Trading Cards

Curlers like to collect things. Some examples which have appeared on the Curling History blog before, are here (spoons), here (mugs), and a two part article on curling lighters, here and here.

Within the large area of 'paper ephemera' one can collect 'trade cards' - for example cigarette cards, and the like. Collecting 'trading cards' is a different thing. A 'trading card' is a small card, usually made out of cardboard, which contains an image of a person, place or thing, and a short description of the picture, along with other text. Most will have heard of baseball cards, for example. There is a wide variation of different types of cards. Modern cards even go as far as to include swatches of game clothing (really!).

I have a small collection of curling 'trading cards'.

 

This is one of the earliest in my collection, showing the Bud Somerville team, and dates from 1992.

Here's the reverse of the card. It is Number 21 from the first-issue of the International Card Collection of Athletes set. Note that this card features the Somerville team that competed at the Albertville Olympics in 1992, when curling was a demonstration sport, not the great Somerville team, that oldies like me remember, which won the Scotch Cup in 1965.

 

In 1993, Ice Hot International published a set of 66 'Premier Edition' curling cards. That's Number 18 above, of Canada's Rod Hunter. The whole collection comprised:

1. Bryan Wood, Canada
2. Don Walchuk, Canada
3. Jim Ursel, Canada
4. Ray Turnbull, Canada
5. Warren Hanson, Canada
6. Al Hackner, Canada
7. Rick Folk, Canada
8. Randy Ferbey, Canada
9. Markus Eggler, Switzerland
10. Dan Carey, Canada

11. David Smith is the only Scottish curler to be featured among the 66 cards in the first set issued in 1993.

Here's the reverse of the card. I wonder what happened that David's playing percentage in 1990 has been omitted? I like the sentence, "In 1991 he finally captured the elusive World Curling crown in an exciting final against Canada." 'Exciting' is not the adjective that I would have used if just looking at the linescore. But it certainly was exciting for all Scots that were there in the stadium at Winnipeg, as I was! Lots of controversy too, but that's a story for another time.

12. Kerry Burtnyk, Canada
13. Terry Braunstein, Canada
14. Don Bartlett, Canada
15. Urs Dick, Switzerland
16. Lyall Dagg, Canada
17. Ernie Richardson, Canada
18. Rod Hunter, Canada
19. Jack MacDuff, Canada
20. Chris Neufeld, Canada
21. Pat Perroud, Canada
22. Vic Peters, Canada
23. Dan Petryk, Canada
24. Jim Pettapiece, Canada
25. Bill Tetley, Canada
26. Arnold Richardson, Canada
27. Jim Armstrong, British Columbia
28. Bo Bakke, Norway
29. John Ferguson, Canada
30. Glenn Howard WC Canada
31. Sjur Loen, Norway
32. Ed Lukowich, Canada
33. Russ Howard, Canada
34. Morten Sogaard, Norway
35. Pierre Charette, Quebec

 

36. Great pic this of a young Andrea Schopp, Germany.
37. Pat Ryan, Canada
38. Eugene Hritzuk, Saskatchewan
39. Don Rudd, Canada
40. Don McKenzie, Canada
41. John Kawaja, Canada
42. Marilyn Bodogh, Canada
43. Kathy McEdwards, Canada
44. Lindsay Sparks, Canada
45. Heather Houston, Canada
46. Lorraine Lang, Canada
47. Connie Laliberte, Canada
48. Paul Savage, Canada
49. Eigil Ramsfjell, Norway
50. Kevin Martin, Canada
51. Bob LaBonte, USA
52. Anne Jotun, Norway
53. Mette Halvorsen, Norway
54. Hanne Pettersen, Norway
55. Dordi Nordby, Norway
56. Don Duguid, Canada
57. Garnet Richardson, Canada
58. Wes Richardson, Canada
59. Ed Werenich, Canada
60. Linda Moore, Canada
61. Hec Gervais WC Canada
62. Mayumi Seguchi, Japan
63. Frederic Jean, Switzerland
64. Colleen Jones, Canada
65. Ian Tetley, Canada
66. Sjur Loen, Norway

All of the 1993 Ice Hot International cards are illustrated in the Trading Card Database, here. 

