A rink from Broomstones (Mass.) Curling Club captured GNCC’s time-honored Gordon Emmett bonspiel this past weekend at a bonspiel in Schenectady, N.Y.
The winning team consisted of Skip Bryan Fink, Vice Eric Paul, Second Paul Marseglia, and Lead Sam Chandler. They defeated a rink from host Schenectady Curling Club that was Skipped by Dean Wadland and included Vice Charlie Brown, Matt Daly at Second and Lead Jim Sinkins.
This was the 141st event in the Gordon Emmett Medal history. The bonspiel serves as the GNCC’s annual Men’s championship. On a historical note, Sam Chandler is a third generation two-time winner (2011, 2013) of the Gordon Medal. Bryan Fink and Eric Paul are three-time winners of the Gordon Medal (2009, 2011, 2013). Paul Marseglia is a two-time winner of the Gordon Medal (2011, 2013).
141st Gordon Emmett GNCC Men’s Championship – Schenectady Curling Club – Schenectady NY – January 4-6, 2013 – 12 Teams
1st Event Winners – Gordon Medal – Broomstones – S. Bryan Fink, V. Eric Paul, 2. Paul Marseglia, L. Sam Chandler
1st Event RU’s Gordon Medal – Schenectady 1 – S. Dean Wadland, V. Charlie Brown, 2. Matt Daly, L. Jim Sinkins
2nd Event Winners – Emmet Medal – Schenectady 2 – S. Dan Navratil, V. Tom Lancaster, 2. Ken Rice, L. Kirk Wallace
2nd Event RU’s – Emmet Medal – Plainfiled – S. Brady Gould, V. Bruce Belschner, 2. David Folkes, L. Ron Scorese
3rd Event Winners – Mohawk Medal – Petersham – S. Ted Paul, V. John Griffith, 2. Scott Ennis, L. Dave Kittredge
3rd Event RU’s – Mohawk Medal Schenectady 4 – S. Dion Warr, V. Tom Holbrook, 2. Brandon Chew, L. Ron Holbrook
4th Event Winners – Reid Medal – Schenectady 2 – S. Dan Machold, V. Tim Brooks, 2. Peter Drechsler, L. Rob Klees
4th Event RU’s – Reid Medal – Albany 1 – S. Brian Costello, V. Dan Keller, 2. Bret Sentiwany, L. Dimitri Garder
Just four years after the Civil War and five years before the first running of the Kentucky Derby, United States curlers were competing for the coveted championship Gordon Medal, donated by Scotsman Robert Gordon.
The Gordon Grand National Championship is one of the oldest sporting events in North America, surpassed only by the America’s Cup yacht races (1851) and the Bell Quoit Silver Medal (1867), an iceless summer bonspiel where quoits – the forerunners to horseshoes – are thrown.
The Gordon medal was first put in play in 1869, and has been held annually ever since, with the exception of five years because of world wars and thaws (curling rinks were outdoors in the early years).
The GNCC, at the time, was the national governing body of the sport; it now encompasses the eastern states from Florida to Maine. The Gordon Medal competition serves as the organization’s annual Men’s championship, and Schenectady has been its primary home since 1917.
The Gordon medal itself is a large, intricate silver medallion donated by Gordon, a New York City businessman. The names of the winning rinks were inscribed on the back of the medal for the first 13 years, then nameplates for the winning rinks were linked onto the medal each year after that. Well over a century later, the chain stretches some six feet.
The Second Event is the Richard Stockton Emmett Medal, another prize with a lengthy chain of linked templates, which has been in play since 1932. The 64-year-old Mohawk medal is awarded in the Third Event, and the Gordon semi-final matches play for the Rally Reid Medal in the Fourth Event.
Please consider putting this prestigious and historic bonspiel on your list of events to attend this curling season and check out all the improvements Schenectady Curling Club has made to its ice shed.
Submitted by Charlene Fitzgerald,
Schenectady (N.Y.) Curling Club
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