Clarence W. "Shorty" Jenkins (1935 – 11 April 2013) was a famous ice technician in the sport of

curling Curling is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area which is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take turns sliding ...

. He was known for his "trademark" pink cowboy hat, pink leather jacket and pink cowboy boots. Born in

Hanna, Alberta Hanna is a town in east-central Alberta, Canada. History The town was first settled in 1912 and was incorporated in 1914. It was named after David Blyth Hanna, the third vice president of the Canadian Northern Railway. It was a division point ...

and raised in an orphanage in

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. Th ...

, Jenkins served in the

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...

from the age of 17. He would be posted in Germany and in Canada to do various military jobs. He eventually left the military to work with

Sunoco Sunoco LP is an American master limited partnership organized under Delaware state laws and headquartered in Dallas, Texas, that is a wholesale distributor of motor fuels. It distributes fuel to more than 5,500 Sunoco-branded gas stations, ...

. That wouldn't last, and Jenkins convinced the curling club in Trenton, Ontario to take him on as ice maker. He wanted to be an ice maker after noting how terrible the ice was at the 1974 provincial championships he was competing in. One trend Shorty started in curling was that of timing rocks. He used his idea to judge how good the ice was. Jenkins claimed he was the only person who could "choose and match rocks for major championships". He refused to do the ice of a tournament without choosing the rocks for it. Jenkins kept video tapes of the tournaments he had done to see what the television announcers were saying about his ice. In the late 1990s Jenkins starred in his own commercial for the

Tim Hortons Tim Hortons Inc., commonly nicknamed Tim's, or Timmie's is a Canadian multinational coffeehouse and restaurant chain. Based in Toronto, Tim Hortons serves coffee, doughnuts, and other fast-food items. It is Canada's largest quick-service rest ...

donut chain, celebrating "true Tim Hortons stories".Archived a
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine
Presently, the Shorty Jenkins Classic curling

bonspiel A bonspiel is a curling tournament, consisting of several games, often held on a weekend. Until the 20th century most bonspiels were held outdoors, on a frozen freshwater loch. Today almost all bonspiels are held indoors on specially prepared ar ...

is held in his name. It occurs annually in

Cornwall, Ontario Cornwall is a city in Eastern Ontario, Canada, situated where the provinces of Central Canada, Ontario and Quebec and the state of New York (state), New York converge. It is the seat of the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, Unit ...

in the month of September. Jenkins died on April 11, 2013, at the age of 77, following a lengthy illness.

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Who is Shorty Jenkins?Curlers, fans, icemakers mourn the passing of Shorty Jenkins
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jenkins, Shorty 1935 births 2013 deaths Curlers from Alberta Curlers from Ontario Royal Canadian Air Force personnel People from Quinte West People from Special Areas, Alberta Curlers from Victoria, British Columbia Canadian male curlers Curling ice makers