Hall of Famers: 2016

Boughey, Bob
CURLER/BUILDER
Inducted 2016

Bob Boughey began curling in the 1960/61 season with the Fort Rouge juniors.  In 1984, he was elected to the Board of Directors of the Fort Rouge and has worked tirelessly on their executive and participated in all their endeavors.  As club rep to the Manitoba Curling Association, he was on major committees – the inaugural Safeway Select and the Green Valley Junior Men’s.  He was president of the “Rouge” in the 1993/94 season and received a club Honorary Life Membership in 1999.

In 1991, Bob was involved with the Winnipeg World as a co-chair of a committee involved with the Hogline Inn.  At the 1998 Brier, he assisted the Past President’s Association’s 50/50 ticket sales program.  In 2003, Bob chaired the transportation sector as part of Hosting Committee.  During the 2008 Brier, he was in charge of arena, ice and rocks as part of the Facilities Committee.

Bob has worked as part of the Cec Watt Junior Challenge Committee.  They promote competition between Junior Curling Clubs.  Most recently, Bob accepted a nomination to the Board of Trustees of the Strathcona Trust.  This group supports senior curling championships in Manitoba.

As a certified coach, Bob has worked at the CurlManitoba High Performance Centre and has coached the Connie Laliberte and Ron Westcott teams.

Other than this impressive volunteer record, Bob has a long curling resume.  In short, he has appeared 36 times provincially and 5 times nationally at junior, men’s, senior and masters competitions.  He has curled with a long list of well recognized Manitoba skips that include Bill Walsh Jr., Don Wiles, Terry Bronstein, Don Nelson, Dave Hardy, Ron Westcott, Reg Malanchuk, Doug Harrison and Clare deBlonde.

High points of his career occurred in 2015.  Curling second on the Ron Westcott team, he won the Manitoba Masters Championship and the Canadian title in Whitehorse, Yukon.  Teammates were Ron, Ken Dusablon and Howard Restall.  In that event, they were flawless with an 11W – 0L record.

Other notable on-ice accomplishments include two Manitoba Bonspiel Grand Aggregate trophies (1974, 1977); winner of the McDiarmid Lumber Senior Bonspiel twice (2002, 2005) and winner of the Masters Chicken Chef Bonspiel three times (2009, 2011, 2015).

Bob was made an Honourary Life Member of the Manitoba Curling Association in 2006.

Karen Dunbar began her curling career in Souris, Manitoba, in 1972.  Since that time, as well as developing a successful curling career, she has assisted the Souris Curling Club in many ways.  She has held positions such as secretary-treasurer, district representative, club president, junior curling co-ordinator, organizer of after school programs as well as being bonspiel chair several times.  She has given countless volunteer hours to her sport.

Her impressive curling record includes 24 appearances in Manitoba Women’s, Senior Women’s, Master Women’s and Mixed Championships.  At Canadian Championships, she has appeared 8 times.

In the 1975 and 1976 seasons, her curling career successfully started when she curled with the Joan Mogk team from Souris.  This team of Joan Mogk, Jean Moffatt, Betty Devins and Karen earned consecutive Lassie Provincial titles, finishing fourth and fifth at the subsequent national events.

Besides her success as a skip, Karen has curled on teams skipped by Deb Collyer, Donna Quinn, Gwen Wooley and Joyce McDougall.  She has represented Souris, Killarney and Brandon area clubs.

Many of her successes have resulted from her association with the Joyce McDougall team.  They have won three Senior Women’s Manitoba titles and three Masters Women’s Manitoba titles.  In 2011, they won the Canadian Master’s Women’s Championship.  The team consisted of Joyce McDougall (skip), Linda Van Daele (third), Cheryl Orr (second) and Karen at lead position.

She has appeared at two provincial mixed competitions with the Bill Scott team (1980) and the Colin Dunbar team (1998), both representing Souris.

As well, she has coached the Rob Van Kommer team from Carberry at the 2012 Safeway Championship.

Dunbar, Karen
CURLER
Inducted 2016

Hogg, Audrey
BUILDER
Inducted 2016

Audrey Hogg is a lifelong resident and curler from Warren, Manitoba.  She has been a member and supporter of the Warren Ladies Curling Club for many years and for her service was awarded a Life Membership in 1982.  She has demonstrated her love for the sport of curling through volunteerism.  As a hard working volunteer her talents have been described as dedicated, reliable, efficient, enthusiastic and thorough.

