The 13th Tony Colacchio Wheelchair bonspiel at the Cape Cod Curling Club took place from November 7
– 10 with a field of 6 teams from across the country including curlers from: North Carolina, Georgia,
Montana, Tennessee, Colorado, New York and New England. We welcomed back some old friends and
met some new ones.
We continue to be excited to continue the tradition that Tony Colacchio started of
having brand new wheelchair curlers play in their first games at this annual bonspiel. This year we saw 3
participants from our October 5th open house join us, and the teams they were on were 2nd event
winners and finalists.
We dedicated this year’s bonspiel to Dave Palmer who passed in April. Dave was one of the original
Wheelchair Curlers and the first Paralympian from the Cape Cod Curling Club. Although he moved to
Florida a while ago, he came back for the Wheelspiel each year and was a dear friend to all who knew
him. We have created the Dave Palmer Spirit award that will be presented each year at the Wheelchair
Spiel. We modeled the award after the World Curling Federation's Sportsmanship Awards that they
present at the various World Championships each year. Having the athletes vote for the person in the
spiel they felt best personified all the qualities from that Sportsmanship award, but also the extra joy
and fun that David always brought on and off the ice. Dave’s wife Denise donated her framed display of
the pictures and letters from Dave's visit to the White House with Team USA in 2014. It is hanging in the
hall just before the door to the ramp. So every time any wheelies head on or off the ice, they have Dave
looking over them and inspiring them. We are getting a plaque to hold the names of each of the Palmer
Spirit Award recipients that will hang directly under that set of photos. The inaugural Dave Palmer Sprit
award was presented to Brendan Smith from Charlotte, North Carolina at the Banquet on Saturday
night. We were grateful to be able to share the night with David’s sons and siblings.
This event requires more volunteers than any other in the club. From assisting the curlers on ice, to
transporting with accessible vehicles on top of all other traditional spiel volunteer roles, including:
Culinary Teams, Cocktail Party, Bar Staff, and Ice prep support. We had more than 62 volunteers
participate in making this event such a success, many of these volunteers helped in more than one role.
All participants shared with us their appreciation for the dedication and heart seen with all the
volunteers they interacted with.
The event results are listed below. The Cape Cod Wheelchair Program was well represented with 12
curlers playing on 5 of the 6 Teams. Cape Cod Curlers are in blue below:
1st Event
Winners – Team USA Finalists – Sticks and Stones (NC)
Steve Davis Ken White
Sean O’Neill David Box
Dan Rose Lisa Maddox
Katie Verderber Terri Meadows
2nd Event
Winners – Cape Cod Finalists – Patriots
Meghan Lino Ryan Owens
Mike Wright Jon Brace
Dave Dallacosta Lucas Dias
Mike Koloski
3rd Event
Winners – Rocky III Finalists – North & South Rock and Rollers
Brendan Smith Bobby Prenoveau
Matt Broughton Viola Miller
Mary MacDonald Paul Sousa
Caroline Knox
