From the archives of the Sault Ste. Marie Public Library:
The first Brier was held in Toronto in 1927, an event that saw curlers from across Canada compete for a coveted men’s national title. Except for cancellations due to WWII, it has been held each year ever since. Brad Jacobs’ team won the Brier in 2013, the first and only time a Sault Ste. Marie-based team did so. But what about before that? When did the Soo make an appearance on the men’s curling national stage for the very first time?
In 1931, in the fifth-ever Brier, team Northern Ontario hailed from Sault Ste. Marie. The team consisted of Skip J.M. “Jock” Nicolson, Lloyd Mason, George Murr, and James Shaw.
The Nicolson rink won the right to represent Northern Ontario after defeating the A.E. Stephenson rink out of New Liskeard. Both teams were the winners of their respective bonspiels – Nicolson through the Northern Ontario Curling Association and Stephenson through Temiskaming and Northern Ontario – and they duked it out in a best two of three competition in North Bay.
North Bay was chosen by Brier trustees as a neutral location, with the NOCA representing curling north of the city and TNO representing curling to the east. The event took place February 28, 1931, and the winner would go on to compete in the Brier just days later from March 3 to 5.
Ultimately, it was Nicolson’s rink that was triumphant in “the Battle of Stones and Brooms.” The Soo team won in two games, beating Stephenson first by 14-7 and then by 9-8.
Team Northern Ontario – called “Jock and his merry men” in the newspaper – travelled from Sault Ste. Marie to the Granite Curling Club in Toronto to test their mettle against nine other teams: Alberta, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec, and Saskatchewan, along with teams representing the cities of Montreal and Toronto. With four wins and five losses after round robin play, they didn’t make it to the finals but they certainly proved their quality on a national stage. Manitoba won the Brier for the fourth successive time.
So, who exactly was this team from the Sault Ste. Marie Curling Club?
First, let’s look at Team Northern Ontario as a whole, which exists separately from Team Ontario; today, it is the only team remaining that does not represent an entire province. Northern Ontario has been a staple in the competition since the first Brier, with one tongue-in-cheek article offering the following explanation: “The Macdonald Brier people run the Dominion championship for advertising. Northern Ontario is in it because they sell more chewing tobacco in the north than in all the rest of the country put together.”
And what about the players themselves?
Lloyd Mason was the son of J.C. Mason, an Algoma Central Railway conductor who used to “run F.H. Clergue around” to various mines and properties of interest. As for Lloyd himself, he trained as a plumber under Wellington McKague. After a pause to serve in World War I with the 228th Battalion, he returned to his job, eventually taking over McKague’s plumbing business.
George Murr was a carpenter by trade, a profession that he left school at the age of thirteen to pursue. Upon arriving in Sault Ste. Marie in 1900, he joined Hesson Lumber Company, which would eventually be sold and become Beaver Lumber. In 1947, Murr was profiled in the Sault Daily Star for being the oldest Beaver Lumber employee – at the age of 74, he still worked 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. days, which he noted was less than he used to handle as a young man.
J.M. Nicolson, a Scotsman from the Isle of Lewis, started working at Algoma Steel but soon became a stonemason and bricklayer. His work can still be seen in the ACR station and the fire hall at Wellington and Wallace Terrace. He also spent time on the Board of Works and spent six years as an alderman for Ward 1. At one time, he could boast the claim of being the only bagpiper in Sault Ste. Marie, and he became one of the founding members of the first local pipe band.
But perhaps the most familiar of these curlers to a modern audience would be James F. Shaw. He would have been a formidable opponent, standing over six feet tall and offering what the Sault Daily Star described as a “somewhat overwhelming handshake.” He was heavily involved with the Sault Rotary Club over several decades, serving as the local President and even becoming the District Governor. He held several public offices, including Mayor of Steelton. And as a young man, he opened a small milling store known simply by his name, J.F. Shaw. You might know it today as Shaw Milling.
All four would continue their involvement with curling, their names becoming regulars in the sports section as they participated in countless tournaments. Shaw would represent Northern Ontario twice more in the Brier, in 1934 and 1935. This time, however, Shaw was the skip of his own team, fondly known as the Gore Street Gang. The Gore Street Gang also boasted amongst its members Herb Lash – yes, from H.R. Lash.
The Nicolson rink from 1931 marked the first four Sault Ste. Marie curlers to compete at the Brier, but they certainly weren’t the last. They were undoubtedly local trailblazers for the “grauh’ auld game.”
Each week, the Sault Ste. Marie Public Library and its Archives provide SooToday readers with a glimpse of the city’s past.
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