Art Lobel was born near Virden, Manitoba, then started curling as a teenager in Winnipeg...except he wasn't very good.  He was actually more skilled at target shooting.  Eventually Art made his way to Quebec and his curling improved. Quite a bit in fact.  Art qualified for the Canadian Mixed, then appeared in 5 Briers for Quebec, first with Bill Kent (originally from Virden) and later with Jim Ursel, who hailed from the same Winnipeg high school Art had attended.  Along with their front end of Don Aitken and Brain Ross, they would win the Brier in 1977, held in the Velodrome in Montreal.  Soon after, Art made his way to Ontario, where he would go on to appear in six Canadian Senior Championships, winning three.  He tacked on a couple of Canadian Masters (60+) to boot, winning one of them.  Art shares some of the early days of sliding rules, tales of curling in rural Quebec, the first push broom brought to a Brier, timing an "iron" rock and the discovery of "drag".

 

You can read more about Curling Legend Art Lobel and the Ursel rink of 1977 in "The Brier" by Bob Weeks.  The 1972 Brier where Art, playing third for Bill Kent, placed second, can be found here: https://youtu.be/6x2B_1ShAZo?t=10m9s.

You can find information on the Ontario Grandmasters here: http://grandmasterscurling.com/ and another useful curling link Art mentions is: http://www.ottawacurling.com/

 

Next Week:  Ernie Richardson