Curler.
Born at Winnipeg on 27 August 1888, son of Daniel David Wood and Katherine “Kate” Wilson (1863-1950), he played lacrosse, soccer, and hockey in his youth. He was a member of the “Winnipeg Scottish” team that became the senior soccer champions of Canada in 1915.
He joined the Thistle Curling Club in 1906 and, six years later, he moved over to the Granite Curling Club where he was awarded an Honorary Life Membership in 1940. He competed in 70 consecutive Manitoba Curling Association bonspiels from 1908 to 1978. This feat is recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records.
He won eight Bonspiel Grand Aggregate Championships and 37 event trophies. He qualified to play in 23 Provincial Men's Curling Championships. He won three times in 1930, 1940 and 1945. At the 1930 MacDonald Brier in Toronto, his team of Jim Congalton (1879-1947) and his brothers Victor Wood (1886-1979) and Lionel Wood (1899-1965) won the Brier with a record of 8-2. In 1932, he played third for Jim Congalton, along with Bill Noble (1889-1950) and Harry Mawhinney (1882-1953) with a 6-2 record. In 1940, at the first Brier played outside of Toronto, in Winnipeg, his team of Ernie Pollard (1884-1973), son Howard Wood (1918-2000), and Roy Enman (1913-1979) went unbeaten with a record of 9-0. In 1945, the Brier was not played due to the Second World War.
He was made an Honorary Life Member of the Manitoba Curling Association (1952) and was inducted into the Manitoba Order of the Buffalo Hunt (1973), Canadian Curling Hall of Fame (1974), and Canadian Sports Hall of Fame (1977). He was inducted posthumously into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame (1981) and Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame (1988). His 1930 and 1940 teams are members of the Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame (2012) and Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame (2019).
He died at Winnipeg on 28 December 1978 and was buried in the Elmwood Cemetery.
Birth registration, Manitoba Vital Statistics.
“Howard Wood and his Granite rink defeat Alberta in playoff,” Manitoba Free Press, 1 March 1930, page 32.
“Best in all Canada,” Winnipeg Free Press, 8 March 1940, page 1.
Manitoba Curling Association, 1953 Yearbook, page 20.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 29 December 1978, page 31.
Website, Canadian Curling Hall of Fame.
Hall of Famers, Canadian Sport Hall of Fame.
Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame.
Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame.
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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