Paul Gowsell is a Canadian curler from

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

. Gowsell hit the men's competitive curling world by storm in the late 1970s with his unorthodox antics.

Playing career

Gowsell was the first skip to win two

World Junior Curling Championships The World Junior Curling Championships are an annual curling bonspiel featuring the world's best curlers who are 21 years old or younger. The competitions for both men and women occur at the same venue. The men's tournament has occurred since 1 ...

. He won his first World Junior championship in 1976, defeating Sweden's

Jan Ullsten Jan Åke Ullsten (born 29 November 1954) is a Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Fi ...

. He repeated in 1978 by defeating Sweden again, this time skipped by Thomas Håkansson. Gowsell was the third skip to win two Canadian Junior Men's Championships which he did in 1975 and 1978. After juniors, Gowsell was very successful on the cash 'spiel circuit, but played in just one

Brier Briar, Briars, Brier, or Briers may refer to: * Briar, or brier, common name for a number of unrelated thorny plants that form thicket People * Brier (surname) * Briers, a surname * Briars (surname) Places * Briar, Missouri, U.S. * Bri ...

. When he was in his early 20s, Gowsell took his Alberta championship team to an 8-3 record at the

1980 Labatt Brier The 1980 Labatt Brier was held from March 2 to 9 at the Stampede Corral in Calgary, Alberta. Rick Folk of Saskatchewan defeated Al Hackner of Northern Ontario to win his first Brier title. Teams Round robin standings Round robin results Dra ...

, and lost to

Al Hackner Allan A. Hackner (born July 18, 1954), nicknamed "the Iceman", is a retired Canadians, Canadian Hall of Fame curling, curler from Thunder Bay, Ontario. He was born in Nipigon, Ontario. He is a two-time the Brier, Brier and World Curling Champion ...

's Northern Ontario team in the semi-final. Gowsell to date has not returned to the Brier, but has played some competitive events since, most recently at the Alberta provincial seniors curling championship in 2010. On January 5, 2013, Gowsell made a return to men's playdown curling, qualifying for the Alberta Southerns (a qualifier for the

Boston Pizza Cup The Boston Pizza Cup is the Alberta provincial championship for men's curling, run by Curling Alberta. The winner represents Team Alberta at the national men's championship, called the Tim Hortons Brier. Currently sponsored by restaurant chain B ...

) for the first time in numerous years. He teamed up with former Junior Alberta Provincial Champion, Mike Sali, his son, Sam Gowsell, and young up and coming lead Jamie Cochrane.

Antics

Gowsell was considered the "rebel of the curling world" in the 1970s and early 1980s. According to curler

Brent Pierce Brent Pierce (born July 7, 1969) is a Canadian curler and coach from New Westminster, British Columbia. Career Pierce is a 1987 provincial junior champion skip, and a four-time provincial champion, former national and world champion playing t ...

, "in the '70s, he'd travel in a VW van, partying and drinking beer. And he always wore plaid pants. Rumour has it that he never washed them." In those days, he sported long hair and a beard;

Hec Gervais Hector Joseph "The Friendly Giant" Gervais (November 4, 1933 – July 19, 1997) was a Canadian curler from Edmonton, Alberta. He was a two-time Brier champion and former World Champion. In curling strategy, he is considered to be the inventor o ...

once commented about Gowsell that, "with a shave and ''two'' haircuts, he'd be alright." In a game against Saskatchewan's

Larry McGrath Larry is a masculine given name in English, derived from Lawrence or Laurence. It can be a shortened form of those names. Larry may refer to the following: People Arts and entertainment * Larry D. Alexander, American artist/writer *Larry Boone ...

, Gowsell was known to have ordered a pizza to the game. Gowsell's team ate the pizza on the ice, and according to legend, McGrath's last stone picked on an olive from the pizza, losing him the game. Gowsell's teams were also credited with popularizing the use of the "pushbroom" in the sport. His teams revolutionized sweeping techniques in the sport, taking advantage of the chaff left on the ice by most of their competitors who had been using the "Blackjack" style of corn brooms prior to the Gowsell successes at the championship levels.http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Columnists/Bender/2008/03/09/4953041-sun.html

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gowsell, Paul Curlers from Calgary Living people Canadian male curlers Year of birth missing (living people)