Russ Howard CM, ONL | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Born | February 19, 1956 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Curling career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Member Association | Ontario (1979–1998) New Brunswick (1998–2010) Saskatchewan (2020) [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Brier appearances | 14 (1980, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2009) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Top CTRS ranking | 12th (2004–05) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Grand Slam victories | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Russell W. "Russ" Howard, CM, ONL (born February 19, 1956, in Midland, Ontario) is a Canadian curler and Olympic champion, based in Regina, Saskatchewan, but originally from Midland, Ontario. He lived in Moncton, New Brunswick, from 2000 to 2019. Known for his gravelly voice, Howard has been to the Brier 14 times (8 as Ontario, 6 as New Brunswick), winning the title twice (both as Ontario). He is also a two-time world champion, winning in 1987 and 1993. [2] [3] He has also won three TSN Skins Games in 1991, 1992, and 1993, and participated in two Canadian Mixed Curling Championships in 2000 and 2001. He won gold at the 2006 Winter Olympics. He played in two Canadian Senior Curling Championships in 2008 and 2009 finishing with a silver medal both of those years. Russ Howard was inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 2011. [4] He is currently a curling analyst and commentator for TSN’s Season of Champions curling coverage. [5]
In 2005, he joined team Gushue to call the shots for Brad Gushue's team at the Canadian Olympic Trials, while he played second. Howard, along with Gushue (who throws last rocks), lead Jamie Korab and third Mark Nichols, went on to win the trials, giving them the right to represent Canada at the 2006 Winter Olympics, [6] where they won the gold medal, defeating Finland 10–4 in the final match. [7] It was the first time that a Canadian team had won the gold medal for men's curling. [3] Howard, who turned 50 during the Olympics, is also the oldest Canadian to win an Olympic gold medal. [2] [7] The oldest person ever to win a gold medal was Robin Welsh, aged 54, who won gold in curling at the 1924 Winter Olympics.
As a skip (captain), Howard has been in three previous trials (in 1987, 1997, and 2001), but never went on to the Olympics. Howard is also the innovator of the "Moncton Rule", which evolved into the "free guard zone", part of international and Olympic rules. [2] This makes his 2006 medal particularly significant, as it is likely that without the excitement this rule adds to the sport it would not have become an Olympic event in the 1990s. [8]
In the 2009-10 curling season, although he played in bonspiels throughout the year, Howard did not curl in the New Brunswick Tankard due to his broadcasting commitments with The Sports Network (TSN). Howard has been commentating curling events for TSN since 2001.
In 2006, he was inducted into the New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame. In 2013, he was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame. [9] He was named a Member of the Order of Canada and inducted into the WCF Hall of Fame in 2015. [10]
At the end of the 2009 Brier, Howard had appeared in more Briers than any other player (14), and played more games at the Brier than any other player (174). [11] The 2012 Brier saw his brother Glenn Howard tying his record for Brier appearances and breaking his record for most career games played at the Brier. [12] As of 2017, Russ had appeared in the second most Brier games ever, behind his brother Glenn.
Howard stepped into the broadcast booth for the first time in 2001, serving as an analyst for TSN’s coverage of the Brier. [5] Since 2008, he has been a mainstay analyst on the network, also providing colour commentary for TSN’s Season of Champions curling. [5]
Howard handled colour commentating duties for Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium during the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. [5]
Howard's grand-aunt, Jean Thompson, was an Olympic runner. His brother, Glenn Howard, is also a well known curler. Howard's daughter, Ashley Howard, is a competitive curler and the executive director of CurlSask, the governing body of curling in Saskatchewan. [13]
Outside of curling, Howard worked as a real estate agent for Royal LePage Atlantic, in addition to his commentator work with TSN, and as a curling coach in Switzerland. He moved to Regina, Saskatchewan in 2019 to be closer to his children. [14]
Season | Skip | Third | Second | Lead |
---|---|---|---|---|
1979–80 | Russ Howard | Larry Merkley | Robert Rushton | Kent Carstairs |
1985–86 | Russ Howard | Glenn Howard | Tim Belcourt | Kent Carstairs |
1986–87 | Russ Howard | Glenn Howard | Tim Belcourt | Kent Carstairs |
1988–89 | Russ Howard | Glenn Howard | Tim Belcourt | Kent Carstairs |
1989–90 [15] | Russ Howard | Glenn Howard | Wayne Middaugh | Peter Corner |
1990–91 | Russ Howard | Glenn Howard | Wayne Middaugh | Peter Corner |
1991–92 | Russ Howard | Glenn Howard | Wayne Middaugh | Peter Corner |
1992–93 | Russ Howard | Glenn Howard | Wayne Middaugh | Peter Corner |
1993–94 | Russ Howard | Glenn Howard | Wayne Middaugh | Peter Corner |
1994–95 | Russ Howard | Glenn Howard | Peter Corner | Ken McDermot |
1995–96 [16] | Russ Howard | Glenn Howard | Peter Corner | Noel Herron |
1996–97 | Russ Howard | Glenn Howard | Scott Patterson | Phil Loevenmark |
1997–98 | Russ Howard | Glenn Howard | Noel Herron | Steve Small |
1998–99 | Russ Howard | Glenn Howard Wayne Tallon | Peter Corner Rick Perron | Neil Harrison Grant Odishaw |
