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Jules Owchar

Culring Builder- Special Legends Class of 2025

Born in Lac La Biche, Jules Owchar was one of the first professional curling coaches in Canada and guided champions at the provincial, national and international levels. His men’s teams have won 10 Alberta Championships, seven Canadian Championships, two World Championships, one Olympic gold medal, two Olympic silver medals and 24 Slam titles.

Owchar served as the alternate and coach for Kevin Martin’s team at the Brier in 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011. During that time, the team won two Brier titles (1991, 1997), finished second once (1996), third three times (1992, 1995, 2007), and earned a bronze medal in 2011.

At the post-secondary level, Owchar began his career at NAIT in 1969 as a physical education instructor and went on to coach various teams from 1969 through 2020. For 45 consecutive seasons, from 1975 to 2020, he served as NAIT’s curling coach. During that time, he guided NAIT’s curling teams to 24 ACAC titles (1978–2019) and NAIT’s golf teams to eight ACAC titles (1973–2003).

On the interprovincial stage, his curling teams captured two 4-West titles. Nationally, his NAIT teams reached the podium 15 times, including two gold medals at the CCAA National Curling Championships. In 1983, he also guided the NAIT women’s team to gold at the CCAA Invitational Curling Championship. Under his leadership, NAIT teams medaled in 15 of 39 events at the CCAA National Curling Championships—more than any other post-secondary institution in Canada.

While at NAIT, Owchar coached Kevin Martin’s foursome to gold at the 1985 Canadian Junior Men’s Curling Championship and silver at the 1986 World Junior Men’s Curling Championship.

Owchar’s excellence has been recognized with numerous honours, including the Alberta Sport, Recreation, Parks and Wildlife Foundation Coaching Recognition Award (1997), the Curling Canada CCAA Women’s Coaching Award (2018) and the Janet Arnott Exceptional Coach Award (2021). He was inducted into the NAIT Athletics Wall of Fame in 2003 and the Curling Canada Hall of Fame in 2019.