Russell W. "Russ" Howard, CM, ONL (born February 19, 1956 in Midland,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

curler and

Olympic champion This article includes lists of all Olympic medalists since 1896, organized by each Olympic sport or discipline, and also by Olympiad. Medalist with most medals by sport Summer Olympic sports Winter Olympic sports A. Including military patrol e ...

, based in

Regina, Saskatchewan Regina () is the capital city of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, after Saskatoon, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 census, Regina had a city populatio ...

, but originally from Midland, Ontario. He lived in

Moncton, New Brunswick Moncton (; ) is the most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of New Brunswick. Situated in the Petitcodiac River Valley, Moncton lies at the geographic centre of the The Maritimes, Maritime Provinces. The ...

from 2000 to 2019. Known for his gravelly voice, Howard has been to the Brier 14 times (8 as Ontario, 6 as

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

), winning the title twice (both as Ontario). He is also a two-time world champion, winning in 1987 and 1993. He has also won three

TSN Skins Game The TSN All-Star Curling Skins Game is an annual curling bonspiel hosted by The Sports Network. " Skins" curling had been developed as a way to make curling more interesting on TV during the time before the free guard zone rule was implemented. T ...

s in 1991, 1992, and 1993, and participated in two

Canadian Mixed Curling Championships The Canadian Mixed Curling Championship is the national curling championship for mixed curling in Canada. The winners of the tournament will represent Canada at the World Mixed Curling Championship. In mixed curling, the positions on a team mus ...

in 2000 and 2001. He won gold at the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second ...

and two

Canadian Senior Curling Championships The Canadian Senior Curling Championships are an annual bonspiel held to determine the national champions in senior curling for Canada. Seniors are defined as being people over the age of 50. The championship teams play at the World Senior Curlin ...

in 2008 and 2009 finishing with a silver medal both of those years. Russ Howard was inducted into the

Ontario Sports Hall of Fame The Ontario Sports Hall of Fame is an association dedicated to honouring athletes and personalities with outstanding achievement in sports in Ontario, Canada. The hall of fame was established in 1994 by Bruce Prentice, following his 15-year tenure ...

in 2011. He is currently a curling analyst and commentator for TSN’s Season of Champions curling coverage.

Career

In 2005, he joined team Gushue to call the shots for

Brad Gushue Bradley Raymond Gushue, ONL ( ; born June 16, 1980) 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 W ...

's team at the Canadian Olympic Trials, while he played second. Howard, along with Gushue (who throws last rocks), lead

Jamie Korab Jamie A. Korab, ONL (born November 28, 1979 in Harbour Grace, Newfoundland) is a Canadian curler and politician. Korab was the lead for the gold medal-winning Canadian men's team at the 2006 Winter Olympics skipped by Brad Gushue. In the 2017 ...

and third Mark Nichols, went on to win the trials, giving them the right to represent Canada at the

, where they won the gold medal, defeating

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...

10–4 in the final match. It was the first time that a Canadian team had won the gold medal for men's curling. Howard, who turned 50 during the Olympics, is also the oldest Canadian to win an Olympic gold medal. The oldest person ever to win a gold medal was Robin Welsh, aged 54, who won gold in curling at the

1924 Winter Olympics The 1924 Winter Olympics, officially known as the I Olympic Winter Games (french: Iers Jeux olympiques d'hiver) and commonly known as Chamonix 1924 ( frp, Chamôni 1924), were a winter multi-sport event which was held in 1924 in Chamonix, Franc ...

. 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. 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. 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 The Sports Network (TSN) is a Canadian English language sports specialty channel established by the Labatt Brewing Company in 1984 as part of the first group of Canadian specialty cable channels. Since 2001, it has been majority-owned by comm ...

(TSN). Howard has been commentating curling events for TSN since 2001. In 2006, he was inducted into the

New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame The New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame (french: Temple de la Renommée Sportive du Nouveau-Brunswick) is a provincial sports hall of fame and museum in Fredericton, New Brunswick. The sports hall of fame honours athletes, teams, and sport builders ...

. In 2013, he was inducted into

Canada's Sports Hall of Fame Canada's Sports Hall of Fame (french: Panthéon des sports canadiens; sometimes referred to as the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame) is a Canadian sports hall of fame and museum in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Dedicated to the history of sports in Canada ...

. He was named a

Member of the Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

and inducted into the

WCF Hall of Fame The WCF Hall of Fame is an international curling Hall of Fame that was established by the World Curling Federation The World Curling Federation (WCF) is the world governing body for curling accreditation, with offices in Perth, Scotland. It w ...

in 2015.

Brier records

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). The 2012 Brier saw his brother

Glenn Howard Glenn William Howard (born July 17, 1962) is a 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, ...

tying his record for Brier appearances and breaking his record for most career games played at the Brier. As of 2017, Russ had appeared in the second most Brier games ever, behind his brother Glenn.

Broadcasting career

Howard stepped into the broadcast booth for the first time in 2001, serving as an analyst for TSN’s coverage of the

Tim Horton's Brier The Tim Hortons Brier, or simply (and more commonly) the Brier (''french: Le Brier''), is the annual Canadian men's curling championship, sanctioned by Curling Canada. The current event name refers to its main sponsor, the Tim Hortons coffee a ...

. Since 2008, he has been a mainstay analyst on the network, also providing colour commentary for TSN’s Season of Champions curling. Howard handled colour commentating duties for Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium during the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

Personal life

Howard's grand-aunt, Jean Thompson, was an Olympic runner. His brother,

, 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. 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.

Teams

Publications

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).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Russ 1956 births Curlers from Ontario Sportspeople from Moncton People from Midland, Ontario Curlers at the 2006 Winter Olympics Curlers from New Brunswick New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame inductees Olympic gold medalists for Canada Living people Members of the Order of Newfoundland and Labrador Members of the Order of Canada World curling champions Curling broadcasters Brier champions Olympic curlers of Canada Olympic medalists in curling Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics Canadian curling coaches Canadian male curlers Continental Cup of Curling participants Canada Cup (curling) participants Curlers from Regina, Saskatchewan