Curler’s Corner: Father daughter duo brought curling titles to Kamloops

Curler’s Corner is a column written by the Kamloops Curling Club’s Randy Nelson. This column will highlight moments of Tournament Capital curling history and noteworthy athletes from over the decades.

The father/daughter duo of Ken and Corryn Brown have brought curling titles home to Kamloops for 30 years.

Ken represented B.C. at the 1996 and 1997 Briers. Corryn has been to the Scotties National Women’s event four times in 2020, 2021, 2024 and 2025. She also skipped the winning team at the National Junior Championships in 2013 and then on to the Worlds.

She won gold at the 2011 Canada Winter Games and represented Canada at the 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games. She also skipped the team to a bronze medal at the 2015 Canadian Juniors.

Ken was raised in Flin Flon, Manitoba at a time when kids weren’t allowed to curl until Grade 8. He vividly remembers walking into the curling club and smelling the fresh French fries. Fries were the prize for watching your parents curl at the rink.

Kids were allowed to play in the annual “Cordwood Bonspiel.” Each kid was given a couple wooden ”rocks” cut from a tree the approximate size of a rock. Parents would help sand it smooth and wax the bottom and screw in the handle given to them by the curling club. The kids would use the rocks in a bonspiel similar to the jam can event held in Kamloops for many years.

Ken’s dad was in charge of the unofficial beer fridge in the boiler room (snake pit) of the curling rink. He put the fridge against a post so he could padlock the fridge when not in use. The players purchased beer on the honour system.

Ken and his friends would sneak in the crawl space and crawl over to the fridge. They would spin the entire fridge away from the padlock, thereby opening the fridge door. They’d take a beer then rotate the fridge back into place. Ken’s dad would grumble about some curler taking a beer and not paying for it.

The high school teams were picked by appointed skips. Ken was not happy when he was picked to play with a girl. It turned out she was the best curler and their team won the high school trophy. In 1974, Ken’s team made it to the provincial high school championships as the #32 seed, with the right to drive eight hours to Winnipeg.

They had a flat tire on the way and were late for their game leaving no time for practice. They were playing against the #1 seed. As they entered the club, one of the organizers yelled, “you’re too late for your practice.” Ken’s skip quickly responded with, “we didn’t come here to practice, we came here to curl.”

They went onto the ice and pummelled the #1 seeded team 12-1. The news made Winnipeg headlines the next day. They went all the way to final before losing to future world champion Dale Duguid.

Ken moved to Richmond to take aircraft maintenance and curled in 1974 briefly with Bob McCain where his team lost the provincials to Bernie Sparkes when their rock picked and stopped short.

Ken moved back to Manitoba before realizing he’d made the right choice the first time and moved back to Kamloops in 1978. He curled with Eric Wiltzen for several years but left the game due to chronic back pain.

In 1995 Barry McPhee asked Ken to play. They lost the zone final that year. The team would go on to win the provincials in both 1996 and 1997. The 1996 Brier was held in Kamloops before a very happy home crowd. After the 1997 Brier, Ken left the game again due to recurring back issues.

Corryn was on the ice at the age of 4. She remembers having “fries as the prize” for making a good shot. Maybe fries as the prize is the secret to success?

Erin Pincott joined her when she was 6, and Sam Fisher at age 11. The three have played together for nearly 20 years (Erin and Sam will be featured in another article). They won the 16 and under provincials in 2010, 2011 and 2012 and Canada Games Gold.

Corryn and her team went to Sochi, Russia for the World Junior Curling. They had a great time. Third Erin Pincott must have had an even better time. She met Matt Dunstone, who was representing Canada curling out of Manitoba. Matt would later move to Kamloops from Manitoba.

Corryn’s team went to China twice for curling events. They took the time to see the Great Wall on their second trip. They hired a taxi (for over four hours return) with no cell phone, no translator and no idea where they were going. They got to see the Great Wall and made it safely back to their event.

Although Sam was not on that trip to China, she was on the second trip. That’s where she met her partner and fellow Canadian curler Jared Kolomaya, who would move to Kamloops from Manitoba. Maybe Kamloops should put a recruitment poster up in Manitoba curling clubs?

Corryn and Ken’s successes are displayed on about a dozen banners in the Kamloops Curling Club. They have continued to keep Kamloops high on the list as one of the greatest curling clubs in B.C. I fully expect Corryn’s newborn will be on the ice at a very young age and enjoy the successes the family has had for the next generation.