Canada didn’t like the first world championship

Canadian Curling News

Volume 3, Issues #6 and 7

March and April 1959

This Buried Treasure is getting older and losing its hair. Let’s give 1959 a valentine, birthday greetings and bottle of wine while we look back at the first ever world men’s curling championship.

It’s been 64 years since the inaugural Scotch Cup was contested. It was a five-game series held Mar. 9-11 between two rinks, the Willie Young foursome from Falkirk, Scotland and The Richardsons from Regina, Saskatchewan, representing Canada.

What else was happening in the world at that time?

• The Beatles won’t release “When I’m Sixty-Four” for another eight years as track two, side two of the 1967 album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

• On Jan. 2, the USSR’s Luna 1 becomes the first spacecraft to leave Earth’s gravity. NASA launches the Pioneer 4 spacecraft two months later.

• On Feb. 3, Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, J.P Richardson (aka The Big Bopper) and their pilot are killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa. Later to become known as The Day The Music Died as referred to by Don McLean in his 1971 song “American Pie.”

• The Avro Arrow program to design supersonic jet fighters in Canada is cancelled.

• Berry Gordy borrows $800 from family to create Tamla Records, which becomes the Motown Record Corporation.

• Jimi Hendrix plays his first gig in the Temple De Hirsch synagogue basement in Seattle but is fired from the band after the first set due to “wild” playing.

• Construction of the Sydney Opera House begins.

• In April, the Boston Celtics sweep the Minnesota Lakers to capture their first of eight straight NBA titles while the Montreal Canadiens win their fourth-straight NHL title over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

• Barbie, this year the subject of a motion picture, makes her debut at the American Toy Fair in New York.

These historic moments have been studied by future generations, with many of us not having been born when they occurred but often experiencing the aftermath well into our lifetimes and beyond.

The inaugural Scotch Cup of 1959 is also a historic event which eventually altered the sport across both sides of the pond forever.

The first Scotch Cup was made possible by the Scotch Whiskey Association, with help from Stan D. Houston, a Toronto public relations executive and former sports journalist. It was scheduled as an exhibition of five matches played in three Scottish cities—Edinburgh, Perth and Falkirk—between Canada’s Brier winner and a Scottish representative.

I’m not certain how the Scottish team was determined, but Willie Young, John Pearson, Jimmy Scott and Bobby Young took the ice against the Richardsons from Saskatchewan.

Ernie, Arnold, Garnet (Sam) and Wes Richardson had won their first Brier and headed to Scotland immediately following their victory in Quebec City. Canada won all five games in convincing fashion and just as the British would (years later) invade the USA with rock ’n roll—a form of music that was rooted in American history—the Scots learned from Canadians how to excel at a sport which they had originally invented.

It's interesting to note the Dominion Curling Association was not involved in the hosting of the first Scotch Cup. The DCA (later known as CCA and now Curling Canada) was, as we see in a few columns, perturbed that Canadian legend Ken Watson had gone ahead without their involvement to help coordinate the proceedings.

(Apparently, the Royal Caledonian Curling Club also had little to do with it.)

It’s a small example of players taking control to build competition despite governing bodies, something professional golfers would accomplish a decade later when the PGA Tour was formed. According to the great Edmonton scribe Don “Buckets” Fleming, if not for Watson’s effort, the international series would have been another two or three years away.

As mentioned on page four in the editorial International series deserves endorsement the Canadian Curling News heavily endorsed the Scotch Cup and mentions the DCA had “dismissed it out of hand” because they were not involved.

There are likely parallels to be drawn between the history of the Scotch Cup, the origin of the Brier (also mentioned) and development of major events by corporate interests and athletes rather than ruling bodies. This reminds us the battle for “control” of sport has been going on for centuries and that history is often messy and rarely happens easily. For other examples, look to rulings on equipment and course set-up by the USGA, or look up the words “Grand Slam” and “Canada Cup” in your local curling dictionary.

In the April issue, Scotty Melville provided a feature on the Scotch Cup.

He covered its dismissal by the DCA but also dug into what was, for many in Canada, likely unknown: what was curling like in Scotland?

Also in the April issue, a column boasting firsthand experience at the Scotch Cup by none other than ... Ken Watson himself.

Older Scots, watching the game in disbelief, cried in unison, “that’s nae curling,” but the younger curlers have started practicing in secret already.

Because of the short time between events, the Scotch Cup tends to upstage the 1959 Brier in these third-year editions of CCN. 

The March issue does include a cover feature on Brier results and this column from “Breathless” Bill Good on his impression of the Richardsons, and how they rate against the legends who came before.

Team Richardson went on to win the Scotch Cup again in 1960. 

By 1961, the event had added a team from the United States ... then Sweden competed in 1962 ... then Norway and Switzerland jumped on board in 1963. 

By 1967, it was an eight-team world championship.

You can listen to Ernie Richardson on episode four of the Curling Legends podcast.

Here’s a photo from the great Michael Burns Sr. of the Richardsons returning home with the inaugural Scotch Cup trophy.

Now for a special 1959 Brier mention that is perhaps forgotten. 

Herb Olson and his Alberta team of Barry Coleman at third and front end of Mervin and George Dufresne lost a one-game, winner-take-all playoff to the Richardsons for the title.

It’s suggested that Herb is a young upstart on the Alberta scene and will no doubt have more chances. This does not come to pass and like Paul Gowsell in 1980, it’s his only Brier appearance.

Herb is mentioned on several episodes of the Curling Legends Podcast. His father E.B. (Elias Barney) Olson started Olson Curling Manufacturing & Supplies Ltd. in 1933 and invented the original rubber curling hack in 1939. 

Herb also had multiple inventions, including the modern curling handle which Wally Ursuliak explains in a recent episode of the podcast.

The Olsons had a machine used to sharpen stones which was loaded into a trailer and driven across North America each year. The last version of that trailer and machine currently sit in Wally’s backyard. 

Here are a few photos of the machine and one of E.B.’s early books on how to make curling ice.

That’s it for another chapter of Buried Curling Treasure. 

As in the past, additional stories from these issues have been published as teasers on the Curling Legends Facebook page. 

Here’s one of them, but you’ll have to go to the Facebook page for the others ...