By Jimmy Carlton Sportswriter Published Mar 12, 2018 at 4:04 PM

The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum has created the first official curling bobblehead, and it commemorates a Wisconsin athlete. On Monday, the Hall of Fame and Museum unveiled an exclusive, limited-edition bobblehead of Matt Hamilton, the Madison native who helped Team Shuster win the curling gold medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Hamilton, who became a popular American Olympian for his colorful personality and appearance, as well as for competing with his sister Becca as Team Hamilton in the mixed doubles event. Hamilton’s Team Shuster, which he called a "team of rejects," captured its gold medal in dramatic fashion, triumphing in five straight must-win matches.

The Hamilton bobble is the first curling bobblehead ever produced, according to the Hall of Fame and Museum, and honors the first curling gold medal for Team USA in Olympics history.

Born in Madison, Hamilton lives in McFarland, where he is coached by Phill Drobnick and Jake Higgs. Since the Olympics ended, Hamilton has enjoyed a nice run of publicity and attention, thanks to the team's unexpected performance and his everyman charm. 

"We were so proud of Matt and Team Schuster’s gold medal performance at the Olympics, so we reached out to Matt on Twitter right after the Closing Ceremony to pitch the bobblehead idea," said Phil Sklar, co-founder and CEO of the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum, in a release. "He loved it, and we had a rendering for him the next day.

"We’re thrilled to be able to honor Matt with a bobblehead and give his fans and fans of the team a great memento of their miraculous achievement!"

The bobbleheads, which are being produced by the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum, are approved by Matt Hamilton, though not endorsed by or affiliated with Team USA or the Olympics.

The Hamilton bobbleheads are available for preorder in the Hall of Fame and Museum Online Store here. They cost $25 each, plus a flat-rate shipping charge of $8 per order, and are expected to arrive in June. Each bobblehead will be individually numbered and come in a collector’s box.

Jimmy Carlton Sportswriter

Born in Milwaukee but a product of Shorewood High School (go ‘Hounds!) and Northwestern University (go ‘Cats!), Jimmy never knew the schoolboy bliss of cheering for a winning football, basketball or baseball team. So he ditched being a fan in order to cover sports professionally - occasionally objectively, always passionately. He's lived in Chicago, New York and Dallas, but now resides again in his beloved Brew City and is an ardent attacker of the notorious Milwaukee Inferiority Complex.

After interning at print publications like Birds and Blooms (official motto: "America's #1 backyard birding and gardening magazine!"), Sports Illustrated (unofficial motto: "Subscribe and save up to 90% off the cover price!") and The Dallas Morning News (a newspaper!), Jimmy worked for web outlets like CBSSports.com, where he was a Packers beat reporter, and FOX Sports Wisconsin, where he managed digital content. He's a proponent and frequent user of em dashes, parenthetical asides, descriptive appositives and, really, anything that makes his sentences longer and more needlessly complex.

Jimmy appreciates references to late '90s Brewers and Bucks players and is the curator of the unofficial John Jaha Hall of Fame. He also enjoys running, biking and soccer, but isn't too annoying about them. He writes about sports - both mainstream and unconventional - and non-sports, including history, music, food, art and even golf (just kidding!), and welcomes reader suggestions for off-the-beaten-path story ideas.