Hutchinson was late starter
Charlottetown curler was a member of provincial and national championship teams
Despite a late start in the sport of curling, the late Donald Hutchinson of Charlottetown still compiled an impressive resume in the sport of curling.
Hutchinson ( posthumously) will be one of four inductees into the Prince Edward Island Curling Hall of Fame and Museum on Monday.
The induction ceremony will take place at the Charlottetown Curling Club.
Kim Dolan of Charlottetown, Wanda MacLean of Summerside and Irving MacKinnon ( posthumously) of Charlottetown will also be enshrined.
Hutchinson started to curl in 1966 at age 44 and credits Dr. Wen Macdonald for most of his success.
When interviewed during the Canadian senior men’s curling championship in St John’s, N. L., in 1984, he noted, “Dr. Wen taught me all I know about the game.”
Throughout his latestarting curling career, Hutchinson tallied up five provincial senior men’s crowns, two Canadian senior men’s championships, two provincial senior legion titles and one Canadian senior legion championship.
Hutchinson won his first of five P. E. I. senior men’s curling championships in 1975, playing lead for Macdonald. Other members of the team were John Squarebriggs at third stone and Irving MacKinnon at second. They went on to win the Canadian senior men’s curling championship.
This same team won the P. E. I. senior men’s championship in 1976, and again went on to win the Canadian senior title.
Hutchinson was the allstar lead at the national competition.
Recognizing their accomplishment, the team was inducted into the P. E. I. Sports Hall of Fame in 1976.
After a four- year hiatus, they won the P. E. I. senior men’s curling championship in 1980 with the same team members as in 1976, but with Hutchinson at second stone and Irving MacKinnon at lead.
They won again in 1982 with the same team, but Hutchinson played third, Irving second and John Squarebriggs was at the lead position.
Hutchinson won his last provincial senior curling championship in 1984. He skipped the team with Aurel Morais at third, John Brown at second and George MacCannell at lead.
As a Second World War veteran, it seems fitting that Hutchinson competed in the legion curling championships.
He won the first P. E. I. senior legion curling championship in 1976, and went on to curl in the Royal Canadian Legion Dominion senior curling championship in Stettler, Alta., which the Island team won.
Hutchinson played third stone, and his teammates were Claude Whitenect as lead, second was Morais and skip MacKinnon.
He won the P. E. I. senior legion curling championship again in 1978. They had the same team as in 1976, except that Arthur Ballem replaced MacKinnon as skip.
They went on to represent P. E. I. at the Dominion championship in Regina.
Hutchinson was also active in the administrative side of the game. He was a director of the Charlottetown Curling Club from 1967 to 1969 as chair of the finance committee. He served on the host committee of the Canadian senior men’s curling championship in Charlottetown in 1982, carrying the responsibility of treasurer.
At the club level, Hutchinson was vice- president of the Charlottetown Curling Club in 1975- 76, president in 1976- 77 and past president in 1977- 78. St. Louis Cardinals’ Chris Carpenter reacts after hitting a double in the fifth inning of Game 3 of the National League division baseball series against the Washington Nationals in Washington on Wednesday.