Curling Legends: Ed Lukowich

“Fast Eddy” Lukowich has been central to some of the greatest shifts in the history of curling. He learned to curl in Speers, Sask. back while the sliding rules were being shaped. Four decades later he won the Moncton 100, the no-hit cashspiel that ushered in the Free Guard Zone era. From the Richardsons to Kevin Martin, he’s battled Legends from every living generation.

In 1973, with a chance to join a young Paul Savage, Ed may have been one of the first players to move across the country solely for a curling opportunity. You might be surprised to hear who Ed nearly replaced on that Ontario squad.

In 1978, Ed took advantage of new rules that allowed a Calgary player to team with his Medicine Hat squad, and with Mike Chernoff on board the team captured the Macdonald Brier in Vancouver. They also won the event with team horsehair push brooms, another first, and with Mike calling the game while Ed threw fourth stones—something not commonly seen back then.

1988 saw Ed become the first ever men’s skip to represent Canada in an Olympic Winter Games, when curling was a demonstration sport at Calgary.

Controversy over provincial residence has often been an issue in past seasons, and Ed was embroiled in it in the early 1990s when second Rick Vallette shifted his playdown efforts from Saskatchewan to join Lukowich in Alberta, and also during the Merv Bodnarchuk era in B.C.

Ed’s efforts hatched a professional curling league which eventually became the World Curling Tour and he later became one of the early Canadians to assist a foreign nation in curling, becoming an advisor to USA during the early part of the new century.

A variety of historic images have been embedded in the media player, to enhance your podcast experience.