Veteran sports scribe puts down his pen

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This article was published 19/05/2022 (1145 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The clock has wound down on Terry Frey’s tenure as sports editor of The Carillon, but readers won’t soon forget the buzzer-beaters, birdie putts, Hail Mary passes, and overtime upsets he crisscrossed the Southeast to report on each week.

Frey retires this week from a 40-year journalism career that included 34 years at this newspaper, where he singlehandedly filled the newspaper’s award-winning sports section week in, week out.

Like the athletes he covered, Frey didn’t let up. Last Wednesday, he burned the midnight oil to get the Steinbach Pistons’ season-ending loss to the Dauphin Kings into the next morning’s newspaper.

Frey began reading newspapers in Grade 6 and said he will continue to do so in retirement.

“I still love following politics and current affairs.”

Arriving at The Carillon in July 1988, Frey took over the sports desk from Wes Keating, who had spent the preceding 12 years transforming the beat into the full-fledged section it remains today.

Raised in Steinbach, Frey completed an arts degree at the University of Manitoba in 1978, majoring in political science. Choosing journalism over a career in education, he enrolled in a communications program at Lethbridge Community College in Alberta.

He leveraged a part-time student radio gig there into a full-time broadcasting position in Yorkton, Sask. Then came four years on the radio at CHSM in Steinbach.

The jump from radio to print can be difficult, but writing came naturally to Frey, who developed his frank yet conversational tone from the newspaper and magazine writers he read growing up.

“I was familiar with the area already. I knew lots of people. In that sense, starting here was a little bit easier.”

Photography was another matter, but a friend’s crash course imparted the skills Frey later honed at rinks, diamonds, and pitches across the region.

He wrote his first story on the Steinbach Hawks, then in their final season in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League.

Frey planned to put in three to five years then apply to the Winnipeg Free Press. But he never did, finding Steinbach a good fit for him and his family.

Covering the raucous Hanover-Taché Hockey League was a highlight of Frey’s early years at the paper.

“I remember covering some of those early finals, and it was just crazy,” he said. “The Ste Anne Aces were always a strong team. Arenas were packed, emotions were high. That was also a time when everything you wrote about the series was dissected and criticized, because people cared a lot.”

In the summer, he chased the Hanover Fastball League, which was a big draw in those days.

“To some of these final games, they would get hundreds of fans out,” Frey recalled.

The arrival of the Steinbach Pistons in 2009 gave the sports beat a new anchor franchise. Frey chronicled the team’s relocation from Beausejour and the rebuilding process that followed.

“They morphed into this dynasty where they are challenging for a championship every year.”

Frey made sure not to let the MJHL excitement crowd out coverage of high school and university sports, which he said are important incubators of talent. He also circled back to his favourite sports.

“I’ve always been a big fan of volleyball because two of my best friends played university volleyball. It was always one of my favourite things to cover. This area is a volleyball area.”

He was courtside for one of the biggest victories by a Steinbach team in any sport.

“One of the highlights of my career was watching the (SRSS) Sabres win the 2014 AAAA Championship at the U of M. There were 3,000 fans there.”

Over the years, Frey watched the popularity of various sports ebb and flow.

“When I started, fastball was huge,” he said, “and then slowly it started to drop off and baseball started to become more prominent.”

Before long he was covering soccer, a sport that was barely on his radar in the 1980s. Immigration also brought rugby and cricket to the Southeast.

Football also became a force, and Frey documented the rise of the SRSS Sabres, who went from winless seasons to winning championships. He also covered two provincial men’s curling championships, recalling the throngs that showed up to watch Vic Peters compete.

“That first curling championship that was held here was one of my favourite events ever,” Frey said. “Curling has always been one of my passions.”

In 2016, the Manitoba Summer Games arrived in Steinbach.

“That was the most successful Manitoba Summer Games ever held,” Frey said.

