The sport of curling has been very kind to Gerry Peckham.
The longtime Prince George resident, who left the city in 1990 to become Curling Canada’s High-Performance Director is one of three people to be inducted into the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame this year.
Peckham, who will be recognized in the coach/builder category told Vista Radio that he’s quite humbled to be given such an honour.
“I’ve always admired the group that is in the hall of fame. They are there because of their athletic prowess or because of volunteer contributions and the fact that I am part of the builder category so being recognized for making ongoing contributions to the well-being of the sport is an honor for sure.”
Peckham, who will retire from his position at the conclusion of the 2022-23 season holds a world-leading record for the production of international medals for Canada, 54 of which were in the men’s and women’s world championships.
During the early 90s international curling was on the cusp of exploding and becoming an Olympic sport.
After successful test runs at the Calgary and Albertville Winter Olympics as a demonstration sport – curling was officially put on the map on the world stage during the Nagano games in Japan in 1998.
This led to one of Peckham’s crowning moments where he witnessed the Saskatchewan-based rink of Sandra Schmirler, who was already a national champion take the first-ever gold medal at the Olympics.
“That was a very emotional ride for sure. I knew those girls really well at that time and I worked hard in my efforts to support them to be the best they could be and they were already a proven commodity at that time.”
“To put the maple leaf on your back and travel halfway around the world and find your way to the top of that podium because, in those days, a gold medal was everybody’s preferred quest or outcome. Watching that unfold along with the relief and celebration was pretty awesome.”
“From 1998 on things changed pretty dramatically within the high-performance realm. It kind of had an impact on the culture, it had an impact on athlete development and coaching and competition,” added Peckham.
Peckham, who grew up in the northern capital, came by the game honestly as his dad was a well-known curler, Wilf Peckham.
“The Peckham family was a curling family and had always been one. Curling was just something that was in my DNA and finally at a moment in time stepped away from other sports that had attracted me like hockey and school sports like basketball and volleyball and became involved in the sport of curling, which became my ultimate objective as a young man.”
“I was a tag-along and so I was with my parents and from a very young age and spent an awful lot of time at the curling rinks in Prince George and would go out on the ice every opportunity and at any age to either be spare and play with somebody else or to throw rocks between draws or to simply hang out and be part of it all.”
Of course, you can’t go far in the Prince George’s curling scene without mentioning the Kelly Cup. His dad Wilf played in a record 68 consecutive tournaments between 1945 and 2013.
“The Kelly Cup of course has been around since 1927 and all of the history that goes with it. All of the people going through our home, visitors from out of town who were invited by the Peckhams to have a meal, a drink, and a song – so it was a very rich cultural experience for me. It got into my blood and it’s still there today.”
Even though Peckham left PG 33 years ago, he has not forgotten his roots or the positive impact the city had on him.
“Prince George was a fabulous city to grow up in because I got exposed to a vast array of sports. I grew up in a neighborhood as kids where we would play sports of some kind every day after school and in the evening.”
“Prince George is still my home and still where I have extended family and still a place I would love to go back to.”
Peckham also represented British Columbia during the 1973 and 1974 Macdonalds Brier playing on teams skipped by Jack Tucker and Jim Armstrong.
Peckham will be joined by Curling Canada Board of Governors Chair John Shea and fellow builder Jack Lynch.
Something going on in the Prince George area you think people should know about?
Send us a news tip by emailing [email protected].
