James R. Vukich (December 15, 1945 – August 6, 2002) was an American curler and two-time national champion.

Career

Vukich curled while growing up in Minnesota, even winning the Minnesota schoolboy curling state title in 1963. He later stepped away from the sport for a while, until picking it back up while living in Seattle. He then went on to, as

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of his team, win four Washington state championships and two national championships, the latter in 1987 and 1989. Vukich defeated the defending champion Steve Brown to win his first national title in 1987. At the 1987 World Men's Championship they missed the playoffs when they lost a tiebreaker to Germany's Rodger Schmidt, leaving Team Vukich in fifth place in the final standings. Also in 1987 Vukich competed at the first United States Olympic Curling Trials, to decide the team that would represent the United States at the

1988 Winter Olympics The 1988 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XV Olympic Winter Games (french: XVes Jeux olympiques d'hiver) and commonly known as Calgary 1988 ( bla, Mohkínsstsisi 1988; sto, Wîchîspa Oyade 1988 or ; cr, Otôskwanihk 1998/; srs, Guts� ...

where curling would be a demonstration sport. The trials were a triple-elimination tournament, and Vukich's third loss came against fellow Seattle curler Roger Schnee. In 1989, Vukich earned his second national title when he again defeated Steve Brown in the finals of the National Championship. At the 1989 World's, they finished last out of the ten teams with only one win.

Personal life

Vukich met his wife

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while curling. She is also a multi-time national champion, having won the

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in 1980 and 1987, the Mixed Doubles Championship in 2010, and the Senior Championship in 2009 and 2010. Vukich's stepdaughter Emily and son Jake are also successful competitive curlers, Emily having competed at the

2016 World Mixed Curling Championship The 2016 World Mixed Curling Championship was held from October 14 to 22 at the Sport Palace in Kazan, Russia. Among the 37 participating nations, Andorra, Croatia, South Korea and the Netherlands debuted on this event, while China, Israel and L ...

and Jake at the

2014 World Junior Curling Championships The 2014 World Junior Curling Championships were held from February 26 to March 5 at the Waldhaus Arena in Flims, Switzerland. Men Teams The teams are listed as follows: Round-robin standings ''Final Round Robin Standings'' Round-robin resu ...

Teams

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vukich, Jim 1945 births 2002 deaths American male curlers American curling champions People from Chisholm, Minnesota Sportspeople from St. Louis County, Minnesota Sportspeople from Minnesota