John W. Kawaja (born April 27, 1961 in Chandler,

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) is a

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curler. He is a two-time Brier and World Champion.

Career

Kawaja moved to Ontario as a youth, and became a high-profile skip (he won the 1980 Ontario junior championship), but it was not until his move to the Ed Werenich rink that he finally started to win championships. In 1983, while attending

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

as a political science student, Kawaja won his first provincial championship, playing second for Werenich. The team not only won the provincial championship, but they won the Brier and the World Curling Championship as well that year. Kawaja is the youngest player to have ever won the Brier (21 years old). In 1984, the team repeated their provincial championship, but lost in the Brier final to Michael Riley's Manitoba rink. Kawaja was promoted to the third position for Werenich, and in 1990 won his third provincial title. The team followed up with another Brier and World Championship. Kawaja won two more provincial titles with Werenich in 1995 and

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

. He and Ed Werenich formed the nucleus of teams that won more money than any curling team in the 1980s and 90s. Kawaja was named to the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame in 1991. In 2009, Kawaja and his 1983 world champion team (Werenich, Paul Savage and John Kawaja) were inducted into the

Ontario Sports Hall of Fame The Ontario Sports Hall of Fame is an association dedicated to honouring athletes and personalities with outstanding achievement in sports in Ontario, Canada. The hall of fame was established in 1994 by Bruce Prentice, following his 15-year tenure ...

. Kawaja retired from curling in 1997. After working with

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to work on a curling shoe design, he moved on to work with

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after retiring from curling. He later became president of the Taylormade golf company. He resides in San Diego, California.

References

External links

*
Ontario Sports Legends Hall of Fame
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kawaja, John 1961 births Living people Brier champions World curling champions Curlers from Ontario Canadian male curlers Sportspeople from Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine 20th-century Canadian sportsmen York University alumni