Brad Jacobs

Biography

Brad Jacobs was the skip of the team that at Sochi 2014 won Canada’s third straight Olympic gold medal in men’s curling. His team, which also included third Ryan Fry, second E.J. Harnden and lead Ryan Harnden, posted a 7-2 round robin record in Sochi, before defeating China 10-6 in the semifinal and Great Britain 9-3 in the final. They had started the Olympic tournament with a 1-2 record, but an honest team chat sparked them to run the table the rest of the way.

That foursome began playing together in the 2012-13 season and enjoyed immediate success, winning the first Brier title for Northern Ontario since 1985 and adding a world championship silver medal.

Jacobs had made his first appearance at the Brier in 2007 when he was just 21. In 2008 he attended the Brier as the fifth on a team skipped by Eric Harnden, which also included his sons E.J. and Ryan, who are Jacobs’ cousins. In 2009 Jacobs took over the skipping duties with E.J. at third and Ryan at second. The trio competed at the Brier in 2010, 2011 and 2012. In 2010, with Caleb Flaxey at lead, they had finished second in the round robin at the Brier, becoming the first team from Northern Ontario to qualify for the playoffs since 1993, and won the bronze medal. In April 2012, the team brought on Ryan Fry as the new third, shifting E.J. Harnden to second to Ryan Harnden to lead, after Fry had left Brad Gushue’s Newfoundland-based team.

Despite their national and international success, Team Jacobs was not directly qualified to the 2013 Canadian Curling Trials. They had to go through the pre-trials bonspiel, from which they were the very last qualifiers for the Trials. The team went on to post a perfect 7-0 record in round robin play at the Trials, giving them a bye to the final where they beat Team John Morris 7-4.

The foursome stayed together through the 2018-19 season. In that time, they finished as the runners-up at the 2015 Brier and won bronze medals at the 2016 and 2019 Briers. For the 2019-20 season, two-time Olympian Marc Kennedy replaced Fry at third. The new look Team Jacobs won three straight Grand Slam events in 2019-20 and made it to the 3-4 page playoff game at the 2020 Brier.

A Little More About Brad

Getting into the Sport: Started curling at age 10 and began competing at age 12… Outside Interests: Works as a business development manager… Earned his Bachelor of Arts in geography from Algoma Univerrsity… The annual Team Jacobs Charity Golf Classic raises money for the Sault Area Hospital Maternal Child Care Fund and the Team Jacobs Follow Your Dream Bursary at Algoma University… Odds and Ends: Nickname: Cups… Favourite Olympic memories include Kevin Martin’s team winning Olympic gold at Vancouver 2010 and Donovan Bailey winning 100m gold at Atlanta 1996… Favourite quote: Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing…