Glenn William Howard (born July 17, 1962) is a Canadian retired 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, from 2006 to 2013. He has made 20 Brier appearances, playing in a total of 227 games, the third most of any curler. He has won a career 14 Grand Slams, won the 2001 TSN and 2013 Dominion All-Star Skin Games and the 2010 Canada Cup of Curling.
He currently coaches his son Scott Howard's Ontario rink.
Career Early career Howard began curling at around the age of 10.
Howard lost two straight Ontario Junior Championship finals in 1980 and 1981, skipping a rink out of Midland, Ontario. In both events there were no playoffs, but a tie for first place after the round robin forced a tiebreaker. In 1980 he lost to John Kawaja and in 1981, he lost to John Base. In 1982, he finished third. Howard won the 1984 Ontario University Athletics Association title skipping the University of Waterloo curling team.
Howard played third for his older brother Russ for the first time at the 1983 Ontario Labatt Tankard provincial championship, representing the Bala Curling Club, due the club's small annual dues of $25 per player. The team never actually played at the club, not even in playdowns as no other team from the club challenged them. The team's second Larry Merkley held the broom for Russ instead of Glenn. The team would go on to finish with a 5–4 record, losing in a tiebreaker game to Bill Walsh of Ottawa's Navy Club.
1985–1989 After university, Howard joined back up with his brother Russ, playing third for the rink. Playing with his brother, he would go on to win two Briers and two World Championships.
The team, which also consisted of frontenders Tim Belcourt and Kent Carstairs, first found success at the 1986 Blue Light Tankard, the provincial championship, where they had to win two playoff games before beating Wayne Tallon of Ottawa in the final. The win earned the team the right to represent Ontario at the 1986 Labatt Brier. At the Brier, the team finished the round robin with a 9–2 record, tied for top spot. In the playoffs, they beat British Columbia (Barry McPhee) in the semifinal before losing to Alberta's Ed Lukowich rink in the final.
The Howard rink won their second straight provincial title in 1987, defeating Ed Werenich in the final after beating Paul Savage in the semifinal. At the 1987 Labatt Brier, the team finished atop the table with a 9–2 record. This put them directly into the final, where they British Columbia, skipped by Bernie Sparkes. The win earned the rink the right to represent Canada at the 1987 World Men's Curling Championship. There, they finished the round robin in second place with a 7–2 record, behind Norway's Eigil Ramsfjell team. In the playoffs, the team beat Denmark (skipped by Gert Larsen) in the semifinals, and then beat West Germany (Rodger Schmidt) in the final, after they had beaten Norway in their semifinal. The team wrapped up the season at the 1987 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials, which were held to determine Canada's Olympic team at the 1988 Winter Olympics where curling was a demonstration sport. Despite being World Champions, the rink did not fare as well there, finishing with a 4–3 record, and losing to their provincial rivals in Ed Werenich in a tiebreaker.
The Howard rink had their best ever round robin showing up to that point at the 1988 provincial championships, finishing in first with a 7–2 record, giving them a bye into the final. There, they faced off against Savage again, who had Werenich throwing third stones on the team. Both Howards missed some crucial shots in the final, and ended up losing to Savage. Glenn ended up sharing the all-star third award for the tournament.
The team won another provincial championship in 1989, defeating Werenich in the final. Glenn was named as the tournament's all-star third again. At the 1989 Labatt Brier, the team finished the round robin portion in a three-way tie for first at 8–3. In the playoffs, the rink were eliminated after losing to BC's Rick Folk team in the semifinal.
1989–1994 The team began the 1989–90 season with a new front end consisting of "a couple of former junior hotshots from Brampton" in cousins Wayne Middaugh and Peter Corner. Their first provincial championship was not a success however, as they ended up losing in the semifinal of the 1990 men's championship to Bob Fedosa of Brampton.
The Howard four with Middaugh and Corner playing front end won their first provincial championship at the 1991 Blue Light Tankard, defeating London's Kirk Ziola in the final. The team capitalized on a Ziola miss in the second, and then proceeded to hit everything in sight, to win the match 3–1, in an example of the low scoring defence oriented style in the pre free-guard zone era of curling. At the 1991 Labatt Brier, the team did not fare very well, finishing with a 6–5 record, missing the playoffs.
The team won their second straight provincial Tankard in 1992, defeating future Olympic silver medallist Mike Harris and his Toronto Tam Heather rink in the final. Harris was playing in his first provincial championship. Up to that point in the season, the rink had won over $100,000 in cashspiels and had lost just four games in 55 matches. The team had a better showing at the 1992 Labatt Brier, finishing the round robin with an 8–3 record, in second place. In the semifinal, the team downed Alberta's Kevin Martin rink, but they fell short in the final, losing to Vic Peters and Manitoba.
