Barry William "The Snake" Fry (December 21, 1939 – May 14, 2021) was a Canadian curler from

Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

. Fry was the

skip Skip or Skips may refer to: Acronyms * SKIP (Skeletal muscle and kidney enriched inositol phosphatase), a human gene * Simple Key-Management for Internet Protocol * SKIP of New York (Sick Kids need Involved People), a non-profit agency aidin ...

of the

1979 Macdonald Brier The 1979 Macdonald Brier, Canada's national men's curling championship was held from March 4 to March 10 at the Ottawa Civic Centre in Ottawa. Manitoba's Barry Fry won his only Brier title of his career. He clinched the Brier title following the ...

champion team from Manitoba, and won a bronze medal at that year's world championship. He was the father of 2014 Olympic gold medallist

Ryan Fry Ryan Bennett Fry (born July 25, 1978) is a Canadian curler currently living in Toronto and playing third on the Mike McEwen team. He previously played third for Team Brad Jacobs, and the team represented Canada and won the gold medal at the 20 ...

. Fry was nicknamed "The Snake" for his quick delivery from the hack.

Curling career

Fry won his first national title in 1973, when he won the

Canadian Mixed Curling Championship The Canadian Mixed Curling Championship is the national curling championship for mixed curling in Canada. The winners of the tournament will represent Canada at the World Mixed Curling Championship. In mixed curling, the positions on a team must a ...

for Manitoba with teammates Peggy Casselman, Stephen Decter and

Susan Lynch Susan Lynch (born 5 June 1971) is a Northern Irish actress. three-times an IFTA Award winner, she also won the British Independent Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 2003 film '' 16 Years of Alcohol''. Her other film appearances in ...

. The team finished with a 9–1 record. Fry, Casselman, Winston Warren and Helene Paton had previously won a provincial mixed title in 1970, and finished in third at the 1970 Canadian Mixed. After 12 years, Fry finally won a Manitoba provincial men's title in 1979, with his new rink of Bill Carey, Gordon Sparkes and

Bryan Wood Bryan Wood (born 3 April 1954) is a former Australian rules football player who played in the Victorian Football League (VFL) between 1972 and 1982 for the Richmond Football Club and between 1983 and 1986 for the Essendon Football Club ...

, defeating Bill Paterson in the final. The team then represented Manitoba at the

. At the Brier, the team prevailed through poor playing conditions using a conservative hitting style to win the championship. The team suffered just one loss at the Brier, to Saskatchewan's

Rick Folk Rick may refer to: People *Rick (given name), a list of people with the given name *Alan Rick (born 1976), Brazilian politician, journalist, pastor and television personality *Johannes Rick (1869–1946), Austrian-born Brazilian priest and mycol ...

. Fry's 10-1 record was enough to finish in first place, while Folk's Saskatchewan team finished tied for second with an 8-3 record. The Brier win sent the Fry rink to the

1979 Air Canada Silver Broom The 1979 Air Canada Silver Broom, the men's world curling championship, was held from March 26–April 1 at the Allmend Eisstadion in Bern, Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and go ...

, the

World Curling Championships The World Curling Championships are the annual world championships for curling, organized by the World Curling Federation and contested by national championship teams. There are men's, women's and mixed doubles championships, as well as men's an ...

in Switzerland, representing Canada. At the Silver Broom, the team wrapped up the round robin with a 6-3 record, tied with three other countries in 2nd. The team lost to Norway's

Kristian Sørum Kristian Sørum is a Norwegian curler and World Champion. He was skip for the winning team at the 1979 World Curling Championships, the rest of the team consisting of Morten Sørum, Eigil Ramsfjell and Gunnar Meland Gunnar ...

in their semi-final match up, settling for a bronze medal. After 1979, Fry's only other Brier appearance came at the

1998 Labatt Brier The 1998 Labatt Brier was held from March 8 to 15 at the Winnipeg Arena in Winnipeg, Manitoba.http://www.curlingzone.com/forums/soc.php?eventid=99&view=Info Wayne Middaugh of Ontario won his second Brier and his first as a skip after he defeated G ...

as Manitoba's alternate. However, he did not play in a single match. After turning 50, Fry graduated to Senior's curling. In 1992, Fry won the provincial senior's championships with teammates

Don Duguid Donald Gordon Duguid (born January 25, 1935) is a Canadian champion curler. A three-time winner of the Canadian Brier and two-time World Curling champion, Duguid won the Brier in 1965, 1970 and 1971, and the Worlds in 1970 and 1971. He was onl ...

Barry Coleman Riders for Health is a non-governmental organization (NGO) that specialises in supplying, managing and maintaining vehicles for health-focused organisations in African countries. Motorcycles are well-suited for delivering health care in Africa, ...

and

Don McDonald Don, don or DON and variants may refer to: Places *County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON *Don (river), a river in European Russia *Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name *Don, Benin, a town in Benin *Don, Dang, a vill ...

. Fry and Duguid, another former Brier champion won two more provincial senior championships together in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

and

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

. They won both of those tournaments with a new front end which included two other former Brier champions

Terry Braunstein Terrance A. "Terry" Braunstein (born April 18, 1939) is a Canadian retired curler. He skipped Team Manitoba to winning the 1965 Brier, and later went on to win a silver medal at the Curling World Championships of that year. References {{DEFA ...

and Ray Turnbull. After turning 60, Fry graduated to the Masters level, and won a provincial and

Canadian Masters Curling Championships The Canadian Masters Curling Championships are an annual curling Curling is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area which is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and sh ...

in 2001 with Duguid, Warren and Coleman at lead.

Personal life

Fry worked as a sales representative. He was married to Judy. Later in life, they moved to

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

to be closer to his son, Ryan. He died of cancer in 2021.

References

External links

Manitoba provincial champions
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fry, Barry 2021 deaths Brier champions Canadian mixed curling champions Curlers from Winnipeg Curlers from Toronto Canadian male curlers 1939 births Deaths from cancer in Canada