The Seaforth News, 1955-02-17, Page 7HECalve "+` SPORTS COLUMN
4, Eewel 51e7,9440.
(This is the first of two parts an
Canada's popular sport of curling.)
Part 1:
HOW CURLING CAME T4' CANADA
® If you asked the average sports fan:
"What is Canada's most popular winter
sport?", he undoubtedly would reply:
"Hockey." On the basis of participant activity, he would be
completely wrong.
Probably 50,000 boys in Canada play hockey in some
form or another. But 200,000 men,. women and children are
curling addicts. It is questionable, indeed, whether any other
participant sport in North America attracts so many ardent
followers. •
It is well over a century ago that the Royal Montreal
Curling Club began to issue franchises to members trans-
ferred to different parts of 'Canada. The ancient club was
then acting as headquarters of the Royal Caledonia in Canada.
Since then other provinces have set up their own curling
headquarters although Montreal, the eastern part of Ontario
and Quebec generally are still part and parcel of the Scottish
organization, which took the "Royal" title in 1842 when
Queen Victoria visited Scotland, and attended a curling
contest,
Many clubs in Canada can boast of having achieved the
ripe old age of 100 years, or more. A popular tradition is
-that members of a Scottish regiment stationed at Quebec
introduced the game to Canada, using cannon balls cut in
half to spin along the ice surfaces.
Factually, it is known that the Montreal Curling Club
was founded in 1807, and records indicate that the first inter-
city curling match was played in 1835, between teams repre-
senting Montreal and Quebec City.
In proverbially Scottish eastern Nova Scotia, particu-
larly in Pictou county, curling came into being more than a
century ago. Scots who settled at Albion Mines soon after
1827 were first to play the game in that country, and minutes
of the Bluenose Club in New Glasgow date back to 1853.
The Hamilton Thistle Club is 101 years old. Before .this
club was founded, there was some scattered curling in the
district. As far back as 1838, Hamilton curlers were at a loss
how to get stones. A woodworker in nearby Fergus made a
set of "stones" from curly maple, and these were used for
years.
Next week: Part II Curling's Modern Growth
Your comments and suggestions for this column will be welcomed
by Elmer Ferguson, c/o Calved House, 431 Yonge Sr., Toronto.
Calvert DISTILLERS LIMITED
AMHERST811SG, ONTARIO.
For the past year or so sports columns have been full of tales
concerning record-breaking feats. You could hardly pick up a
paper without seeing headlines proelaifning that somebody had
seta new mark for running, jumping, tossing the bull or some
such. And yet until we looked in the columns—of all places!—of
the Christian Science Monitor we are unaware of what was
possibly the most nusual feat of all,
Figure it this way. The number of those who have dreamed
about breaking four minutes for the mile would run into the
thousands—and the same for the two -miles, weight -lifting and so
forth. But literally millions of indoor athletes have visioned
themselves scoring a "possible" in snooker pool—a break of 147.
And yet, until just recently, not a single one of them had made
It. The man who accomplished it was Joe Davis. And Mr. Davis
has this satisfaction. Some day, somewhere, somebody will un-
doubtedly break Roger Bannister's one -mile record. The same goes
for all the others. But—unless they change the rules of the game
—nobody, nowhere, can ever hope to do better than tie ,Toe Davis'
proud mark. , Fancy that, Armand!
And now, for the low-down on what it is 511 about, we turn
you over to Sydney Skilton.
Comedian -faced Joe Davis
whose cue artistry has delighted
Britain's billiards and snooker's
pools fans for upwards of 30
years, treated us to his broadest -
ever smile when he became the
first man in the world to make a
maximum 147 break.
That senile radiated pride of
accomplishment because more
than 575 times the green baize
maestro from Chesterfield has
exceeded the century break and
twice has h_ a reached 146. The
smile also radiated all the
warming ° characteristics of a'
man whose charm and modesty
and ability and achievement
have placed him among the na-
tion's greatest sports entertain-
ers of all time. For 20 years he
reigned undefeated as world
ehampion at snooker. Then he
resigned to"give the youngsters
a chance" but he still kept on
for the joy it gave him. And the
Joy it gave others.
There are few parallels to the
'147 break at snooker, It is the
acme of perfection and necessi-
tates going to the table and put-
ting into the pockets each ball
in correct sequence and without
making a single mistake. Only
three other players in the whole
world have ever looked like do-
ing it in the three-quarters of
a century the game has been
played, They are England's Rex
Williams, Canada's George Che-
nier and New Zealand's Clark
McConachy, who have all ex-
ceeded 140. Being several years
younger than 53 -year-old Joe
Davis they all can be expected
to bring it off before they pack
away their cues for the last
time. * * *
But to Joe forever stands that
glory of being the first.. It is
only fitting that it should be so
because no other honor has
eluded this brilliant cueist who
strode the game like a Colos-
DOWN SHE GOES.—The bomblilce device in the center, flanked
by two scale -sized models, is a supply parachute with helicopter
blades. The device provides pin -point dropping of supplies into
confined areas with greater accuracy than parachutes. The
blades unfold from the sides as the unit is dropped from the
bomb rack of an airplane, lowering the device at a slow speed.
Material to be dropped is loaded in the nose, which sticks into
the ground on impact.
sus, dominating it like Bobby
Jones did golf and Paavo Nurmi
did athletics, You can gauge his
superiority from his collection
of 575 century breaks. No other
player, professional or amateur,
has yet made 100 hundreds. His
world championship reign, fol-
lowed since by an almost non-
stop run of victories against
challengers on a handicap basis,
is a further example of his su-
premacy. 't *
Joe's snooker pre-eminence
follows a sound grounding at bil-
liards, the 3 -ball precision game
which the 22 -ball bright and
breezy snooker ousted from the
tables. Back in his boyhood Joe
was a member of the local
church institute at Chesterfield.
