Fifty years of being hung in closets did nothing to diminish the quality of the white wool sweaters worn by the 1969 B.C. men's curling champions.
After all, they were made of pure virgin wool. Guaranteed mothproof.
That means no holes, not even a cigarette burn, in the nostalgic curling attire of Darren Smale, Scott Sherba, Byron Gallagher and Mike Gallagher when they hit the ice at Prince George Golf and Curling Club in this weekend's 92nd Kelly Cup men's curling championship.
It was 50 years ago that Kevin Smale (Darren's dad), Pete Sherba (Scott's dad), Pat Carr and Bob MacDonald wore those sweaters in the Canadian men's curling championship after they won first of two B.C. titles to represent Prince George in what was then known as the Macdonald Brier (named after the tobacco company that sponsored the event).
They went to the Brier in Oshawa, Ont., March 3-7, 1969 as huge underdogs and after rolling to a 8-0 record came up against Ron Northcott's Alberta rink, that was also 8-0, in the penultimate game of the tournament for both teams. Smale built an 8-4 lead after 10 ends and Northcott came back to score three in the 11th and stole two in the 12th to win 9-8.
Smale went on to defeat Newfoundland in the final draw and finished with a 9-1 record while Northcott topped Saskatchewan to finish 10-0. That was before the Brier adopted a playoff round. Had the teams finished with identical records, B.C. and Alberta would have played a one-game playoff. It was only the second time in Brier history that a 9-1 team failed to win the tournament or force a playoff. They returned to Prince George a couple days later to a hero's reception, greeted by a crowd of about 1,000 at Prince George Airport.
"Scott and I thought it would be kind of neat to celebrate the 50th anniversary," said Darren Smale.
"We're both 50 and of course Mike and Byron Gallagher both played with my dad so there's that connection as well. The sweaters are going to be pretty hot to wear. I'm skipping so I'll wear mine and be OK, but the guys (sweeping) I don't know how long they'll be able to keep them on."
Kevin Smale, a Prince George Sports Hall of Fame member, died of cancer at age 72 in December 2013.
"Dad would probably give me heck for wearing the sweater - 'You didn't win it,'" laughed Darren. "We're doing for the celebration of the 50th, we're not going there thinking we're heroes. It's just to honour our dads."
Scott and Darren were born within two days of each other in September 1968 at Prince George Regional Hospital and despite being so close on the curling rink gearing up for their run at the national championships their dads had no idea the wives were expecting.
"They didn't know until they met in the elevator at the hospital," said Scott Sherba. "That's how serious and intense they were about curling. They were focused. When they were curling, they curled six or seven days a week. It was a lot of work to play, and they had full-time jobs as well."
Highlights of the 1969 Brier are available on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ttfv7-6wMc.
Back then, games were 12 ends long and there were three draws each day.
"They played with corn brooms and they were tough," said Scott Sherba. "They were pretty burly guys and their bodies took a beating. They played a lot of games and it's impressive watching those guys sweep.
"The ice now is a lot easier to play. It's a lot keener and more forgiving. It's more consistent and what our guys are playing for soft hit weight today are what those guys were using for draw weight. Their skills back then were more than they need to be today and the field to get to the Brier and the qualifying process was a lot onerous than it is today."
The Smale-Sherba-Carr-MacDonald team also qualified as B.C. champions for the 1971 Brier in Quebec City and finished with a 6-5 record. Carr, who moved to Victoria shortly after the 1969 Brier, died last year. McDonald lives in Kelowna. Pete Sherba, now 84, still lives in Prince George and will be at the rink watching his son trying the win his third Kelly Cup. Kevin and Pete each won the Kelly Cup twice.
"He's excited to come and watch us play and see how we do," said Scott. "The difference is my dad was 34 when he curled in his sweater. I'm going find out if I'm pudgier at 50 than he was at 34."
Forty men's teams are entered in the Kelly Cup, which started Thursday afternoon at the Prince George Golf and Curling Club. Last year Darren Smale made the final-eight Kelly Cup round but couldn't stop Garnet Boese from winning his first Kelly after nearly 40 years of trying. Boese is back to defend his title, teamed up with Dave Johnston, Stewart Robertson and Rick Gibb.
Smale, who lives in Kamloops, is a two-time winner, most recently in 2016 with Byron Gallagher, Jason Howse and Rob Ubleis. Smale says he "caught lightning in a bottle that year," after curling just once in four years.
Sherba, a two-time Kelly Cup champion. will be playing third this weekend, with Byron Gallagher at second and Mike Gallagher at lead. Byron won it with Smale in 2016. Mike has won the Kelly four times.
The Prince George women's bonspiel starts Friday at 6:30 p.m., also at the PGGCC, with 19 teams entered. This marks the fifth season the Kelly Cup and women's city championship will be contested on the same weekend.
