A born-and-raised St. Albertan and Canadian Country Music Hall of Famer will soon have a new honour under her belt.
Jackie Rae Greening, CFCW Radio program director and manager of operations, will be inducted into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame this fall for her dedication to the curling community. Greening is one of five builders — leaders in the sports community — who will join the Hall of Fame this year, alongside two athletes and four award winners.
Greening said her first reaction to hearing about the award was a resounding, “What!?”
“It’s a true honour because curling’s been my life,” Greening said. “I’m a goal setter, so I rarely look back — then I saw what people who nominated me said, and I started to think, ‘Oh my goodness, I guess I have done a thing or two.’”
A St. Albert Curling Club attendee since she was “zero years old,” Greening used to spend time in the club’s daycare while her mom played in the afternoon league.
“Back then you had to be 12 years old to start curling,” Greening said. “As soon as I turned 12, I started up at the club, too.”
Six years later, at age 18, Greening won the Alberta Junior title and set off to Prince Edward Island to compete in nationals. Since developing a love of the sport in those formative years, Greening has travelled across Canada as a competitive curler, something she said has allowed her to “see a great country.”
Greening is also an avid volunteer, lending both her time and voice for World Championships curling events, including the 2005 Tim Hortons Brier, and the 2007 Ford Worlds Men’s Curling Championships. When St. Albert hosted the 2012 Special Olympics Canada Winter Games, Greening ran the curling competition and worked alongside the athletes.
Assembling host committees for tournaments is really like building a curling team, Greening said.
“You’ve got to make sure they all have an amazing experience — that they're getting the job done, and having fun while they're doing it,” Greening said. “That's always been my goal.”
Later in 2017, Greening commentated for the Junior World Curling Championship held in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
“It’s all been an amazing experience,” Greening said. “Just think — you get paid to sit at a venue watching curling. Life couldn’t get better!”
Greening was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 2018. She says balancing her passion for country music through her radio work and her love of curling in her spare time has meant she is always doing something close to her heart.
“Imagine every day doing what you love,” Greening said. “That’s the best advice you can give to anybody — follow your passions and you don’t have to work a day in your life.”
Looking back on all the times she has volunteered over the years, Greening said the people who have volunteered and played by her side have really made her time in the curling world special.
“If you want to become part of a community, the curling community is second to none,” Greening said. “I've had a lot of fun nights, at the St. Albert Curling Club back in my day, and still more to come.”
Greening will officially join the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame on Oct. 21, 2022, during the induction ceremony at the Red Deer Polytechnic Main Theatre.
