Mathew Martyn Baldwin,
CM (born May 3, 1926) is a Canadian
curler from
Edmonton, Alberta.
Curling
Baldwin is a three-time
Brier
Briar, Briars, Brier, or Briers may refer to:
* Briar, or brier, common name for a number of unrelated thorny plants that form thicket
People
* Brier (surname)
* Briers, a surname
* Briars (surname)
Places
* Briar, Missouri, U.S.
* Bri ...
champion, having
skipped his rink to the Canadian men's championship in 1954, 1957 and 1958. In 1954, Baldwin and his team of
Glenn Gray
Glenn Gray Knoblauch (June 7, 1900 – August 23, 1963), known professionally as Glen Gray, was an American jazz saxophonist and leader of the Casa Loma Orchestra.''The Mississippi Rag'', "Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra," George A. Bor ...
,
Pete Ferry and
Jim Collins finished with a 9-1 record to claim their first Brier. At age 27, Baldwin was then the youngest skip to win a Brier, in an era when teams were generally led by men decades older. He is also remembered for pleasing a cheering Edmonton hometown crowd by sliding halfway down the sheet of ice when throwing his final rock of the event, a move that was legal under the curling rules of the time.
The age record has since been broken;
Kerry Burtnyk is the current holder of the mark. As of the 2013 event Baldwin is the oldest surviving Brier champion skip.
In 1956, Baldwin returned to the Brier, but his team of
Gord Haynes.
Art Kleinmeyer and
Bill Henning finished with a 5-5 record. In 1957, Baldwin and his team of Gord Haynes, Art Kleinmeyer and new lead
Bill Price finished the round robin undefeated, giving Baldwin his second Brier. In 1958,
Jack Geddes was inserted into the lineup to play third, replacing Haynes who was bumped back to second, who replaced the departing Kleinmayer. The team finished the round robin with an 8-2 record, and had to defeat
Terry Braunstein's Manitoba rink to claim the title.
Baldwin did not return to the Brier until 1971, where his team of
Tom Kroeger,
Rich Cust and
Reg Van Wassenhove finished with a record of 5-5. In 1973 Baldwin became one of the original inductees into the
Canadian Curling Hall of Fame The Canadian Curling Hall of Fame was established with its first inductees in 1973. It is operated by Curling Canada, the governing body for curling in Canada, in Orleans, Ontario.
The Hall of Fame selection committee meets annually to choose induc ...
.
Baldwin also served as a director of the
Edmonton Eskimos
The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at the Brick Field at Commo ...
football team for five years
[ and is recognized on the University of Alberta's Wall of Honour.]Order of Canada
The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit.
To coincide with the ...
in December 2019. Once the youngest curler to ever win the Brier, as of the appointment he is the oldest living Brier champion.
Personal life
Baldwin was also a petroleum engineer, one of the early graduates from the University of Alberta's Petroleum Engineering program that launched in 1948 after the Leduc No. 1
Leduc No. 1 was a major crude oil discovery made near Leduc, Alberta, Canada on February 13, 1947. It provided the geological key to Alberta's most prolific conventional oil reserves and resulted in a boom in petroleum exploration and developmen ...
discovery ignited the postwar oil boom in Alberta.
References
Sources
Canada's Sports Hall of Fame profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baldwin, Matt
1926 births
Living people
Brier champions
Edmonton Elks personnel
Curlers from Edmonton
Canadian male curlers
Members of the Order of Canada