1999–00 | Russ Howard | Glenn Howard Wayne Tallon | Peter Corner Rick Perron | Neil Harrison Grant Odishaw |
2000–01 | Russ Howard | James Grattan | Rick Perron | Grant Odishaw |
2001–02 | Russ Howard | James Grattan | Marc LeCocq | Grant Odishaw |
2002–03 | Russ Howard | James Grattan | Marc LeCocq | Grant Odishaw |
2003–04 | Russ Howard | James Grattan | Marc LeCocq | Grant Odishaw |
2004–05 | Russ Howard | James Grattan | Grant Odishaw | Marc LeCocq |
2005 | Russ Howard | Mark Dobson | Steven Howard | Grant Odishaw |
2005–06 | Brad Gushue (fourth) | Mark Nichols | Russ Howard (skip) | Jamie Korab |
2006–07 | Russ Howard | Grant Odishaw | Mark Dobson | Steven Howard |
2007–08 | Russ Howard | Grant Odishaw | Mark Dobson | Steven Howard |
2008–09 | Russ Howard | James Grattan | Jason Vaughan | Peter Case |
2009–10 | Russ Howard | James Grattan | Jason Vaughan | Peter Case |
Howard has released two books: Hurry Hard: The Russ Howard Story (2007), an autobiography that vividly describes his journey to becoming an Olympic gold medallist, and Curl to Win (2008). [17]
Sandra Marie Schmirler was a Canadian curler who captured three Canadian Curling Championships and three World Curling Championships. Schmirler also skipped (captained) her Canadian team to a gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics, the first year women's curling was a medal sport. At tournaments where she was not competing, Schmirler sometimes worked as a commentator for CBC Sports, which popularized her nickname "Schmirler the Curler" and claimed she was the only person who had a name that rhymed with the sport she played. She died in 2000 at 36 of cancer, leaving a legacy that extended outside of curling. Schmirler was honoured posthumously with an induction into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame and was awarded the World Curling Freytag Award, which later led to her induction into the World Curling Federation Hall of Fame.
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Kevin Ray Martin, nicknamed "The Old Bear" and "K-Mart", is a Canadian retired curler originally from Lougheed, Alberta and residing in Edmonton. He is an Olympic, World and four-time Canadian champion and a member of the World Curling Hall of Fame. He is considered by many commentators and former and current curlers to be the greatest curler of all time. He is also known for his rivalries with Randy Ferbey/David Nedohin, the best Alberta provincial rivalry ever as the two teams were generally regarded the best in the world from 2002 to 2006; his rivalry with Jeff Stoughton, perhaps the most famous all prairies rivalry ever which spanned over 2 decades from 1991 to 2014; with Glenn Howard from 2007 to 2014, perhaps the best two team rivalry in Canadian curling history, and his rivalry with Sweden's Peja Lindholm from 1997 to 2006, perhaps the best ever men's Canada-Europe rivalry.
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Bradley Raymond Gushue, ONL is a Canadian curler from St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. Gushue, along with teammates Russ Howard, Mark Nichols, Jamie Korab and Mike Adam, represented Canada in curling at the 2006 Winter Olympics, where they won the gold medal by defeating Finland 10–4. He also represented Canada at the 2022 Winter Olympics, where he won a bronze medal. In addition to the Olympics, Gushue won the 2017 World Men's Curling Championship with teammates Mark Nichols, Brett Gallant, and Geoff Walker. He is a record six-time Brier champion skip, having won in 2017, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024 all with Nichols, Gallant and Walker, except for 2023 and 2024 with E. J. Harnden replacing Gallant. Their win in 2017 was Newfoundland and Labrador's first Brier title in 41 years. At the 2018 Tim Hortons Brier, Gushue set a new record for Brier game wins as a skip, breaking a three-way tie with previous record-holders Russ Howard and Kevin Martin.
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Glenn William Howard is a retired Canadian curler who is one of the most decorated curlers of all time. He has won four world championships, four Briers and 17 Ontario provincial championships, including a record eight straight, from 2006 to 2013. He has made 20 Brier appearances, playing in a total of 227 games, the third most of any curler. He has won a career 14 Grand Slams, won the 2001 TSN and 2013 Dominion All-Star Skin Games and the 2010 Canada Cup of Curling.
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The 2022 Tim Hortons Brier, Canada's national men's curling championship, was held from March 4 to 13 at the ENMAX Centre in Lethbridge, Alberta. In the final, the defending Olympic bronze medallist Brad Gushue Wild Card #1 team, which also include Mark Nichols, Brett Gallant and Geoff Walker from Newfoundland and Labrador defeated Alberta, skipped by Kevin Koe. It was Gushue's fourth career Brier title, and the team did it shorthanded, as Nichols missed the playoffs due to testing positive for COVID-19. According to Curling Canada, it was the first time a three-player team won a Brier final. Gushue's four Brier wins ties the record with Ernie Richardson, Randy Ferbey, Kevin Martin and Koe for most Brier championships as a skip, and his rink tied the "Ferbey Four" for most Brier championships as a foursome with four titles. Gushue played as a Wild Card team as they missed the Newfoundland and Labrador provincials due to their participation in the Olympics, and were the first team to ever play at the Brier and the Olympics in the same year. They were also the first Wild Card team to win the Brier. The Gushue rink represented Canada at the 2022 World Men's Curling Championship at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, United States, where they won the silver medal.