The team faced off against Harris again in the final of the 1993 Ontario championship, and once again prevailed, winning their third straight Ontario title. Glenn was once again named as the tournament's all-star third. A week later, the team played in the 1993 Seagram's VO Cup, the inaugural edition of the Players' Championship, the marquee event of the first World Curling Tour season. The team headed into the event ranked fourth on the tour, and ended up winning the event, defeating Paul Savage in the final. Two weeks later, the team represented Ontario at the 1993 Labatt Brier. There, the team finished the round in a four way tie for first with an 8–3 record. The necessitated a four-way tie breaker, in which the team won both games, giving them a bye to the final. In the final, they beat British Columbia's Rick Folk rink to win Howard's second Brier title. Representing Canada the 1993 World Men's Curling Championship, the team led the round robin table with a 7–2 record, tied with Scotland's David Smith rink. The team beat the United States (Scott Baird) in the semifinal, and then beat Scotland in the final, to win the World Championship, Howard's second.
The rink won a fourth straight provincial title at the 1994 Ontario Tankard, defeating an upstart Axel Larsen rink from Guelph in the final. Following their win, there were rumours during the event that the team would decline the opportunity to represent Ontario at the 1994 Labatt Brier due to a dispute over not being allowed to use their sponsors on their sweaters. The team did go on to play at the 1994 Brier, going 8–3 in round robin play. In the semifinal final, they beat Manitoba (Dave Smith), but were stymied in the final where Rick Folk's British Columbia rink finally got the better of them.
1994–2000 In 1994, Middaugh left the team to start his own rink. The team added Ken McDermot at lead position, with Corner moving to second. McDermot had previously played on the Bob Fedosa rink. The team tried to win a record fifth straight provincial championship at the 1995 Ontario Tankard. They finished the round robin tied for first with a 7–2 record, and earned a bye-to the final. However, they lost the final to Ed Werenich in a come-from behind extra end game. The team finished the season with over $100,000 in winnings on the tour.
In 1995, McDermot was replaced by Noel Herron of Guelph, who had previously played for Paul Savage. At the 1996 provincial championship, the team once again topped the table with a 7–2 record, tied for first, but with a bye-to the final. And, for the second year in a row, the team lost in the Ontario final, this time to Bob Ingram of Ridgetown.
The team continued to juggle its front end in an attempt to qualify for the 1998 Winter Olympics. In 1996, the Howards added 1994 Northern Ontario champions Scott Patterson and Phil Loevenmark to the team, replacing Corner and Herron. With the addition of the two Northerners, the rink considered curling out of Northern Ontario for the season. The team ultimately decided to continue to curl out of Southern Ontario for playdowns that season. At the 1997 provincial championship, the team did not fare as well as usual, finishing the round robin with a 5–4 record, tied with the Peter Steski rink from Ottawa City View. The team beat Steski in the tiebreaker, but ultimately lost in the semifinal to their rival Ed Werenich, in a game played just 90 minutes after tiebreaker. At the end of the season, the team won the 1997 World Curling Tour Championship (now called the Players' Championship), defeating Randy Woytowich of Saskatchewan in the final. It was the second title for the Howard brothers, after having won the inaugural event in 1993. The win earned the team a spot at the 1997 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials.
In 1997, the team again shuffled their front end, despite qualifying for the Olympic Trials, adding Herron back at second, and his junior teammate Steve Small from Toronto. Patterson and Loevenmark did not want to remain on the team due to new residency rules, which would have required the North Bay residents to take six months off of work to continue to play out of the south. Despite the change, the team had to play with Patterson and Loevenmark at the 1997 Olympic Trials which were held in November, as the Canadian Curling Association rules dictated that the team had to have at least three of the four players that had qualified for the event. At the Olympic trials, the team had a disappointing showing, finishing with a 3–6 record, thanks in part to a lingering knee injury for brother Russ. With Herron and Small playing front end, the team played in the 1998 Ontario Nokia Cup provincial championship. They again finished with a 5–4 record, this time tied with Phil Daniel of Tilbury. The team went on to lose to Daniel in a tiebreaker.
Russ Howard moved to Moncton, New Brunswick in September 1998 after joining a company that was building a housing development on a golf course. He continued to skip the team for the 1998–99 cashspiel circuit, along with a new front end of Peter Corner and Neil Harrison. The team won a couple of major bonspiels early in the season, before Russ and Glenn parted for the playdown season, with Russ forming a rink in New Brunswick, and Glenn skipping the team in the Ontario playdowns with Todd Tsukamoto playing lead. The team stuck together for the 1999–00 cashspiel season, but Russ played out of New Brunswick to go to the Brier, while second Corner formed his own team in Ontario, and won the provincial Tankard that season.
2000–2004 Howard formed his own Ontario-based team in 2000 with 1998 Olympic silver medallists Richard Hart and Collin Mitchell who had left the Mike Harris rink, plus Collin's brother Jason at lead. The team played in their first provincial championship, at the 2001 Ontario Nokia Cup, Howards's first as a skip. The team finished the round robin with a 7–2 record in a tie for first place. They lost both of their playoff games however, against Wayne Middaugh in the 1 vs. 2 game, and John Morris in the semifinal.
Earlier in the 2001–02 season, Team Howard won the TSN Skins Game, defeating Kevin Martin in the event's final, and taking home $77,200.