Pittsburgh CC Announces Celebrity Attendee at TropiCurl
By Rich Ashford
Pittsburgh Curling Club
The Pittsburgh Curling Club is holding its very first bonspiel (curling tournament) this summer, June 30-July 2. To kick the event off in grand style the Steel City granite hurlers have reached into the gut of curling’s heartland, Saskatchewan, Canada and came up with a four-time Canadian and World curling champion.
Garnett Sam Richardson of the famous Richardson’s Curling Rink will be the featured speaker at the bonspiels Saturday evening banquet and will be on hand throughout the weekend to mingle and talk with the attending curlers.
The Richardson’s curling team won Canadian Men’s titles in 1959, 1960, 1962,1963. They also won the Scotch Cup in those years. The Scotch Cup later became the World Championships. Sam played second on the family team. His brother Ernie was the skip and cousins Arnold, vice-skip, and Wes, lead, round out the foursome. In 1963 Mel Perry replaced Wes who sat out that season with a back injury. In 1964 the Richardson’s returned to the Brier but came up a game short of the title. The four world titles are an unprecedented feat to this day and until 2005 the four Brier titles were also. In 2005, Alberta’s Randy Ferby and rink won their fourth Brier, but hold only three world titles.
Sam’s life in curling continued after the retirement of Ernie and the breakup of the Richardson team. He went on to win a provincial mixed title and countless car and cash spiels. One of Sam’s proudest accomplishments was as a coach and mentor to Jack McDuff and his Newfoundland squad at the 1976 Brier. McDuff went on to win Newfoundland’s only Brier title that year and credits Sam with teaching them not how to throw the rock, but he showed them all the little things necessary for a team at that level to succeed. He taught the McDuff rink how to compete using Richardson rules.
Sam has spent countless hours on the “rubber chicken” banquet circuit and is a much sought after speaker at all types of events both north and south of the US-Canada border. He recently was the subject of a book titled “Say It Again, Sam”, about him and the Richardson curling dynasty. He has been named to three different Halls of Fame: The Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame and the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame. In 2005, Sam was awarded the prestigious “Order of Merit” by the province of Saskatchewan along with the Centennial Medal for contributions to the province.
Sam was born in Stoughton, Saskatchewan and moved with the family in 1945 to Regina where he now resides. He has been married for 50 years to wife Kaye. They have two children, two granddaughters and one great grandson.
Pittsburgh CC Announces Celebrity Attendee at TropiCurl
By Rich Ashford
Pittsburgh Curling Club
The Pittsburgh Curling Club is holding its very first bonspiel (curling tournament) this summer, June 30-July 2. To kick the event off in grand style the Steel City granite hurlers have reached into the gut of curling’s heartland, Saskatchewan, Canada and came up with a four-time Canadian and World curling champion.
Garnett Sam Richardson of the famous Richardson’s Curling Rink will be the featured speaker at the bonspiels Saturday evening banquet and will be on hand throughout the weekend to mingle and talk with the attending curlers.
The Richardson’s curling team won Canadian Men’s titles in 1959, 1960, 1962,1963. They also won the Scotch Cup in those years. The Scotch Cup later became the World Championships. Sam played second on the family team. His brother Ernie was the skip and cousins Arnold, vice-skip, and Wes, lead, round out the foursome. In 1963 Mel Perry replaced Wes who sat out that season with a back injury. In 1964 the Richardson’s returned to the Brier but came up a game short of the title. The four world titles are an unprecedented feat to this day and until 2005 the four Brier titles were also. In 2005, Alberta’s Randy Ferby and rink won their fourth Brier, but hold only three world titles.
Sam’s life in curling continued after the retirement of Ernie and the breakup of the Richardson team. He went on to win a provincial mixed title and countless car and cash spiels. One of Sam’s proudest accomplishments was as a coach and mentor to Jack McDuff and his Newfoundland squad at the 1976 Brier. McDuff went on to win Newfoundland’s only Brier title that year and credits Sam with teaching them not how to throw the rock, but he showed them all the little things necessary for a team at that level to succeed. He taught the McDuff rink how to compete using Richardson rules.
Sam has spent countless hours on the “rubber chicken” banquet circuit and is a much sought after speaker at all types of events both north and south of the US-Canada border. He recently was the subject of a book titled “Say It Again, Sam”, about him and the Richardson curling dynasty. He has been named to three different Halls of Fame: The Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame and the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame. In 2005, Sam was awarded the prestigious “Order of Merit” by the province of Saskatchewan along with the Centennial Medal for contributions to the province.
Sam was born in Stoughton, Saskatchewan and moved with the family in 1945 to Regina where he now resides. He has been married for 50 years to wife Kaye. They have two children, two granddaughters and one great grandson.
More information on the Pittsburgh Curling Club can be found at www.pittsburghcurlingclub.com and on its summer bonspiel at www.TropiCurl.com. Further information about Sam and the Richardson rink can be found at www.curlingrichardsons.com .
Terry Sproat, longtime friend and manager of Sam, contributed to this article.