Category: 1991 Inductees

A member of the Prince Albert Figure Skating Club when it reorganized in 1976, Carla Matheson took all her lessons through this club. She also became the club’s first ‑ and to date only ‑ skater to receive a triple gold (Gold Free Skate, Gold Dance and Gold Figure).

While skating and competing in Prince Albert she also found time to coach. Matheson recorded a number of firsts for the Prince Albert Club including being one of its first skaters to enter a competition. She finished first in Dance and fourth in Free Skate in that event in North Battleford. In later competitions, she won a silver medal at a Junior Ladies Event and was fourth in an international competition in the United States.

At the age of 16, she also became one of the first judges from the club. She advanced in judging to become a Fourth Figure, Junior Silver Free Skate and Junior Silver Dance Judge.

Her coaching of other skaters has continued, including coaching Sweden’s Olympic team and the students in the Helsingborg Figure Skating Club. She also started the High Test and Competitive Club in Timmins, Ontario, and taught at summer skating schools in Saskatchewan and British Columbia. Upon her return to Prince Albert, she again resumed instructing on a part‑time basis with her home club.

Inducted into the Prince Albert Sports Hall of Fame in 1991.

Dale Yoos, born in Hoosier in 1902, was playing senior baseball at the age of 16, and became a skilled player at several positions.

While attending the University of Saskatchewan in 1923 he was a member of the Varsity Soccer Team.

Moving to Birch Hills in 1926, he played with that community’s team when senior baseball was a very big sport. Other clubs in the Carrot River Valley League of the time included Prince Albert, Kinistino and Melfort. An example of his skill is shown in a 1926 Prince Albert Daily Herald report: “Dale could play any and every position, displaying excellent finish and wisdom … a snappy, battling player who resembled Johnny Evers of the Chicago Cubs.” In 1927 while at a Northern Saskatchewan Tournament in Melfort with more than a dozen teams, he received a silver plaque as “The Most Useful Player”. Moving with his family to Prince Albert in 1938, Yoos became a member of the Bohemian Baseball Club and later managed the team with great success.

Yoos was proficient in many sports, especially golf and curling. An outstanding curler, Yoos was a member of the first Prince Albert rink to win the Grand Challenge Cup at the Saskatoon Bonspiel. He served as President of the Prince Albert Curling Club, then was president of the Saskatchewan Curling Association and was on the Provincial Executive for 10 years. He was made a Life Member of the Saskatchewan Curling Association.

In 1938, Yoos became the first sports announcer on CKBI Radio. While announcing the now famous car bonspiels from Nipawin in 1947, Yoos invented the “clock‑face system” to describe the position of rocks in the house. It is still used by broadcasters nationwide. In 1940, he was inducted onto the honour roll of famous local curlers.

His civic involvements went beyond sports with Yoo serving two terms as a city alderman. While the exalted ruler of the Prince Albert Elks Lodge, Yoos spearheaded the building of the first senior citizen’s home in Prince Albert.

Inducted into the Prince Albert Sports Hall of Fame in 1991.

Organized armwrestling began in Saskatchewan in 1979 and Fred Roy was involved. He helped organize Prince Albert’s hosting of the North American Armwrestling Championship, which drew competitors from across the continent. After the overwhelming response to that event, Roy organized the Saskatchewan Armwrestling Association and formed a provincial circuit.

As well, he was involved in the organization of armwrestling at the national level, having served first as a Board Member and then President of the Canadian Armwrestling Association. He also was Vice‑President of the World Armwrestling Federation. In 1990, he was the recipient of the John Miazdyk Memorial Trophy, considered to be the highest honour among armwrestlers in Canada. Roy also officiated in armwrestling where his bilingual abilities came in handy in Quebec and Ontario.

However, it was as a competitor where Roy excelled. Roy consistently won provincial competitions in the middleweight class ‑ in both right and left arms. Nationally, he was named the top male armwrestler in 1983, after having finished second in his class in Sit‑Down Competition and fifth in Stand‑up Competition. In 1984, Roy was fourth in his weight class at the National Sit‑Down Armwrestling Championship. In 1985 Roy earned a spot on the Canadian Armwrestling team at the world championships in Mexico City.

It was at this event where he defeated a heavily favoured British opponent and a Brazilian to become the World Middleweight Armwrestling Champion in both the Right‑Arm and Left‑Arm Categories. Later that year, he won the National Truckers Championship, giving him an opportunity to compete in Las Vegas at a tournament designed to find possible participants in the Sylvester Stallone arm‑wrestling movie Over The Top.

Named the Prince Albert Sportsman of the Year in 1986, Roy continued to show a high level of performance in armwrestling. At the Canadian Championship that year he won the 198‑pound class Right‑Arm Competition and was second in that weight division’s Left‑Arm Category, Roy was again chosen to represent Canada at the World Championship but declined to attend the event in India because of political instability in that nation at the time. Roy did attend the World Championship in England in 1987 and came home with second place silver medals in both the Right‑Arm and Left‑Arm Divisions of his weight class. He won the Silver Medal at the Canadian Championship in Prince Albert in 1988 to again qualify for the National Team at the World Championship in Sweden. Also that year he won a gold medal in the 180‑200 pound class at the prestigious Canadian Iron Man Event at Calgary.