It boasted a billiards table and
every spare minute young Joe
had was devoted to the study on
it of ball control, He was never
satisfied with less than six hours
practice a day and when Davis
senior was convinced that junior
was really set on billiards a cue
was purchased at a second-hand
store. That sue became Joe's
prized possession and it is what
]ie used the other day for the
147 break, * *
After becoming English na-
tional junior professional cham-
pion Joe at the age of 20 years
came to London and challenged
for the senior title. He received
a severe chastening from the
reigning champion, Tom New-
man, and went home for more
practice. Four years later Joe
was back again and so marked
was the improvement that New-
man was nearly toppled. The
year after that, in 1928, the name
of Davis was inscribed as cham-
pion. It remained there until
displaced by the Australian,
Walter Lindrum, in 1933.
Meantime snooker's pool, a
genie said to have been invented
by British subalterns in India,
suddenly began to find favor
after being scorned by the staid -
like Victorian and Edwardian
English The cathedral -like at-
mosphere prevailing for billiards
play was not a bit necessary
with snooker and the younger
players fell for it. Professionals,
Davis and Lindrum among them,
sensing the swing, tried snooker
as a filler -in at the end of ses-
sions. The variety and entertain-
ment the pros were able to in-
troduce in contrast to the exact-
ness and, too often, dullness of
billiards was an instant success,
* * *
Another reason for snooker's
popularity is its simplicity.
There are 22 balls to play
around with and, consequently,
many more alternatives than bil-
liards. Snooker is Largely a mat-
ter of potting balls into pockets
and controlling the ball with
which to do it. To the billiards
purist snooker is a sacrilege but
to Joe it has become merely an-
other method of displaying his
cue and ball control. And how
superbly he does itl
•
ENTER HALL OF FAME—From left to right: Ted Lycis; Dazzy Vance; Joe DiMagglo• and Gab-
by Hartnett have been elected to Baseball's Hall of. Fame.,
Numerous tinges I have
watched him do the impossible.
His trick shots never cease to
amaze and he can make a ball
rest on a postage stamp after
traveling six times roundthe
table and sometimes off of it,
He makes it all look so simple,
especially that favorite of his
when he measures up with his
eye, poises his cue on the ball,
turns to engage in conversation
and "pots" the ball while look-
ing away. Always it's a winner.
And so was his 1471
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'.hackie Robins°' -
Looks 'bhangs Over
In spite of the opposition still
voiced by a minority group on
the appearance of the Negro in
professional baseball, Jackie
Robinson is convinced that play.
ers of his race are in the game
to stay.
"The fans have made it so,"
declared Robinson. in Boston as
part of a nationwide tour for
the National Conference of
Christians and Jews. "They have
accepted the Negro and perman-
ently established him in base-
ball. They want him, so he will
stay,"
Jackie's job of pioneering the
arrival of the Negro in the big
leagues is one of the greatest
stories of all time and is told,
at least in part, by himself in
three installments of Loo]c Mag-
azine.
When asked to pick out one or
two, men most influential in
helping establish him as a major
leaguer, Robinson replied: "Pee-
wee Reese helped me the most
on the field. He was wonderful,
I remember the very first day
T started at second base, eight
years ago. I think it was right
here in Boston, against the old
Braves. Players were giving
Peewee a pretty rough riding
from the bench and he knew
what it was all about. He, a
southerner, playing beside a
Negro. But Peewee, stopped it
quickly by walking over, put-
ting his hand on my shoulder
and saying something in my
ear. That's just one example.
There were many- Others."
Jackie is a stanch supporter
of the Little Leagnl a program for
kids. "It's being criticized ,be-
cause of the affect it has on he
'kids who lose," he said. -"Birk
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there's nothing wrong with
teaching a kid the winning
habit. It's the .American way. I
mope they don't disband the Lit-
tle Leagues. If there are prob-
lems, there must be solutions.
"The Little Leagues are great
for the pro game, tee," he went
on. "It's a program engaged in
by the entire family and that's
a fine thing. Eventually, mother,
dad, and the kids pay their way
In the pro parks,'
Speaking of the pros, how did
the Brooklyn Dodger veteran
see the 1955 National League
race?
"Well, we've got a well bal-
anced league," he replied. "I
think the Dodgers are going to
win, naturally, in spite of a few
question marks. I don't think
the Giants will win the big
games as often as they did in
'54. Milwaukee will be tough. So
will the Cardinals and Cincin-
nati, if they get some pitching
to go with their power. Pitts-
burgh figures to be much im-
proved. There just aren't any
breathers in our league like
there are in the American.
"Losing Roy Campanella last
year hurt us, but so did young
Podres, who was seven and two
on the mound before forced out
by an injury." Jackie continued,
"We didn't have that good left-
hander that's needed against
certain clubs. I think young
Spooner is going to help us. He
throws a fast ball at lot like
Robin Roberts. It's always
moving. You think it's going to
be a strike, but it's a ball.
"I'd like to see Cleveland win
again in the American League,
but I don't think they can. I
think you may see the Yankees
back in there. Chicago could be
trouble if it gets pitching. Ralph
Kiper may help Cleveland more
than people think, however. I
haven't seen it written .any-
where, but he was slowed by
injuries all last season."
What about Jackie Robinson
in '55?
"Well," he said, smiling, "1
had only about two weeks last
season when I wasn't slowed by
injuries. The rest of the time it
was rough. If I had another
year like that, '55. would be my
last When I quit playing, I'll .
step out of baseball. T have a
job lined up, but can't talk about
It now. I . have a nice home,
wonderful r family and a lot of
good friends. Baseball has been
very good to me."
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ISSUE 7 --'1955