Armstrong, Jim

Year Inducted / Année Intronisé:

1990

Province / Province:

British Columbia

Category / Catégorie:

Curler

Biography / Biographie:

Dr. James (Jim) Armstrong has represented British Columbia no less than seven times at the Canadian championship level.

In 1967, he skipped the Pepsi Schoolboys entry, in 1973, the mixed and in 1973, ’74, ’83, ’84 and ’87 he was a member of the B.C. team at the Brier.

In 1987, with Armstrong at third, B.C. finished second in the Labatt Brier to Russ Howard of Ontario.

Armstrong was also named all-star third at the 1987 Brier.

In addition, in 1983 and again in 1987 Armstrong had a further honour bestowed upon him winning the Ross Harstone Award, presented annually at the Brier to the player who best combines the ideals of sportsmanship with curling ability.

James P. Armstrong (born June 30, 1950 in Victoria, British Columbia) is a former Canadian curler and current wheelchair curler now living in Ontario. He was a successful able-bodied curler for much of his career until he had to stop playing because of bad knees and a car accident in 2003.

Armstrong began curling at eight, and by the age of 22 he made his first Brier, playing second for British Columbia, skipped by Jack Tucker. The team finished 5–5 at that 1973 MacDonald Brier. Armstrong skipped B.C. in the following Brier, placing third with a 6–4 record.

Armstrong wouldn’t make another Brier for 9 years, when he played third for Bernie Sparkes at the 1983 Labatt Brier. The team finished third once again, losing to Ontario’s Ed Werenich in the semi-final. The team made the 1984 Labatt Brier in Victoria, but only finished 6–5. They made it back to the Brier in 1987, where they lost in the final to Ontario’s Russ Howard. Armstrong played in his last Brier in 1992. Armstrong skipped the B.C. team to a 5–6 finish.

In 1990, he was inducted into the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame.

In 2007 he was invited to rejoin the sport as an advisor to Team Canada’s wheelchair curling program. He skipped BC to National Championship titles in 2008 and 2009, and in 2009 skipped Canada to their first World Wheelchair Curling Championship gold medal, a success he repeated at the 2010 Winter Paralympics, and the 2011 World Wheelchair Curling Championship in Prague.