Robert Benjamin Armitage ( Herlein; September 27, 1957 – November 28, 2022) was a Canadian curler.

Early life

Armitage was born in 1957, the son of Magdalena (Maggie) and Aloysius (Lloyd) Herlein. The family lived in

Red Deer The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or hart, and a female is called a hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Iran, and parts of wes ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

when his father was killed in a car accident in 1961, and the family temporarily moved to

Fusilier, Saskatchewan Fusilier is an unincorporated hamlet in Antelope Park Rural Municipality No. 322, Saskatchewan, Canada. The hamlet is approximately 30 km west of the Town of Kerrobert at the intersection of Highway 51 and Highway 317. The Canadian Paci ...

before moving back to Red Deer a few months later. His mother re-married in 1965 to her new husband Glen Armitage. His mother was killed at a train crossing in 1969, and Glen adopted Rob and his siblings in 1970, which resulted in Rob's surname changing to Armitage. Glen remarried later that year. Armitage played many sports in his youth, including badminton, Canadian football, rugby, broomball, slow pitch baseball, and fastball in addition to curling. He continued to play baseball as an adult.

Career

Armitage qualified for 12 provincial men's championships in his career, but never won the event. His first trip was in 1979 playing for Roger Hovland, and his final provincial was in 2010. He underwent knee surgery in 2005 which resulted in him "winding down" his competitive men's career. Armitage and his rink of Randy Ponich, Wilf Edgar and

Keith Glover Keith Glover FRS, FREng, FIEEE is a British electrical engineer. He is an emeritus professor of control engineering at the University of Cambridge. He is notable for his contributions to robust controller design and model order reduction. ...

were Alberta Senior champions in 2012, and represented the province at the

2012 Canadian Senior Curling Championships The 2012 Canadian Senior Curling Championships were held from March 17 to 25 at the Abbotsford Recreation Centre in Abbotsford, British Columbia. British Columbia last hosted the Canadian Seniors in 2004, and has previously hosted 6 Canadian Senio ...

. They went 10-1 after round robin play, finishing first over all. The rink beat Newfoundland and Labrador's Glenn Goss team in the final. They then went undefeated in winning the

2013 World Senior Curling Championships The 2013 World Senior Curling Championships was held at the newly constructed Grant-Harvey Centre in Fredericton, New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canad ...

. Before winning the Alberta seniors in 2012, Armitage had never won a provincial championship of any kind, having never gotten by the likes of "

Ed Lukowich Edward R. "Ed" Lukowich (born March 1, 1946; nicknamed "Cool Hand Luke") is a former Canadian champion curler. Lukowich is a two-time Brier champion, having won the Brier Tankard for Alberta as skip of both the 1978 and 1986 Canadian champion ...

, Pat Ryan, Kevin Martin,

Randy Ferbey Randy S. Ferbey (born May 30, 1959) is a Canadian retired curler from Sherwood Park, Alberta. Ferbey is a six-time Canadian champion and a four-time World Champion. He currently coaches the Rachel Homan women's team. Born in Edmonton, Albert ...

, (or) Kevin Koe in provincial men's play. Armitage last curled on the World Curling Tour in 2015-16. Armitage began curling on the Tour in 1999, starting out as a third for

Lowell Peterman Lowell may refer to: Places United States * Lowell, Arkansas * Lowell, California * Lowell, Florida * Lowell, Idaho * Lowell, Indiana * Lowell, Bartholomew County, Indiana * Lowell, Maine * Lowell, Massachusetts ** Lowell National Historica ...

. Armitage skipped his own team from 2001, except for 4 events during the 2005-06 season where he played third for

Chris Schille Christopher Schille (born February 19, 1983 in Barrhead, Alberta) is a Canadian curler from Red Deer, Alberta. Curling career Schille grew up in Alberta, where he had a successful junior career, skipping the Alberta team to a 7-5 record at th ...

. In 2018, Armitage won the Canadian Masters Curling Championships playing third for

Mickey Pendergast Mickey is a given name and nickname, almost always masculine and often a short form (hypocorism) of Michael, and occasionally a surname. Notable people and characters with the name include: People Given name or nickname Men * Mickey Andrews (bor ...

.http://bot.curlbc.ca//web/CompRR?compid=2739 In addition to his success at the Seniors and Masters levels, Armitage won a Canadian Cattlemen's curling championship in 1997.

Personal life

Armitage married Heather Blair in 1993. He worked in Red Deer as a Heavy Equipment Operator, and later became a landlord. When he was younger he also worked as a paver, in the oilfield, and as a feed-lot operator. Armitage died from pancreatic cancer on November 28, 2022, at the age of 65.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Armitage, Rob 1957 births 2022 deaths Curlers from Alberta Canadian male curlers Sportspeople from Red Deer, Alberta Deaths from cancer in Canada