While Curling was first introduced to the City of Fort Wayne in the 1880s (see details on The History of Curling in Ft. Wayne page), the modern version of the Fort Wayne Curling Club was established in 2010.
In March of 2010, four people (Craig Fischer, Greg Eigner, Jerri Mead and Dan McCoy) commenced efforts to re-establish curling in the city of Fort Wayne. On June 5th 2010, the re-established club hit the ice for the first time ever with one of a number of Learn to Curl sessions. The club received support from surrounding curling clubs such as the Circle City (Indianapolis) Curling Club, the Bowling Green Curling Club and the Mayfield (Cleveland) Curling Club to teach the large number of new curlers that attended these sessions. Shortly thereafter, the Club held 6-week beginner leagues that consisted of hour-long 4-end games.
2010 Beginners League Participants 6:30 pm Draw: (L to R: Dave Bomersback, Sean Novell, John Furge, Matt Manes, Barbara Smith, Andrew Nottingham, Gary Randle, Chad Salzbrenner, Phil Mussallem, Mark Jesse, Kim Zylla, Mike Yoder, Mike Zylla, Lynn Hoffman, Dan McCoy (co-founder), Craig Fischer (co-founder), Andrew Eigner, Greg Eigner (co-founder), Maureen Voors, David Johnson, Carol Screeton, Gary Windmiller, Jim Moehring, Nik Moehring, Marianne Cumming, Kerry Sharpe, Jim Sharpe, Denise Lampkins, Jamie Freeman, Gail Mead, Ruthie Ilnicki, Regina Bojrab, Grayson Fischer, Jerri Mead (co-founder), Annie Rogers).
In August 2010, the newly established Fort Wayne Curling Club held the first ever Fort Wayne Summerspiel featuring 40 teams (160 competitors) from around the country. Participants traveled from as far away as San Francisco, Portland (OR) and Washington D.C. to play at our first tournament. 2011 saw the introduction of the Fort Wayne Summer Cashspiel as a part of the Summerspiel. The club continued to host this tournament in mid-August each year through 2013. The 2013 Fort Wayne Summerspiel featured the 2014 Women's Olympic team from Great Britain (Eve Muirhead and team from Scotland), the 2014 Women's Olympic team from China (Bingyu "Betty" Wang and team) as well as all four teams that were eligible to become the 2014 U.S. Women's Olympic Curling Team (the Allison Pottinger, Cassie Potter, Erika Brown and Courtney George rinks). More details on the Fort Wayne Summerspiel can be found here.
In 2011, the Fort Wayne Curling Club established the Hoosier Cup, an annual challenge cup against the Circle City Curling Club. In 2013, the club established the KalaWayne and Black Swamp Cups, annual challenge cups against the Kalamazoo and Bowling Green Curling Clubs, respectively.
In July 2013, the Fort Wayne Curling Club hosted the inaugural USA Curling Arena Club National Championship.
On January 17, 2014, the Fort Wayne Curling Club achieved the ultimate dream of all arena curling clubs by moving into its own 3-sheet dedicated curling facility located at 3674 N. Wells Street, the former home of the Nickel's Bakery Thrift Shop and Distribution Center. This was made possible through the generous support of the club's members and sponsors. The club curled in this rented facility for 5 years and as the lease was coming up for renewal, the board learned of a building that had become available for purchase just 200 yards north on the other side of Wells Street.
The board purchased this new building on October 2018 but completed its 2018-2019 season at its existing home. In May 2019, efforts began to convert the building located at 3837 N. Wells Street into a 4-sheet dedicated curling facility.
On September 13, 2019, the Fort Wayne Curling Club officially dedicated its new facility with Tyler George from the 2018 U.S. Men's Gold Medal Olympic Curling team performing the ceremonial ribbon cutting! Details on our facility can be found on the About Our Facility page.
The Fort Wayne Curling Club offers leagues for curlers of all ages and abilities, Learn to Curl sessions, private events, corporate events and activities for those with special needs. Curling is truly a sport for everyone and we hope that you will take the time to try this fantastic sport.
Thanks for visiting our website and GOOD CURLING!
