By the Huntsville Curling Club
Did you know that stick curling was invented right here in Huntsville?
In 1998, Rusty Drew invented the “Extender” at the Huntsville Curling Club. The Extender is an accessibility aid – it is a stick with a plastic clip that allows a person to deliver a rock without crouching down in the hack.
Rusty tried the extender on curlers standing up and a person in a wheelchair – both delivered the rock into the house with no difference from the curler in the hack. The first ever rock delivered by a person in a wheelchair was during this time here in Huntsville in 1998.
Rusty sought approval from Curling Canada for use of the extender. Within two months of his application, Curling Canada approved the extender for every level of curling except competitive, paving the way for Rusty to patent the design.
Well known Muskoka author Susan Pryke, wrote an article in CARP Fifty Plus Magazine about Rusty’s Extender causing news of the extender to spread like wildfire.
The first ever World Wheelchair Championships were held in Geneva Switzerland in 2002. The Extender was the delivery aid they endorsed.
Rusty was inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, in the category of Innovations Curling. The Canadian Sports Hall of Fame also credits Rusty with the Creation of the Sport of Wheelchair Curling.
Way to go Rusty!
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My wife wants to know, do they call it the Rusty Extender?