Matheson built impressive resumé
Summerside native to be inducted into Hall on Tuesday
Wayne Matheson has won provincial and Maritime championships and has represented Prince Edward Island at national competitions.
He will be inducted Tuesday into the Prince Edward Island Curling Hall of Fame and Museum when it hosts its 13th annual induction ceremony at the Charlottetown Curling Complex. This year’s class also includes Mike Dillon, John Likely, Shelley Muzika and Leslie MacDougall.
Matheson started curling in Summerside as a 13-year-old, playing in the men’s draws at night whenever he could as he lived a few blocks from the old curling club on Notre Dame Street. He would sit outside for the 7 and 9 p.m. draws and someone would come out to get him if they were short a player. He wasn’t allowed to wait inside because of liquor laws.
He played with men’s teams at that time and won a Maritime mixed title with skip Eric Johnston in 1961 at age 17.
In 1962, Matheson skipped his Summerside High School rink to the P.E.I. schoolboy curling championship. They repeated by defeating his brother David Matheson in the final.
After completing Prince of Wales College, Matheson went to Acadia University and from 1964 to 1966 he skipped teams to three consecutive
Maritime intercollegiate championships.
In 1967, Matheson skipped an Island-loaded Acadia team with his brother David, Al Ledgerwood and Jim Fogarty to a silver medal at the first Canadian university championship in Calgary. Matheson was the all-star skip at the inaugural Canadian intercollegiate event.
From 1968-1975, Matheson was in Alberta at university and returned to P.E.I. in 1976 after the loss of his brother, David.
In
1979, Matheson skipped his team of third Kenneth MacDonald, second Ledgerwood and lead John Scales to his first P.E.I. men’s championship. At the Brier in Ottawa, Matheson had a winning record, defeating Canadian champions Rick Folk, Jim Ursel and Paul Devlin. He also shared the first prestigious Ross Hartstone Award for the most gentlemanly player and was selected second all-star skip behind champion Barry Fry. Matheson again skipped the P.E.I.’s men’s winning teams in 1984 and 1985. His 1985 team of third Doug Weeks, second John Likely and lead Roy Rodd played well at the Brier and ended up losing to Eugene Hritzuk for fourth in a tiebreaker.
Matheson coached Kent Scales’s junior team to the 1985 provincial title. The team led the round-robin portion of the Canadian junior men’s championship, finishing 10-1 and losing the final to Kevin Martin of Alberta. All four members of P.E.I.’s team were selected as all-stars.
Matheson left P.E.I. in 1987 to resume his professional career and he continued to curl.
In 1989, he won the Northern Ontario mixed with a team from Timmins. This was the first team to win a mixed title from that community.
Interestingly, the mixed title was won by Robert Campbell, who Matheson had coached in junior.