Hans Madsen and his beard bring smiles to curlers and fans at Scotties

For 70-year-old Saskatchewan sports fan Hans Madsen, cheering for every team at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts is what makes the event truly memorable.

Madsen stands out in any crowd of curling fans with a painted beard, wigs and co-ordinated outfits to match. He said he doesn’t pick just one team to support.

“We cheer for them all, whoever makes the best shots,” Madsen explained, noting he takes requests from different teams every day.

He has a huge collection to choose from, with more than 700 wigs alone.

“They’re all categorized at home in different totes for different colours and combinations. That’s what’s all in the one bedroom at home is just wigs and little costumes and things that people have given you over the years,” he said.

He has been dressing up for Saskatchewan Roughriders CFL games for decades, but he slowly expanded his wardrobe to support hockey, baseball and curling teams from across Canada.

“The first time I decorated up for the Quebec team many years back, I had a blue bunnyhug on and that’s the closest I had,” Madsen said. “When that was all done (Quebec curler) Pierre Charette came over and said, ‘You know what you need is a coat to go with that,’ and he took the coat off his back and he gave it to me! So little things like that – I have nice memories.”

Madsen admitted it takes about six hours to design different logos for his beard and it took a lot of trial and error to develop his technique over the decades with a special cosmetic paint.

“Six quick shampoos and it’s gone and you start over with what you have and you get your base coat, your primer coat, your undercoat, your white coat and everything and you just paint it all backwards,” Madsen explained.

Madsen was diagnosed with terminal cancer a few years ago, but he won’t let his health stop him from the fun of dressing up. He knows the teams all appreciate it because they come and tell him so.

“They love it and we love them too — all the teams. You get a chance to meet them over the years, sometimes different girls or different guys,” Madsen commented.

His motivation for all the work remains the same for any sport and team.

“Anything just to make people smile,” he said.

— With files from 980 CJME’s Britton Gray