liking to him, and let him out onto the ice to throw rocks while his parents socialized.
“I was 12 or 13 before I got into real games,” he added.
It was a common enough way to start years ago, but today not so much.
“The two-sheeter (curling rink) are few and far between now,” said Adam, although the Tonkin rink is still there.
The small local rinks that have been disappearing, were once the hotbed of the sport, a place everyone in a community seemed to gather to throw rocks.
“You had two choices play hockey, or you curled. The curling rink in Tonkin we went there all the time,” said Adam, adding it was rare the youth who went into nearby Yorkton for basketball or volleyball when he was growing up.
Today, it’s harder to get youth to curl.
“Young people have so much opportunity to play different sports now. Curling is a small percentage of what they can do,” said Adam.
For Adam the early introduction to curling fostered a passion for the sport, and he developed to become one of Saskatchewan’s best.
When asked for a highlight the answer came quickly.
“It would be the first time we went to the Brier in Edmonton (in 1999),” said Adam who was part of the Warren Shymko team representing Saskatchewan.
Adam was 36 at the time and admitted he was beginning to think he would never make it to ‘the Show’ as the Brier was known among those in the sport.
“It was a dream to go to the ‘Big Show’,” he said.
Adam has also worked tirelessly behind the scenes for the sport in more recent years helping Yorkton host major world curling events with teams from across Canada and the world descending on the city to curl including the 2020 Meridian Canadian Open.
“For the club those were great moments,” he said.
The Governor General’s Curling Club of Canada held its 147th annual meeting (AGM) in Regina Sept. 13.
In tribute to the 50th year of membership for Canadian curling icon and resident of Regina Ernie Richardson, the meeting was held in his home-town.
Adam said Richardson “is the idol of all idols” for curlers in the province, and while having met him before, to again have the opportunity to talk with the curling legend at such a gala evening was definitely a big part of the night.
“It is a true privilege for Governor General’s Curling Club to acknowledge and pay tribute to Ernie this year” said GGCC President Pat Reid in a release. “We all admire his 50 years of very active membership in the GGCC and the strong support he and Rikki have extended to the, For the Love of Curling Scholarship program for many years.
In addition to paying tribute to Ernie, the Governor General’s Curling Club will award its first, For the Love of Curling Scholarship in the amount of $2500, to student-curler Chantel Hoag of Gravelbourg, Saskatchewan.
