“A Chinaman’s Chance” – Chinese Curlers in Saskatchewan

The rink from Wadena at the Saskatoon bonspiel, 1928. They are identified as (L to R): "Jee, lead; Tom Sing, second, George, third; Toy Wing, skip." Source: Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, January 21, 1928. I believe the men have been misidentified. My guess, based on photo comparison, is that they are (L to R): Tom Sing, George Hing, George Gee, and Toy Him.

As I research small-town Saskatchewan hotels, I often come across references to the men-only enclaves of Chinese laundry, restaurant, and hotel owners that had settled in nearly every village, town and city in the province by 1919. These men, who were not allowed to bring their wives and children to Canada until 1947, did not have a lot of time for leisure activities. Many of them did, however, participate in the sport of curling – whether as fans, team sponsors, or as players.

In her book Cultivating Connections; The Making of Chinese Prairie Canada (2014), Allison R. Marshall writes that participation in sports provided lonely Chinese men the opportunity to connect with their communities. Curling, Marshall asserts, was the most significant sport in which prairie Chinese men and boys were welcome to participate. “As people watched local curling bonspiels that included Chinese curlers, they came to see these participants as members of their own community,” she writes. “Community pride swelled when local boys played sport, regardless of whether they were Chinese or non-Chinese.”

[For more about the history of Chinese hotel owners in Saskatchewan, click here.]

Tom Sing's Wadena Rink

Winnipeg Tribune, Feb. 7, 1944

There were several Chinese curlers in the province prior to 1950, but the most remarkable story I’ve come across yet is that of the all-Chinese rink from Wadena, skipped by Thomas (Tom) Sing. According to Canada census records, Sing arrived in Canada in 1906 at age 15. He went into the restaurant business at Wadena where he worked for 25 years before becoming the proprietor of the hotel in Elfros during the 1930s. By the 1940s, Sing was back running a restaurant in Wadena. Throughout the decades, he was a curler and his game just kept getting better and better.

On February 14, 1927, according to the Regina Leader-Post – the first newspaper account I have found about Sing – he entered an all-Chinese team in the Yorkton bonspiel. The other members of the rink were Toy Wing, George Hing, and Yuen Loy. They defeated a Manitoba team in their first game of the competition. Fred W. Graham wrote about the four Chinese curlers in a Maclean’s magazine article entitled “Baled Hay Rinks” (Dec. 15, 1938). “Did you ever see a Chinese curl?” Graham asked. “I saw the [Wadena rink] in action at the Yorkton Bonspiel a few years ago. They always had the opposing rink advantage, for they discussed all their shots in their own language.”

In January of 1928, Sing’s Wadena rink entered the Saskatoon bonspiel and scored a 9-6 win against a rink from Marengo in the T. Eaton competition for visiting rinks. “The Orientals played a splendid draw game and were in the lead all the way,” the Star-Phoenix stated on January 17^th. “The win proved most popular.” 

Headline in the Winnipeg Tribune, February 8, 1944.

In 1944, when Tom Sing was 53 years old, he entered the first-ever all-Chinese rink in the 56^th annual Manitoba bonspiel. Curlers “blinked in surprise when they took to the ice this year,” Maclean’s wrote on March 15, 1944. Skipped by Sing (who was now back in Wadena and serving on the Saskatchewan Curling Club executive), the rink included Toy Him of Wadena, Harry Ying (or Ing) of Preeceville, and Charlie Poy from Kelvington. None of them were young men. He and his team “curled for fun not for trophies,” Sing told Maclean’s. He likened curlers to bananas – green, yellow, and overripe. His rink, he joked, was in the latter category.

The Chinese curling team suffered some tough losses during the 1944 Manitoba bonspiel. Sing’s quartet dropped a 10-9 decision to Curly Marlatt of Rocanville, Sask., and suffered a 10-8 setback at the hands of a Winnipeg rink.

An International Match

Headline in the Star-Phoenix, January 24, 1945

Tom Sing at the Saskatoon bonspiel. Source: Star-Phoenix, Jan. 24, 1945.

Sing persevered. In 1945, he entered his all-Chinese rink in the 41^st annual Saskatoon bonspiel – his last appearance in that ‘spiel had been in 1928. With 189 rinks competing, the Wadena curlers stole the show. An American vs Chinese game at the Granite Curling Club attracted one of the largest crowds in the bonspiel’s history. The Star-Phoenix provides the following account: “In the early stages of the game the ice was too heavy for the Chinese boys, with the result they could barely reach the house with their shots. While these conditions existed, the Americans chalked up points and were leading 6-1 at the end of five ends. Mr. Sing went to town from then on. His men found the weight for draw shots and tied the score at 6-6 at the eighth end. The Americans went into the lead on the ninth but Tom promptly scored four points on the 10th to practically cinch the honors. He added another in the 11th and held his opponents to one point on the 12th when they tried to build up the house." The final score was 11-8 for Sing's rink.  

Members of the American and Chinese Canadian rinks at the 1945 Saskatoon bonspiel. L to R: George Hing, lead; Dr. C. R. Curtis, lead; Charlie Jim, second; Ross Bennett, second; Toy Him, third; Frank L. Van Epps, third; Tom Sing, skip; and Walter Polski, skip. Source:  Star-Phoenix, January 24, 1945.

Curling provided a chance for Chinese Canadian men like Tom Sing - small-town Saskatchewan hotel and restaurant owners - to move out of the shadows and overcome stereotypes. “Newcomers began to seem less strange and exotic as team players … so that they were seen to be like everyone else,” Marshall writes. However, she cautions, while sports participation “could help young Chinese men fit in, athletic involvement wasn’t a guarantee of acceptance.”


[NOTE: I apologize for the poor image quality. They are screen captures. The Star-Phoenix photo collection, now housed at the City of Saskatoon Archives, does not contain the original photographs shown above.]

©Joan Champ, 2019.