Golf was a summertime staple. Frey chronicled the construction of several local golf courses, and was a steady presence at the Steinbach Fly-In.

“It’s been one of Manitoba’s best-conditioned golf courses,” he said. “It has drawn lots of golfers from Winnipeg and elsewhere—and Quarry Oaks too.”

Brian Guenther, head professional at the Fly-In, said Frey reported well on the club’s tournaments and community contributions.

“Whether discussing local players or commenting on the PGA Tour, Terry had great insight into the game of golf,” Guenther said.

Frey also covered the construction of the Landmark Arena and the T.G. Smith Centre. He conceded it’s hard to leave the sports desk just as the Nighthawks are arriving in Niverville and the Southeast Event Centre is breaking ground in Steinbach.

In addition to league coverage, Frey was also adept at athlete and coach profiles.

“You get involved emotionally in it, and I was glad I was able to do stories like that,” he said.

Frey relished opportunities to follow star athletes as they rose through the ranks. He had a special connection to curler Vic Peters, who died of cancer in 2016 after winning three Manitoba titles, a national championship, and a bronze at the world championships.

“I was able to document a lot of his successes and the community followed him very closely,” Frey said.

Frey also fondly remembered Maurice Chaput, the longtime captain of the Ste Anne Aces and president of the Manitoba AAA Midget Hockey League, who left huge shoes to fill when he died last year.

“He’s one of the guys over the years that I respected the most. He was such a community leader in Ste Anne,” Frey said.

Frey also followed the career of defenceman Ian White, “Steinbach’s first big NHLer,” who toured Frey around the Toronto Maple Leafs dressing rooms and training facilities. Personal issues derailed White’s NHL career.

“But nonetheless, he was Steinbach’s first successful great hockey player, and I covered him since he was 14,” Frey said.

Frey was also inspired by Rob Giesbrecht, arguably the best all-around athlete the Southeast has ever produced.

“He was proficient in volleyball, hockey, and fastball,” Frey said of Giesbrecht, now a gym teacher in Landmark.

Always one for motorsports, Frey also tracked the European circuit racing career of Niverville-bred driver David Richert.

Frey also covered Anola’s Corey Koskie, who was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in 1994. During a trip to Minneapolis to interview Koskie, Frey used his press pass to gain entry to the New York Yankees’ dressing room, where he joined a scrum encircling legendary pitcher Roger Clemens.

“I can’t even remember what I asked him,” Frey said with a chuckle.

Local Olympians were also a thrill to cover, most notably Ste Anne hockey medalists Jocelyne Larocque and Bailey Bram.

Frey’s most memorable interview occurred June 5, 1999, when he interviewed hockey great Jean Béliveau at a 50th anniversary celebration for the La Broquerie Habs.

“I got to spend half an hour with him in a side room, just one on one. That was definitely a highlight,” Frey said. “It wasn’t just his success at hockey. He was a highly respected human being—a real gentleman.”

As the years went by, Frey garnered professional distinctions, serving as president of the Manitoba Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association for the past five years. His sports section also won numerous national and provincial newspaper awards. Frey credited the paper’s production staff who help assemble the pages each week.

Laurie Finley, publisher of The Carillon and president of the Manitoba Community Newspaper Association, said Frey’s sports coverage set the paper apart from other weeklies.

“There are very few rural community papers that have a separate Sports section, let alone one that has won numerous awards over the years for excellence,” Finley said. “Terry brought talent, dedication, and professionalism to The Carillon and to the readers of our community.”

His last deadline behind him, Frey is turning the sports desk over to fellow Manitoban Cassidy Dankochik, who cut his teeth at local newspapers in Gimli, Altona, and Flin Flon before becoming editor of the Quesnel Cariboo Observer in B.C.

Frey’s next assignment is a self-imposed one: a European vacation with his wife and daughter. He plans to visit the Old Course at St Andrew’s in Scotland. After strolling those storied hills, it’s back to walking his dog in L.A. Barkman Park.