Chicago Curling Visit Part 2

World Curling is running an Olympic Celebration Tour at the Chicago Curling Club in Northbrook, IL this weekend.

I agree with the choice, having recently visited CCC (yesterday’s story) as well as the neighboring Exmoor Country Club.

Exmoor opened in 1896 and added curling in 1938, though there is some evidence it had been played at the club two years earlier.

I first met Exmoor member Anthony Fowler at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference back in 2019. He introduced himself to me and CurlingZone/Curling Stadium proprietor Gerry Geurts following our presentation on curling analytics.

Anthony was also presenting at the conference and the professor from the University of Chicago was not there to challenge our middle-school math equations, but to share his enthusiasm for the Roaring Game. 

Anthony was introduced to curling in 2009 by a friend from his college club team and watching the Vancouver 2010 Olympics got him further hooked. Anthony and his wife Gloria Chao joined Exmoor in 2017 and regularly commute through heavy traffic to curl in town.

They tried to persuade me to go onto the ice but as my playing shape left me years ago – and I feared my outdoor shoes could sully the frozen country club surface – I declined.

Over dinner I was introduced to another member, Jeff Warner. His uncle Robert (Bob) Warner won six state titles in the 1960s, finishing runner-up to Bud Somerville in 1965 and ’69.

The 1969 team included younger brother Richard (Jeff’s father) at third and as the story was told, they were one missed draw away from victory. Newspaper articles attest that Illinois did enter the second to last draw tied with Wisconsin, and lost 7-5, eventually finishing tied for second at 9-2.

A recap of the 1965 U.S. Championship was included in the March 15 issue of Sports Illustrated. 

The Bob Warner rink and Exmoor club are also featured in a video from 1966 titled “This is Curling,” available on YouTube.

Looking around the Exmoor, it appeared this was still a centre of competitive curling in Illinois. A list of the club’s state champions in both men’s and women’s is prominently listed on a plaque.

Jeffrey Wright (sometimes listed as Jeff) has won 21 state championships, dating back to 1987, along with a bronze medal from the senior men’s world championship in 2018. Many of his teams included several other Wrights and “Browns” so it is safe to assume curling is a family affair at the Exmoor.

I did not verify, but it’s likely some of these Browns are related to Ann Brown, a seven-time winner of the women’s U.S national bonspiel and six-time winner of the state championship.

Ann was a founding member of the U. S. Women’s Curling Association, serving as president in the mid-eighties and later the president of USA Curling.

The Ann Brown Sportsmanship Award is presented annually at the men’s and women’s nationals, to the male and female athletes who best embody the USA Curling’s “Spirit of Curling.”

The other famous Ann from the club is Ann Swisshelm. She began curling at the Exmoor at the age of 10 and her career highlights are prominently featured in the first banner, including her 2003 world championship with Debbie McCormick.

By the time you read this Swisshelm will be en route to Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy to work as a television analyst for the global Olympic curling feed.

As I took the photo of the banner, I spotted a “Wright” stenciled on the jacket of the skip on sheet two. It was the same Jeffrey from the plaque on the wall. His son Steve, third on the 2025 state championship team, was one sheet over skipping his own team.

Unfortunately, I had to depart before the draw ended and missed an introduction. Hopefully my next visit to Chicago will include more time at the Exmoor, the Windy City CC and a podcast recording or two.

Thursday morning was a trip back to the Chicago Curling Club but not before picking up a box of VHS tapes from Mike Ward.

Mike shared the buried treasure of game tapes that were given to him from a Canadian friend when he first joined CCC. These were Mike’s study guides in his early years.

His troubled knee doesn’t allow for much curling these days, but he still watches when he can, and has a great passion for the game.

Upon entering CCC, I was greeted by three longtime members: Albert “Andy” Anderson, Ken Cook and Jack Bernauer.

Jack started at the Northshore club in the mid-nineties.

Ken has been curling for 45 years, including several at the Exmoor, and Andy has been at the CCC for 53 years.

Andy is a past president of the club, USA Curling and a past Director of Finance for World Curling. He is also a member of the U.S. Curling Hall of Fame.

As elite-level curling drove changes to qualification for world and Olympic qualifying events, Andy helped the USCA preserve regional playdowns for a new national club championship. This took some convincing. Per Andy at the time, “A lot of people said nobody would play in it. We said people will play in it.”

And they did.

Chicago Curling Club hosted the first U.S. National Club Championships in 2005 and as of now, curlers still register and compete. 

Our conversation was brief as Andy had to leave shortly after my arrival. The hard-hitting questions will have to wait for my next trip and a recording for the Curling Legends Podcast.

Leo Hernandez has been the bartender at the “4 Sheets to the Wind” for 20 years. It should be in the running for greatest bar name of club lounge in the world, curling or otherwise.

Paul Arnold was curling on sheet three and came inside to warm up and say hello to our table. He transferred to the area from Toronto 47 years earlier and though he was familiar with the sport growing up, only started curling when he came to Chicago.

He wanted me to stay around to chat further, but once again I had to leave before the draw ended.

After taking a few photographs of the club and its museum, I was heading out the door and bumped into Lauren Recchia. She handles administrative and financial duties and, along with Leo and Ryan, is part of the “three musketeers” employed by the CCC.

Like many, Lauren started watching and playing after the Winter Olympics (in her case, 2010). We discussed how the 2026 Games could lead to the same explosion of “Learn To Curl” participants they get every four years.

Many locals who’ve lived in the area their entire life will discover the Chicago Curling Club and proclaim, as they enter the front doors, “I had no idea this place was here!”