United States, surpassed by only the America’s Cup yachting races and the Bell Quoits Silver Medal? The medal has been in competition every year since 1869, except for 6 years, due to thaws, world wars and Covid. The 150th Gordon Emmet will be contested here at the Charlotte Curling Association, February 20-23, 2025.
Four years after the end of the Civil War, a Scotsman living in New York City named Robert Gordon presented The Gordon Champion Rink Medal to the GNCC for an annual men’s curling championship. The silver medal itself is quite large and exhibits beautiful workmanship that is virtually impossible to duplicate today. Each year a new link is added to the prestigious Gordon Medal’s chain with the name of each member on the winning rink. The chain is now over 8 feet long.
The first tournament for the Gordon Medal began on Wednesday January 13, 1869, when seven rinks appeared on Central Park Lake. It was reported the results were unsatisfactory to both winners and losers because the ice was so soft that “many of the players were unable to reach the “hogg score.” (Nowadays called the hog line.) The game resumed on Friday, January 15 with colder weather and better ice.
The Gordon Medal was contested in various clubs throughout the GNCC, which used to include rinks as far west as Minnesota and once in Canada (1879) when the Dufferen Curling Club of Toronto, Ontario was still a member of the GNCC. Nearly 40 clubs (some no longer in existence) in the Grand National have won the event and are represented on at least one chain link.
When the U.S. Men’s Curling Association began running National Championships in 1965, the Gordon was the venue for selecting the team(s) advancing from the GNCC. When the USCA moved away from state and regional representation at the Men’s Nationals, participation in this prestigious championship diminished in attendance. However over the last 3 years there has been a renewed interest across the GNCC to compete in this historic event and the goal is to have clubs across the region host the Gordon as it primarily is held at clubs in the Northeast.