Curler.
Born at Kenora, Ontario on 5 January 1894 to Frederick Albert Hudson (1863-1932) and Estella May Fleming (1869-1931), brother of Clifford Ross Hudson, he moved to Winnipeg after serving in the military during the First World War.
He first played lead in the Manitoba Curling Association bonspiel in 1909. In 1914, he skipped a rink from Kenora referred to as the “Hudson Kid” rink, which was a sensation in that year’s bonspiel winning his first MCA Bonspiel Grand Aggregate. He joined the Strathcona Curling Club in 1919 and won three more in 1922, 1923, 1928, and tied for a fifth in 1941. Over the years he accumulated a remarkable collection of bonspiel silverware, winning at least 28 trophies. In the City Championship competition he won in 1921, 1929, 1930, 1932, and 1937.
He was the curler who started Manitoba’s success story in the Macdonald Brier. He skipped championship teams to back-to-back titles in 1928 and 1929 with one change in personnel. He had Sam Penwarden (1885-1930), Ron Singbush (1893-1950) and Bill Grant (1882-1942) in 1928; and with Don Rollo (1887-1948), replacing Penwarden the following year. Hudson gave back to the game as a builder. He was President of the Strathcona Curling Club (1925-1927) and later served as Secretary. He was President of the Manitoba Curling Association (1934-1935) and the Dominion Curling Association (1949-1950) and also served as MCA Secretary.
In recognition of his contributions to Canada’s curling community, he received Honouary Life Memberships in the Kenora Curling Club, Strathcona Curling Club (1945), Manitoba Curling Association (1945), and Canadian Curling Association (1952). At the Strathcona, he was selected as the most illustrious curler in the club’s first 50 years. Ken Watson, a curler who followed Hudson to national stardom, once paid the ultimate tribute, calling him “the greatest curler of them all.” He was inducted posthumously to the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame (1974) and Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame (1985).
On 8 September 1926, he married Annie Flora MacLean (1899-1986) at Winnipeg and they had two children: Bruce MacLean Hudson and Margaret Estella Hudson (1933-2010).
He died at Winnipeg on 10 July 1959 and was buried in the St. James Cemetery. He was inducted posthumously into the Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame (1988).
“Outstanding curler, Gordon Hudson dies,” Winnipeg Free Press, 11 July 1959, page 49.
“Hudson name here to stay?,” Winnipeg Free Press, 28 April 1967, page 46.
Gordon Milford Hudson, Kenora Great War Project.
Dictionary of Manitoba Biography by John M. “Jack” Bumsted, Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1999.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough and Rick Mutton.
Page revised: 14 November 2022
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