The 1989 World Championship at Athens, Greece was also attended by Roy who was there in an official capacity as the Canadian Armwrestling Association President. He was also an official at the 1990 Championship in Houston where he was also inducted into the World Armwrestling Federation Hall of Fame.

Inducted into the Prince Albert Sports Hall of Fame in 1991.

Orland Kurtenbach’s prominence in hockey began with his junior career with the Prince Albert Mintos.

Playing for four years in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, “Kurt” never had less than 71 points. The Cudworth native capped his junior career in 1956‑57 with at 103‑ point season and a Memorial Cup Championship with the Flin Flon Bombers.

A long professional career began the next season in the old Western Hockey League with the Saskatoon Quakers and then the Vancouver Canucks, where he was the league’s Coast Division Rookie Of The Year in 1957‑58. He continued in the New York Rangers’ farm system, with stops in Buffalo and Springfield, before making his National Hockey League debut in 1960‑61. Kurtenbach was drafted from the Rangers by the Boston Bruins in 1961, and saw action over the next two seasons with the Bruins, Providence and San Francisco. In the 1962‑63 season he was a member of the San Francisco club which won the Lester Patrick Cup as Western Hockey League champions. Kurtenbach had 87 points including 30 goals that season and added 17 points in 17 playoff games, while also picking up a league high 51 penalty minutes.

Over the next 11 seasons Kurtenbach saw NHL action with Boston, the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Rangers and the Vancouver Canucks. During that period he established himself as one of the NHL’s “heavy weights”, despite being hampered by injuries which included a partial shoulder dislocation, and then back fusion surgery in December 1968.

Kurtenbach was the first captain of the NHL Vancouver Canucks in 1970‑71. He spent his final four professional seasons with the Canucks, capturing the team’s Most Valuable Player honours in the first three. Injuries forced Kurtenbach’s retirement after the 1973‑74 season and the next season he jumped into coaching with the Seattle Totems of the Central Hockey League. The following year saw Kurtenbach lead the Tulsa Oilers to a first‑place finish and the Adams Cup. He was also chosen the Central Hockey League Coach Of The Year. Midway through the 1976‑77 season, Kurtenbach moved back to the NHL Canucks, this time as coach. He guided Vancouver to fourth that season and to a third‑place finish the following season. After taking a break from hockey following that season, Kurtenbach returned in the 1982‑83 season to coach the Springfield Indians of the American Hockey League.

Kurtenbach moved to junior hockey in the 1986‑87 season to coach the Richmond Sockeyes of the B.C. Junior Hockey League. He immediately found success, leading the Sockeyes to the Canadian Championship symbolized by the Centennial Cup. He stayed on with the Sockeyes for four seasons before the team moved to Chilliwack, where he served as the club’s president.

Inducted into the Prince Albert Sports Hall of Fame in 1991.

Wayne Rocheleau was a multi‑sport participant for more than three decades. Born in 1941 in Smeaton, Rocheleau participated in softball, baseball, archery, golf, bowling and hockey in Prince Albert since the early 1960’s.

In 1962 he began a three‑decade softball career, playing in the Prince Albert Sportsman Softball League. His playing days were interrupted for a time while he coached his son Barkley in baseball. Five or six years later, he returned, with his son, to the Sportsman League. At that time, Rocheleau helped with the coaching and took a turn at being an umpire but eventually got back onto the playing field with a number of clubs, the last being from a club consisting of players 40 years old and over. That team had its share of success, including a silver medal at the Old Timers Division of the 1989 Canada Cup Tournament in Saskatoon and a gold medal at a tournament in Regina the same year. Rocheleau also was a familiar sight at softball diamonds as a grounds keeper, score keeper or whatever was needed to ensure an event ‑ including National and Western Canadian Championships ‑ was successfully held. The same was true in the winter at hockey arenas where, after a couple of years coaching minor hockey, Rocheleau became a minor official. In more than 20 years as a minor official, he worked at junior hockey contests and many minor hockey tournaments.

Rocheleau was very active in archery as a competitor and an instructor. Joining the Prince Albert Archery Club in 1974, he took part in five National Championships over a 10‑year span, earning two medals in the team category while establishing a number of personal bests in individual competition. At the club level, he won a trophy for nine consecutive seasons for recording the most points. Many other awards were won for his archery accomplishments during those years, with a special accomplishment being an award from Molson Brewery for shooting two consecutive perfect scores. As well, Rocheleau taught archery in eight‑week sessions twice a year for students ranging from age six to 50.

Success in bowling and golf competition, whether at the tournament or league level, also was common for Rocheleau. However, the most common factor in his sporting career was the accolades of his peers. Almost every year end event he was active in saw Rocheleau receive “awards of thanks”.

Inducted into the Prince Albert Sports Hall of Fame in 1991.