Cameron, George

Year Inducted / Année Intronisé:

1973

Province / Province:

Manitoba

Category / Catégorie:

Builder

Biography / Biographie:

George Cameron of Winnipeg, Manitoba was inducted into the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame in 1973. George was inducted into the builder category.

In 1924, George J. Cameron, an enthusiastic Winnipeg curler, dreamed aloud his idea of uniting the east and west of Canada through curling. Cameron was president of W. L. Mackenzie and Company, the western representative of the Macdonald Tobacco Company since 1880. Two of his friends, Walter Payne, known as Manitoba’s “thane of curling,” and John T. Haig, a past president of the Manitoba Curling Association, encouraged his thinking.

The Macdonald Company agreed to support the establishment of the Macdonald Brier trophy, as a key part of the 1925 Manitoba Bonspiel. In addition to receiving the honour of having their names engraved on a magnificent silver trophy (later rechristened the British Consols trophy) the winners would receive an all-expense trip to eastern Canada for a series of friendly games against eastern teams. In 1925, the winner was Howard Wood of Winnipeg, whose rink of Johnny Erzinger, Vic Wood (brother) and Lionel Wood (son) traveled east in the spring of 1925.

In 1926, the winners of the Macdonald Trophy event – the George Sherwood rink – were sent east to participate in the famed Quebec Bonspiel, where they won the Holt Renfrew Trophy. This second visit attracted greater attention, and subsequent conversations between Cameron and Thomas Rennie of Toronto (and others) led to the concept of a national event, with inaugural play to be held at the Granite Club in Toronto in 1927.