MacDUFF STILL CARRIES THE SPIRIT OF ’76
Newfoundland legend can’t attend Brier, but in a way Regina has never left him
Jack MacDuff would love to be in Regina for the Brier this year. After all, the Queen City will always occupy a special place in his heart.
In 1976, MacDuff became the first Newfoundland and Labrador skip to win the Canadian men’s curling championship, pacing the field at Regina’s prehistoric Exhibition Stadium.
Those were the days of corn brooms, 12-end games and curlers smoking cigarettes on the ice. Back then, the team with the best round-robin record was declared the Brier champion.
As luck would have it, the Newfoundland and Labrador team’s driver that year happened to be a legend named Sam Richardson.
A four-time Canadian and world champion with the Ernie Richardson team, Sammy quickly became more than a chauffeur.
He was an unofficial coach and team psychologist. More than anything, he became an instant friend to MacDuff and his curling cohorts from St. John’s — third Toby McDonald, second Doug Hudson and lead Ken Templeton.
All these years later, MacDuff delights in sharing stories about Sammy, the 1976 Brier and, well, virtually anything. Baseball, even.
This remarkable man is, as always, an engaging conversationalist. Virtually everything he says is punctuated by laughter, despite the day-to-day challenges.
MacDuff has been battling primary progressive multiple sclerosis since 1989. That makes it difficult to travel, so, unfortunately, a trip to Regina in March is not on the agenda.
“I don’t walk and I don’t drive but, other than that, I’m doing pretty well,” the 68-year-old says from his home in Moncton, N.B. “I go around in a scooter or a wheelchair. Every day is different.
“I’m still happy and enjoy everything, like my children and my grandchildren.”
A proud father of three and a doting grandfather of four, MacDuff holds court for more than an hour via the long-distance route.
He begins by remembering some dear departed friends — Sammy, Laurie Artiss, Bob Pickering, Mel Perry, Bob Hughes, Dave Kidby …
“It’s like the George Jones song: Who’s gonna fill their shoes?” MacDuff laments. “All those good guys are gone.”
With that in mind, he cherishes daily conversations with his “dear mother,” Eileen MacDuff, who turns 96 on July 4.
Eileen and her husband Jim were at Yankee Stadium on Oct. 8, 1956. They watched Game 5 of the World Series, between the New York Yankees and Brooklyn Dodgers.
The Yankees’ Don Larsen pitched a perfect game that day. Jack MacDuff has the ticket stub, which his son James had signed by Larsen and catcher Yogi Berra at a memorabilia show.
“That was the only baseball game my mother ever saw in person,” MacDuff marvels.
Twenty years later, MacDuff himself made history at the 1976 Brier.
“I remember that Arnie Tiefenbach (of the Regina Leader-Post) came up to me in ’76 and asked how many games we had played,” he says. “I said, ‘Probably around 40 or 45.’ We played in one cash ’spiel, I think, and we won it. “We made $120 — or $30 each.” Compare that to the massive amount of money that MacDuff has helped to raise for multiple sclerosis research — around $250,000 over the past 10 years.
“I have a positive attitude and I’m happy every day,” he says. “It’s go, go, go.”
The pundits were not especially positive about Newfoundland’s chances as the 1976 Brier loomed, but MacDuff and associates were not fazed.
They were quickly embraced by the curling fans of Saskatchewan — everyone loves an underdog story — and the relationship with Sammy didn’t hurt.
“We were sort of adopted by everybody,” MacDuff recalls. “We’d come out to throw practice rocks and the whole place would give us a standing ovation. We were just loved.”
They still are. Although Brad Gushue — the 2006 Olympic and 2017 world men’s curling champion — is now the most-decorated skip to emanate from Newfoundland and Labrador, MacDuff put curling in that region on the national map.
“I remember that after we won, we were at the CBC Curling Classic and I was talking to Rod Hunter,” MacDuff says. “He said to me, ‘Now that you’ve won a Brier, it’ll be with you forever. It’ll come to you out of nowhere, and you’ll think about it when you least expect it.’
“Today is one of those days.”