Hagborg a trailblazer in women’s curling Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame announces Class of 2019 By: Mike McIntyre Posted: 7:00 PM CST Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019 Last Modified: 8:49 PM CST Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019 Updates

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Isla Hagborg doesn’t think of herself as a trailblazer. But there’s no doubt she was one of the driving forces behind a move to give curling in Manitoba a much-needed upgrade when it came to outdated gender roles within the sport.

Now the longtime volunteer can add the most impressive title yet to her long list of accomplishments. Hagborg was announced Tuesday as being part of the Class of 2019 to be inducted into the Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame.

“I was so thrilled to get that phone call,” Hagborg told the Free Press of being included in the builder category.

As the president of what was known as the Manitoba Ladies Curling Association in 1988, Hagborg was involved in amalgamation talks that brought the men and women together under one roof. She saw immediate results while serving as the chairwoman of the 1991 World Curling Championship held in Winnipeg.

“If you ask what I thought my biggest achievement was, there was a distinct Manitoba ladies curling and a distinct Manitoba men’s. And it was sort of like the housewives and the Old Boys club. That was the feeling. Well, over time, of course, that was changed tremendously. It was the group I was with on the executive that did a lot to change that,” said Hagborg.

“And so in ’91 when we were doing the world curling, we had both the groups working so well together. There was mutual respect, all the men on the executive really respected the women, and we respected them as equals. It really made the event go well, it was just wonderful. The only disappointment I have is I thought amalgamation would come sooner.”

Hagborg has pretty much done it all in the sport: she was an active member of four curling clubs, helped organize and coach junior curling for years, wqs chairwoman of various provincial curling committees, organized bonspiels and even helped establish the Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame and Museum in 1987.

“She’s the kind of person that is the heart and soul of the sport right across the province,” Resby Coutts, the vice-president of the hall and fame’s board of directors, said Tuesday.

Hagborg, who still curls in Stonewall and Warren, recalled what a thrill it was to announce the inaugural inductees that first year.

“It never occurred to me that I’d be on the other end,” she said. “Never in my wildest dreams imagined I’d have my name in the hall of fame.”

Hagborg is especially proud of the state of the women’s game in Manitoba, which was evident Tuesday with some of the other inductees.

“That was what made it worthwhile. That’s why you do it, because you believe in it,” she said.

Members of the 1974 and ’81 Canadian junior women’s championship teams were named to the hall, allowing participants to take a fond trip down memory lane.

Karen Fallis, the skip of the ’81 team that beat Ontario in a playoff to break a round-robin tie and give them the title, said she can still picture the draw to the four-foot that gave Manitoba the biggest title in the sport at the time, as there was no world championship then.

“I was very nervous. It was exciting to be able to play in a playoff game, because it was just round-robin back then. So if you win it without that playoff game it’s exciting but kind of anti-climatic,” said Fallis, whose team included sister Lynn, along with Karen Tresoor and Carolina Hunter.

This will be the third appearance in the hall for the Fallis sisters, who were inducted as individuals in 2007, and as members of the Jeff Stoughton mixed team in 2000 after they won four titles together.

“What I was most excited about is this was going to give us the opportunity to reconnect and go back to some of those memories,” Lynn Fallis-Kurz said of this most recent honour.

Chris Scalena (formerly Pidzarko) was the skip of the ’74 team that included sister Cathy Shaw (formerly Pidzarko), Patti Wuthrich (formerly Vande) and Barb Rudolph. They went 9-1 that year to capture the national title in Edmonton

“I sort of consider the junior championships that we participated in a stepping stone to our curling careers,” said Scalena. Indeed, the foursome all went on to great success. Scalena and Wuthrich were inducted to the hall in 1994 in the individual category, while all four women have previously been inducted as members of other teams.

“We’ve been very fortunate to have the opportunity and be successful,” said Scalena.

Kaitlyn Lawes was also announced as an inductee in the new Olympic curler category. While the longtime member off the Jennifer Jones team couldn’t attend Tuesday’s luncheon, her mother accepted the honour in her place.

“We are so fortunate to live in a province with such a robust curling history and an incredible talent pool of passionate builders, coaches, volunteers and athletes,” Cheryl Lawes said in a statement on behalf of her daughter.

Curlers Rob Meakin and Garry De Blonde are the other two inductees this year.

Meakin, 54, won the Canadian mixed championship as part of Stoughton’s team in 1988 and both Canadian and world men’s championships in 1995 as part of Kerry Burtnyk’s team. He retired in 2002 but has played a prominent coaching role with several high-profile Manitoba teams along with the United States Curling Association.

De Blonde, 78, is one of the province’s most tenured curlers, with some 40 appearances over the years. Highlights include winning the Manitoba mixed championship on four occasions and being a two-time Canadian champion. He’s also served on the executive with several governing bodies on a provincial and national level and was the coach and manager of the Canadian curling team at the 1988 Calgary Olympics.

A formal induction ceremony and dinner will take place on May 5.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg

Mike McIntyre
Sports columnist

Mike McIntyre grew up wanting to be a professional wrestler. But when that dream fizzled, he put all his brawn into becoming a professional writer.

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