700 Curling Clubs

Camille Villaneuve, and I hope I've spelled his name correctly, was a French Canadian from Chicoutimi, Quebec. I only met him once and that over twenty years ago now. But he was a cool guy.

He was kind, soft spoken, and earnest. In manners and appearance he made me think of me Grandpaw Hutchins. His claim to fame was that he was trying to set a record for having curled in the most curling clubs in the United States and Canada.

One Sunday he arrived at the Roseland Curling Club in Windsor, Ontario right before our regular league play and asked to get into a game. Of course we accommodated him. We would have done it regardless, but after hearing his story there was no way we could have said no.

He was if memory serves me at 274 curling clubs then, so his game with us made 275. He carried a neat display case which contained pins from everywhere he had been (curlers are great for having their emblems emblazoned on pins). Needless to say, we gave him one from Roseland. 

It was sublime to kind of, sort of curl with me Grandpaw Hutchins, even though he himself likely never heard of curling. Camille curled very well too, winning his game as a skip. Upon hearing he intended to sleep in his van in the club parking lot that cold winter night I tried every way in the world to convince him to cross the border and spend the night with my family in Detroit. I would have loved that. Yet he insisted he'd be fine, and you reach a point where you just stop pressing simply not offend his honor. He'd clearly done it before and was quite happy with the arrangements.

Mr. Villaneuve's ultimate goal was to play in 700 clubs. I found an article online which said he hit 701 in 2018. I was glad to see that. He was still throwing them stones at 92 years old, God bless him. I hope he's still curling.