The Veterans
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The Veterans
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April 23, 1936
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9
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en
THE VETERANS
Frank H. Goodfellow, the jolly 56-year-old Jersey fencer who has been out of competition since he won the outdoor Epee Championship in 1928, was the winner of the first annual Veterans’ Tournament for the John Allaire Medals. Goodfellow won by a margin of 2 touches over Pieter Mijer, 55, as both finished with three victories and one defeat. Enrique A. Berumen, 51, and the youngest of the five competitors, came third with two victories.
The competition was patterned after the National Three-Weapon Championship — five touches being fenced in each weapon, and the man to score 8 or more points out of the total of 15 winning the bout. The main difference was that a complete round robin was held, instead of direct elimination, and the foil, epee, and sabre were each fenced through in that order.
Goodfellow and George Breed, 59 years young, and National champion a quarter of a century ago, led in the foil with three victories each; Mijer and Albert Strauss, 57, followed with two victories, while Berumen was far behind with four losses.
Berumen, however, came back strongly with the epee, tying Mijer for the lead with 3 wins, while Goodfellow won twice and Strauss and Breed each scored once.
In the sabre, Goodfellow and Mijer led with 3 victories each while Berumen and Strauss won twice. Breed, who had performed in beautiful style with the thrusting weapons, was unable to win any of the sabre sessions.
Goodfellow was the “hit” of the evening with his dry, humorous sallies at opponents and judges, with Strauss a close second in the battle of raillery. Breed was the cavalier, Berumen the smilingly silent competitor, and only "Pete" Mijer seemed to be under nervous tension. The audience seemed to enjoy this competition better than any other this year.
The grand old veteran, John Allaire, 79, in whose honor the medals were named, made a special trip to present them to the winners and expressed regret that his health had not permitted him to participate. However, the contestants all voted to present John with a silk emblem of membership to the highly exclusive club known as the “50-plus.” President Leon Schoonmaker then, on behalf of the A.F.L.A., presented Mr. Allaire with a silver card tray as a token of gratitude for his long devotion to the cause of fencing in this country. Facsimile signatures of Dr. G. H. Drummond, Col. Henry Breckinridge, F. Barnard O’Connor, and Leon M. Schoonmaker were engraved on the tray. They are the four presidents of the League under whom John Allaire served for 25 years as chairman of the Bout Committee.