The above list does not appear to be ordered in any way, eg alphabetically, or by date, or even by 'importance'. It is Canada-centric of course, but does give an idea of what those putting the collection together thought that a 'Hall of Fame' might look in 1993. It must have provided a great source of argument at the time. Does it really reflect 'international' curling in 1993? Who's been missed out? There's no mention of the first World Women's Champions, skipped by Gaby Casanova, in 1979. And where's the great Bud Somerville, USA, on this list? 

In 1994, a second set of 50 cards was produced, as an extension to the 1993 set. The omission of Bud Somerville is rectified in this second set. And two more Scottish curlers are represented. It is interesting to reflect that - in the minds of those putting these sets of trading cards together in 1993 and 1994 - only three Scottish curlers deserved mention.

67. This was a checklist of all the cards in the set.
68. Rick Lang, Canada
69. Paul Gowsell, Canada
70. Neil Houston, Canada
71. Ed Lukovich, Canada
72. Sean Morris, Canada
73. Scott Pfeifer, Canada
74. Kelly Mittelstadt, Canada
75. Colin Davison, Canada
76. Larry McGrath, Canada
77. Kim Gellard, Canada
78. Corie Beveridge, Canada
79. Lisa Savage, Canada
80. Sandy Graham, Canada
81. Russ Howard, Canada
82. Glenn Howard, Canada
83. Wayne Middaugh, Canada
84. Peter Corner, Canada
85. Gordon Sparkes, Canada
86. Bill Carey, Canada
87. Barry Fry, Canada
88. Sandra Peterson, Canada
89. Jan Betker, Canada
90. Joan McCusker, Canada
91. Marcia Gudereit, Canada

92. Here's the card featuring Kirsty Hay, Scotland. My goodness, that's a creepy looking expression on her face in this photo!

 

93. And here's the card with Craig Wilson, Scotland.
94. Neil Harrison, Canada
95. Trevor Alexander, Yukon/NWT, Canada
96. Mark Noseworthy, Newfoundland, Canada
97. Gerry Richard, Canada
98. Bert Gretzinger
99. Pat Ryan, Canada
100. Rick Folk, Canada
101. Ron Mills, Canada
102. Tom Wilson, Canada
103. Jim Wilson, Canada
104. Maureen Bonar, Manitoba, Canada
105. Garnet Campbell, Canada
106. Dave Smith, Manitoba, Canada
107. Brent Giles, British Columbia
108. Scott Baird, USA
109. Dave Iverson, Manitoba
110. Robert Andrews, Yukon/NWT, Canada
111. Bud Somerville, USA
112. Erika Brown, USA
113. Steve Brown, USA
114. Anders Loof, Sweden
115. Jan-Olov Nassen, Sweden
116. Brier Bear.

Eagle-eyed readers will have spotted that Glenn Howard and Pat Ryan appear in both sets. I wonder why. All of the cards in the 1994 Ice Hot International Sequel set are illustrated here.

The two Ice Hot International curling card sets appear to be the only trading card sets devoted exclusively to curling. But curling does appear on other trading cards within other sets.

 

Here's an example. This card is one of a series of Canadian Winter Olympic Medal Winners, published in 1992. Julie with Jodie Sutton, Melissa Soligo and Karri Willms won the bronze medals in 1992 when curling was a demonstration sport at the Albertville Olympics, at the rink at Pralognan. The other members of the team are depicted on their own cards.

Cards from more recent years can be collected, see below.

The Topps Company, Inc, manufactures chewing gum, sweets (candy), and collectibles. Topps is best known as a leading publisher of trading cards depicting various sports, such as that above of Jessica Schultz. The card with the metallic logo in the bottom right can be found in bronze silver and gold! It was published in 2014. Jessica was a member of Erika Brown's team at the 2014 Olympics, finishing bottom of the table.

 

Here is another Topps card, depicting the Olympic curling venue at Sochi, 2014.

Upper Deck, whose headquarters are in California, is a well established publisher of trading cards, of high quality. This is one of a 25th Anniversary edition depicting curling 'legend' Rachel Homan, from 2014. It is indeed a high quality card.

The curling cards illustrated in this article are just examples of what is 'out there' and waiting to be collected.
 

Finally, I should mention the writer of The Shlabotnik Report who came up with the idea of 'virtual' trading cards ('because someone had to do it'), see here. The above of Eve Muirhead is an example.

Images are of cards in the author's collection, other than those of Kirsty Hay and Craig Wilson which are screenshots from here, and that of Eve Muirhead's virtual card, from here.