Audrey worked with the Manitoba Ladies Curling Association from 1989/90 until her presidency in 1996/97.  In this eight year span she chaired several committees.  These include: Senior Ladies Bonspiel, Manitoba Ladies Curling Association Bonspiel, Pepsi Junior Championship, Scott Tournament of Hearts and Management and Finance.

National and international events have been hosted in Manitoba.  Major championships were Briers and Worlds held in 1991, 1998, 2003, 2008 and 2014.  Audrey has been a volunteer on all of these occasions and spent countless hours on committees involved in hosting and timing.  She has been an umpire and timer at bonspiels as well as at provincial, national and world events.

Boards and organizations have benefited from her expertise.  She was liaison to the Canadian Junior Championships held in Truro, NS, liaison to the Brandon Olympic Trials, consultant to the MCA Scholarship Committee; board member of the Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame, the MCA Foundation, the Lumsden Award Committee and the Manitoba Ladies Past Presidents Curling Association.

She was a technical support person for the Canadian Special Olympics Curling held in Stonewall (2005) and was a coordinator for two U.S./Canada Friendship Tours (2005, 2009).

Audrey is an Honourary Life Member of the Manitoba Ladies Curling Association (1998).

Ron Westcott: From small beginnings in a two sheet natural ice building in Douglas, Manitoba, Ron’s curling career has grown to include 42 Manitoba championship appearances, 5 Canadian championship appearances and 1 World appearance.

As well as skipping success, Ron has curled with a list of notable Manitobans which include Hersh Lerner, Terry Bronstein, Orest Meleschuk, Garry Ross, Barry Fry, Don Duguid, Mark Franklin, Dave Romano and Don Wiles.

Competitively he has been the most successful in the Masters Men’s events.  He has been in 8 provincial championships and has won 4.  Subsequently in 2010 he reached the Canadian Masters final and in 2015, his team won the Canadian Masters Championship.  At this 2015 championship in Whitehorse, Yukon, his team of Ken Dusablon, Bob Boughey and Howard Restall won the preliminary round with a 9W – 0L record.  In the semi-final they defeated British Columbia and were successful against Northern Ontario with a score of 6 – 3 in the final.  They were undefeated with an 11W – 0L record!  Special at this event was the attendance of Ron’s mother at the age of 104!

Ron was fortunate to replace Carl German as the skip of the 2002 Canadian Senior Champion s at the first World Senior Men’s Championship in Bismarck, ND. Carl was ineligible because of a World age restriction.  The team included third Ray Fillion, second Ray McDougall, and lead Brian Copeland.  They lost the final and proudly returned home with silver medals.

Rewarding coaching experiences include working with the Jill Thurston Scott Tournament of Hearts provincial championship team in 2010, the Barb Spencer team (2013 and 2014) and the Kristy McDonald team (2015).

Ron’s teams have won the McDiarmid Senior Men’s Bonspiel twice (2002, 2005) and the Chicken Chef Masters Men’s Bonspiel three times (2010, 2011, 2015).  In Manitoba bonspiels he won several trophies, including the Grand Aggregate (1971) – curling third on the Terry Braunstein team.

Westcott, Ron
CURLER
Inducted 2016

Fowler – 2015 TEAM
World Champions
Inducted 2016

The 2015 World Senior Women’s Champions included skip Lois Fowler with Maureen Bonar (third), Cathy Gauthier (second) and Allyson Stewart (lead). They were coached by Brian Fowler.

In 2014, these four excellent curlers formed a team to pursue supremacy at the senior women’s level.  After years of practise and hard work as well as hours of volunteering, the final result was the “experience of a lifetime”.

In Brandon, at the provincial senior women’s playdown, the Fowler team was flawless.  In their home town, they completed the round robin undefeated with seven wins and no losses.  The Canadian Championship was held in Yellowknife in March of 2015.  At this event, they finished the round robin with ten wins and one loss.  In the final against Lorraine Arguin’s Saskatchewan team, they were tied after seven ends but counted three on the eighth, stole one in the ninth and finally won the game 5 – 1.  This was only the second Canadian Senior Women’s Championship to come back to Manitoba – in 1983 Mabel Mitchell’s Brandon team won Canada.

