High civilian honour for world champion

Two-time world curling champion skip and former broadcaster Marilyn Bodogh was named today to the Order of Canada.

She joins legends Matt Baldwin, Don Duguid and Russ Howard as one of the few curlers ever inducted.

Bodogh, who chomped straw from a corn broom and whose teams wore high-riding Scottish kilts in competition, won the 1986 Canadian and world championship titles as Marilyn Darte, then repeated the feat as Bodogh in 1996. Both teams went 10-1 to win their world crowns.

Bodogh also lost an infamous Battle of the Sexes tilt against a modified Ed Werenich team—with Rick Lang at third and Paul Savage as a kilted chef (long story)—at a packed arena during the 1986 men’s worlds in Toronto. The one-off challenge event was televised live to huge ratings, raised tens of thousands of dollars for charity and cemented Bodogh’s reputation as a character of the Roaring Game.

She then moved into the Sportsnet broadcast booth as a Grand Slam of Curling series analyst from 2001 through 2006, and also guest commentated at occasional regional championships in the years that followed.

Bodogh, who ran unsuccessfully for mayor of St. Catherines in 2006, also spearheaded a successful national women’s curling championship hosting drive for her city in 2017, where she threw out the ceremonial first stone.