The P.E.I. Mutual Insurance Company P.E.I. Sports Hall of Fame inductions will take place Nov. 12 at Credit Union Place in Summerside. Entering the Hall will be Thane Campbell (curling builder), Ian (Tex) MacDonald (softball/football), Bill Purcell (hockey) and the 1977 P.E.I. Islanders (baseball).
Former Premier Thane Campbell played an instrumental role in building curling as a sport, not only in Prince Edward Island, but also across the nation and internationally.
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Campbell joined the Summerside Curling Club in 1928 where his interest grew in the sport. He formed his own team and won the club championship in 1935.
He became president of the P.E.I. Curling Association in 1936 and was instrumental in bringing about the provincial association’s affiliation with the Dominion Curling Association, which became the Canadian Curling Association in 1968. He was largely responsible for P.E.I. gaining inclusion in the Macdonald Brier Championship for the first time in 1936.
Campbell was elected president of the Dominion Curling Association for 1941-42. In 1943, he was elected vice-president of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club of Scotland. He held the position for several years with the organization that serves as the mother club of curling in Canada and was involved in promoting the sport at the international level.
He was appointed a trustee of the Macdonald Brier Tankard in 1946 and played a role in bringing the Brier to Charlottetown in 1964.