The World Championship was held in Sochi, Russia.  The Fowler Canadian foursome continued their supremacy by finishing second in their round robin pool with four wins and one loss. Then by accumulating four straight wins in the playoffs, they won the gold medal!

The 1965 Canadian Senior Men’s Champions included former Macdonald Brier Champions Leo Johnson and Marno Fredrickson from the 1934 Canadian Men’s team as skip and third respectively, with second Fred Smith and lead Cliff Wise.

This Strathcona Curling Club team, accomplished their goal of achieving excellence in curling at the senior level.  They were able to accomplish the goal in just one year by winning the inaugural Manitoba Senior Men’s championship.

They won their zone and went on to the provincials in Carman, Manitoba.  The Johnson team won the provincial title with four wins and no losses.

At Fort William, Ontario they were winners of the Seagram Stone, which was sponsored by the Dominion Curling Association and the House of Seagram.  The Seagram Stone was emblematic of the National Seniors Championship.  At this competition their record was 9W – 0L. It was also the first Canadian Senior Men’s championship.

Winning this historical inaugural seniors event was truly an honour for Manitoba and for these four excellent curlers!

Johnson – 1965 TEAM Canadian Champions
Inducted 2016

Gowling – 1948 TEAM Western Champions
Inducted 2016

The 1948 Manitoba High School Champions included Stan Gowling as skip; Norman Stewart – third; Ross Topley – second; Jack Borthwick – lead.

In 1947, 185 teams competed in the youth curling classic between Christmas and New Years.  Three quarters of the Gowling team representing Morden High School had competed in the event the previous year and lost in the semi-finals to the Don Montgomery team from Franklin, MB.  Subsequently the Montgomery team went on to win the Western Canadian High School Championship in 1947.  Ross Topley was a new member of the Gowling Team.  All four bonspiel trophies that year went to teams from rural Manitoba; Morden, Transcona and two to Reston.

In the 1948 bonspiel, the Gowling team lost their opening game; but from there they were unbeaten and won the second event and the Tribune Trophy.  By reaching the finals, they joined seven other trophy finalists in an eight team straight knockout Provincial Championship at the Granite Curling Club.  At the Provincial Championship, the young Gowling team defeated the High School Bonspiel winner, Bill Ferguson of Transcona, in the final.  Their record in this event was three wins and no losses.

The Western Canada Inter-Provincial High Schools Championship was hosted in Winnipeg as part of the MCA’s Diamond Jubilee (1948).  The event was held at the Winnipeg Amphitheatre with five provinces competing; Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, the Lakehead and Manitoba.  The Gowling team lost their opening game to Alberta but went on to win four in a row including the crucial final round robin match with previously unbeaten Saskatchewan.  This final win set up a sudden death playoff with a rematch against Saskatchewan.  The Gowling foursome posted a 10 – 5 victory in eleven ends and claimed the Victor Sifton Trophy emblematic of the Western Canada High Schools Championship.  This was the second championship in a row for Manitoba high school boy’s curling.

The 1947 Manitoba High School Champions included Don Montgomery as skip; Reg Freeman – third; Doug Kitson – second; and Keith Sinclair – lead.

This team represented the small village of Franklin, MB in the 1946 Manitoba High School Bonspiel held during the Christmas school break in Winnipeg.

In the new year (1947) the first Provincial High School Championship was played.

This championship involved the 8 finalist teams from the High School Bonspiel.  The Montgomery team, all being only 15 years old, was one of the youngest competing teams! In the bonspiel they had lost the final in the Dan davidson event.  The provincial championship was a straight knockout event.  In the final, Don Montgomery had to play a draw against an opposing counter to win the Manitoba Championship.

This win advanced the young team to the first Western Canada Interprovincial High School Championship.  The event was played in Regina, Saskatchewan and involved teams representing Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.  It was a double round robin format.  The Montgomery team record was 3 wins and 1 loss.  With this record they won the Victor Sifton Trophy emblematic of Western Canada high school curling supremacy.

Winning this championship was an unforgettable experience for these four young men and a great honour for Manitoba to win the inaugural event.

Montgomery – 1947 TEAM Western Champions
Inducted 2016