Marg (Curry) Sihvon's basketball career took her from Central Collegiate to Cuba during the volatile 1960s and now into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame.
Sihvon was one of eight inductees announced as part of the Hall's Class of 2019 on Friday in Regina.
"It's a great honour, I'm thrilled about it and very happy to be able to be here. My career is a very long time ago, but it's still very nice to be honoured," said Sihvon, who now calls Medicine Hat, Alta. home.
"The induction has got me looking at old pictures and dragging out some trophies to reminisce about all the places that we'd been and travelled to, it was really fun."
Sihvon's basketball career started with Central Collegiate where she helped the school to three straight city championships from 1960-63.
She was named Moose Jaw Athlete of the Year in 1961 and won Central's Major Athlete Award in 1963.
Following her high school career, Sihvon moved on to play for the University of Saskatchewan Huskiettes from 1964-68, serving as team captain in 1967 and 1968.
She was named to the U of S Athletic Wall of Fame in 1984.
Sihvon joined the Canadian National Women's Basketball Team in 1967, helping the team to a bronze medal at the Pan American Games as the only Saskatchewan member of the team.
In 1969 came the highlight of Sihvon's playing career when she was captain of Team Canada during an exhibition tour in Cuba.
"It was back at the time when Cuba was an isolated island that had no relations with most of the Western Hemisphere and yet we played ten games in Havana in December of 1969 and they treated us like royalty and it was a really fun time," she said.
"There were armed guards on every floor of the hotel where we were staying, patrolling the hallways and we were escorted to every game in armed vehicles, but the crowds, there were 15-20,000 people at the games."
Sihvon also participated in tours with Team Canada to Italy and China in 1972.
In 1974, she captured a bronze medal at the Saskatchewan Summer Games with the Swift Current ladies team.
During that time, Sihvon had also started coaching at Swift Current Comprehensive High School, serving as basketball coach from 1970-78 and leading the school to provincial championships in 1974, 1975 and 1977.
Her coaching career took her to the college level at Medicine Hat College from 1980-84, winning Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference championships in 1982 and 1983 and bronze medals at nationals both years as well.
Sihvon said that her time in Moose Jaw set the stage for all that came after, "It was the start of my basketball playing days," she said. "Arlene McGinn was my coach for four years in high school and she was instrumental in getting me playing the way that I played and then I went on to the U of S. Moose Jaw was my home and remains dear to me."
The Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame's Induction Class of 2019 also includes Kelvington hockey player Wendel Clark, hockey player Colleen Sostorics from Kennedy, basketball player Chris Biegler from Regina, and from Saskatoon, softball player Jacki Nicol and soccer player Kelly Parker.
In the builder category, Clarence Campbell from Fleming/Macklin will go in for his contributions to hockey and Regina's Bill Kinash for cycling.
The 52nd Induction Dinner and Ceremony will be on Saturday, Sept. 28 at the Conexus Arts Centre. Click here to purchase tickets.
Thu, May 2, 8:00 AM
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