50th anniversary of McGrath’s Canadian mixed championship win

By Joan Janzen
joanjanzen@yahoo.com

Larry McGrath has fond memories of briers and curling championships, especially at this time of year which marks the 50th anniversary of his Canadian mixed championship win in 1971. He and his team also won mixed titles in 1967 and 1968.

“It seems like more of an accomplishment now than it was back then,” Larry remarks as he sits in his easy chair and watches the brier. “At the time, I didn’t think about it that much, but now it brings back fond memories.”

“I was a curling fanatic!” Larry admitted. “I was in the northern brier fifteen times. We came in first in 1967 (Quebec City), 1968 (Winnipeg) and 1971 (St. John, NB). We played ten games each year and won twenty-eight of them. All together, Agnes (Larry’s wife) and I went to 42 briers.”

For as long as he can remember, McGrath has been passionate about curling. He started curling at ten years of age. “When I got to be fourteen, I’d go to Dodsland with my dad every Saturday, and he’d give me the key to the rink, and I’d throw rocks for four hours until he picked me up.”

At the age of thirteen, Larry started his scrapbook collection. “If a brier was held wherever, I’d ask the daily newspaper to send me the article and would put it in my book.” His first scrapbook is dated 1954, and he made 92 more scrapbooks after the first one was complete.

It’s fortunate that Larry’s wife Agnes loves curling, although she wasn’t a competitive curler. While Larry was busy during curling season from mid-October until the end of March, “someone had to raise the family,” Larry acknowledged.

As well as competing, Larry spent ten years on the Saskatchewan Curling Association board and was a member of the Canadian Curling Association for four years. After two years of senior curling, “I was forced to quit because of knee trouble,” he added.

Besides his scrapbooks, Larry has been collecting pins since the 1980s. “I have no idea how many there are,” he admits. The pin collection started when a collector gave Larry a half dozen pins to start his collection, and it caught on from there. “We trade pins, and pin collectors were always good to me, giving me pins I didn’t have. I collected pins for more than 30 years.”

Larry’s collection is extensive. “There’s still lots of it in the basement at the farm. I kept every trophy, so there’s about 80 trophies, some special ones. And my son has a brier sweater, and another sweater went to the sports hall of fame in Regina.”

Larry also won three vehicles during his curling years. “I was lucky enough to be on teams that won cars on three different occasions.” There aren’t too many people who have won three vehicles in their lifetime, as Larry has.

As for Larry’s extensive collection, he confesses, “I have lots of stuff but nowhere to put it for public display.” Hopefully, his collection will be enjoyed by curling enthusiasts for many years to come.

PHOTOS

L-R: Larry McGrath, Darlene Hill, John Gunn, Audrey St. John (1971)

Enjoying the Brier from the comfort of his home, Larry McGrath is now in his 80s and resides in Kindersley.