Hurry hard is the name of the game for 89-year-old curler Mel Younker. The oldest curler in St. Albert is a rock star twice a week in the 50-plus mixed and two-person stick leagues.
Hurry hard is the name of the game for 89-year-old curler Mel Younker.
The oldest curler in St. Albert is a rock star twice a week in the 50-plus mixed and two-person stick leagues.
“It keeps me going,” Younker said with a smile as big as the rings. “It's fun. You get to meet a lot of people. I really enjoy it.”
The great-grandfather turns 90 on Feb. 24 and doesn't plan on slowing down.
“When I can't do it anymore, I'll stop but until then I'll keep going as long as I can,” said Younker, who was born in 1926 in Calgary and grew up on a cattle and horse farm in Strathmore.
“You have to get out and keep going. Instead, you'll just die out. You have to keep on living,” he explained. “I always feel good after when I do this and when I do my walks. I go out most days and walk for about five kilometres. I can do that in an hour.”
Younker credits the stick delivery for prolonging his curling career.
“It was about four years ago. I had trouble with my balance coming out of the hack and the lady I was curling for said it's time I started using a stick. She said I could do a better job.”
Younker is proud of his ability to rock the house at his age.
“A couple times where I've had a really, really great games people say, ‘I don't know how you do it,'” he said. “I can curl a decent game most of the time.”
Younker is also a sweeping machine in the 50-plus mixed league.
“I prefer it better because there is lots of sweeping and lots of running up and down the ice instead of standing there and throwing rocks.”
Younker's love affair with curling started in his late 20s in the air force as a mobile equipment technician stationed in Fort Churchill, Man.
“My wife (Marion) was a curler. She said, ‘Come on, it's time you learned to curl,'” he recalled. “I started skipping shortly after I learned to curl. They wanted somebody to skip and it seemed to come naturally to me. Then, after three or four years in Red Deer when I didn't curl, I got back into it and I went in as a third and then when I thought I wasn't doing so good as a third I went to second and I've been at second ever since.
“I wouldn't say I was better than I was in my earlier age when I was skipping, but I really haven't lost too much tack.”
Younker has delivered winning shots in several locations.
“I haven't curled in B.C. but I've curled in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec and even in Germany where I was stationed for four years,” he said. “The biggest bonspiel I think I was in was in Montreal in the Royal, the oldest curling rink in Canada.
“I've won some trophies across the country. Actually, the year in Churchill we ended up winning the final. From there, we went to Toronto and I curled there for three years and I think we won a trophy one year,” Younker added. “I've got all of my trophies in my house. They're in a box and I haven't got around to doing anything with them yet.”
After the air force, Younker worked in a Ford garage in Red Deer until retirement at age 64. He moved to St. Albert in 2013 and has been a fixture on the St. Albert curling scene ever since.
“The very first game I played here I fell on the ice,” Younker laughed. “They're a great bunch here. I have a lot of fun curling with them.”
When he's not curling, Younker is glued to the television when the sport is on.
“I like to watch and see how they do and their strategy,” said the fan of the Ferbey Four back in the day. “There were some curlers in the past that I liked but I can't even remember their names now.”
Younker encourages young and old to give curling a shot.
“If they came out they would find it's a great game. Win or lose it's always fun.”
