HALL OF FAME //
North Dakota’s Mielke inducted into United States Curling Association Hall of Fame
by Terry Kolesar, Editor
Association (USCA) Hall of Fame. Nominees can be nominated in three key areas:
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builder, curler and curler/builder. T e USCA Hall of Fame defi nes a builder of the sport as an indi- vidual who has made a major contribution toward the promotion, development and advancement of curling in the United States. Mielke’s nomination was put forth to the USCA
by the North Dakota Curling Association. Mielke’s induction in the builder category was approved by the USCA Board of Directors at the recent fall board meeting in Bloomington, Minn. Mielke’s in- duction ceremony is tentatively scheduled to take place during the 2014 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Curling, set for Nov. 10-17, 2013, in Fargo, N.D. “T e people on the Hall of Fame selection com-
mittee are pillars of the sport of curling. For them, and the USCA’s board of directors, to consider my contributions noteworthy and to include me with the legends who are already in the Hall of Fame, is truly an honor,” Mielke said. Mielke, 60, curls at the Capital Curling Club in
Bismarck, N.D. His lengthy list of contributions to the sport of curling includes stints on the USCA Board of Directors, North Dakota Board of Direc- tors, Capital Curling Club Board of Directors, as well as Minot Curling Club’s board. “Curling has meant a great deal to me and my
family,” said Mielke. “It has provided us with op- portunities to do things and go places that we never imagined. It has also helped us make lifelong friends across the country and around the world. I owe it to the sport to give something back and hopefully to inspire others to become equally in- volved.” Mielke was raised in Graſt on, N.D., and began
curling in 1973 when he took a physical education class at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks. Aſt er that he curled in Graſt on for a year and spent three years curling in Minot. He then moved to Bismarck, which at the time did not have a curl- ing club. He was one of the founding members of the Capital Curling Club four years later (1982). Mielke is a USCA Level III instructor and Level
III coach and has collaborated on USCA instruc- tional camps and clinics for the past two decades. He also is a contributing columnist on training top- ics for the U.S. Curling News.
He has served on the organizing committee for
multiple national championship and world cham- pionship events, including chairing the 2002 Men’s and Women’s World Curling Championships and 2002 World Senior Curling Championships. Most recently he served as the USCA’s liaison to the Grand Forks Organizing Committee for the 2008 World Men’s Curling Championship. He also served as Team USA’s team leader in Grand Forks, a role he also held in 2007 for the Men’s World Championship in Edmonton, Alberta. As a competitor, Mielke won the 1997 North Da-
kota Men’s State Curling Championship and repre- sented his region at the 1997 U.S. National Cham- pionships. Mielke has also competed at multiple North Dakota mixed championships, the U.S. Se- nior National Championships (runner-up in 2004) and has coached at Junior Nationals as well as the Men’s and Women’s National Championships. He was selected to participate in the recent Scot Tour that reclaimed the Herries-Maxwell Trophy. “Being named to the Hall of Fame and being se-
lected to be a member of the Scots Tour are actually quite similar – both recognize past contributions to the sport. Both were an extreme honor. T at being said, nothing can top being named to the Hall of Fame – perhaps because it is more lasting and rep- resents an acknowledgement by the USCA’s Board of Directors,” Mielke said. Mielke points to the 2012 Scot Tour Team and
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on Mielke (Bismarck, N.D.) is the 40th in- dividual and fourth from North Dakota to be inducted into the United States Curling
his 1997 North Dakota men’s titles as his on-ice highlights as well as “seeing the excitement and appreciation of beginning, intermediate, junior curlers, and instructor trainees aſt er they have completed a clinic or camp that I was helping in- struct.” His highlights off the ice include watching his son’s team win the 2006 U.S. Junior Men’s Na- tional Curling Championship, in addition to “mak- ing curling friends from all over the country and around the world.” Mielke is employed as a transportation research-
er with the Upper Great Plains Transportation In- stitute, which is based at North Dakota State Uni- versity in Fargo. T e Institute also has an offi ce in Bismarck, where Mielke works. Mielke and his wife, Carol, have two adult chil-
dren. T ey have also fostered 31 children and were named North Dakota Foster Parents of the Year in 2006. T e fi rst inductee into the USCA Hall of Fame was named in 1984. Mielke is the 40th in- dividual (two teams also have been inducted) and fourth from North Dakota. ■
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