Curling star signs with CFL

William Dion

 

When you think of two sports, it's not often that you link curling and football.

Curling has come a long way over the years. Fitness is a key component and due to the increased athleticism in curling, a lot of curlers are or were multi-sport athletes.

Case in point: William Dion.

Dion is a former Canadian junior curling champion (2008). He competed at the Quebec men's curling championship last week, finishing with a 2-7 record. He has also competed in the Canadian mixed curling championships in the past.

He can also boot a football. After a stellar five-year career at University of Sherbrooke, Dion recently signed a three-year contract with the Montreal Aloutettes.

From montrealalouettes.com:

The Montreal Alouettes announced on Wednesday the signing of non-import kicker William Dion to a three-year deal.

Dion (5’11’’, 210 lbs.) played five seasons with the Sherbrooke University Vert et Or from 2008 to 2012, where he set a new CIS record for most career field goals with 82.

Last season, the 25-year-old from Drummondville, QC became the all-time CIS leader when he split the uprights for a 72nd time on October 6, one more than the mark set by the Calgary Dinos' Aaron Ifield in 2010.

“We have been impressed with William as he has continued to raise his level to one that is deserving of a chance to compete in a CFL training camp,” said Alouettes General Manager Jim Popp.

The fifth-year senior successfully connected on 16 of his 24 field goal attempts during his final year at Sherbrooke, good for 66%, including one from 40 yards out. The former Champlain-Lennoxville Cougar also handled all the kicking duties for Sherbrooke in 2012, averaging 52.6 yards on kickoffs and 39.2 yards on punts.

Dion ended his stellar university career ranked fourth on the CIS all-time scoring list with 374 career points.

Not too shabby. I know Dion is a kicker, but he's built like a linebacker.

Another football and curling connection is San Francisco tight end Vernon Davis. Davis is a big supporter of curling. Any friend of curling is a friend of ours.

I could see a number of curlers doing well on the gridiron.

Steve Gould: Imagine with a little weight training how big Gould could be? I imagine the former Team Stoughten lead as a pass-blocking offensive tackle with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

E.J. Harnden and Ryan Harden: The members of Team Jacobs are all pretty buff. I could see these guys as defensive ends at the college level. Of course, they would roll up their sleeves so people could see the guns.

Glenn Howard: A pretty good athlete. I could see Howard as a quarterback with his golden locks flowing out of his helmet some 30 years ago.

John Morris: I've heard that the Team Martin vice was a good baseball player in his day. I could see Morris patrolling the middle linebacker position for the Laurier Golden Hawks.

Marc Kennedy: Apparently he was a decent junior football player in Alberta. Could see him lining up at free safety.