Peter Lyall

A national curler by the age of 16, Peter Lyall was already well-known in Montreal at the turn of the 20th century when he moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba and became an important contributor to the sport at the local level. An ex-president of the local Caledonia Curling Club in Montreal, by 1909 he was president of the Manitoba Curling Association (MCA, now CurlManitoba) and competed out of the Thistle Curling Club. He served in the First World War with the 90th Winnipeg Rifles, reaching the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, and then returned to Montreal. Rejoining Caledonia, he won the Quebec provincial championships as skip in 1931 and 1932. At the 1932 Winter Olympics, where curling was a demonstration sport, he served as skip for the Northern Ontario team, which finished fourth after losing to the rinks from New York and Connecticut, but defeating Massachusetts and Michigan.

In 1927, its inaugural year, he was made a trustee of the Macdonald (now Tim Horton’s) Brier, the Canadian national championship for curling. In 1929 he was made an Honourary Life Member of the MCA, recognizing his contributions to the sport in the province and, during the 1930s, he served as an officer on the board of several clubs. He was also a Canadian national billiards champion, winning the title in 1899. A member of a prominent construction family, Lyall was a businessman by career.