The Epee Championships
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Title
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The Epee Championships
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Date
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May 7, 1936
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volume
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1
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issue
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10
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page start
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4
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page end
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5
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content
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en
THE EPEE CHAMPIONSHIPS
The story of Lieutenant Gustave M. Heiss’s return to the championship, which he failed to defend last year after two successive victories, is the story of a champion’s comeback to his rightful place in the fencing sun. Absent from individual competition since 1934, Heiss had not impressed in the two Olympic tryouts in which he was entered, taking a fourth and a seventh place. The remarkable timing which made him the most consistent epee champion since Leo Nunes was absent. His ability to relax until the precise moment when a decisive action was necessary seemed to be gone. In the early bouts of the quarter-final, he looked like anything but a winner. In fact, he was lucky to qualify for the semi-final; only the entry of Howard Terrell at the last minute into his pool, approved by the Bout Committee because of exceptional circumstances, saved Heiss. Normally, only three men would qualify for the second round robin out of the pool of seven. With eight men, four were allowed to go up, and Gus ranked fourth.
But all champions are lucky to some extent. And, like a true champion, Gus made the most of his opportunity. As the tournament progressed, he improved, and in the final six he was back in his old form. He lost one bout, but everybody else lost two or more. Heiss was the only champion to win without a fence-off.
Second place went to Jose de Capriles on touches after a triple tie had resulted between him, Andrew Boyd, and Tracy Jaeckel. They placed in that order. Righeimer was fifth, and Lt. Thomas J. Sands, defending champion, was sixth.
Jose was consistently good throughout the tournament, although he was not fencing as well as he has on other occasions. He was steady and accurate, losing only four bouts out of the 26 he fenced in the tournament.
The highlight of the finals, aside from Heiss, was the excellent showing of Los Angeles’ Andrew Boyd—the cool left-hander who took third place. Fencing much better than on his previous appearance at the championships (last year), Boyd came through against a strong field. In the finals, two of his three victories were scored over Heiss and de Capriles, although he lost to Righeimer and Jaeckel. His best asset is an accurate point, and his patience is a close second. Compared to the other finalists, his game is simpler, but Boyd knows how to make the best of it.
Jaeckel’s fourth place was also in the nature of a comeback, as his showing in the two tryouts he entered was comparatively poor. But Jaeckel showed excellent form throughout the qualifying rounds, and he lost only to Heiss and de Capriles in the final. Righeimer also fenced well throughout the event, and started the finals with two wins, only to lose his next three bouts and thereby drop to fifth.
Sands had rough going throughout. The 1935 champion was not very successful in any of the competitions in which the electrical epee was used. His game capitalizes on light hits and a light weapon. With the electrical button, the weapon is heavier and more pressure is required for the registration of a touch. In the semi-finals, Sands was on the verge of elimination when Max Kapner faced Lt. Clayton Mansfield. Had Kapner won, he would have qualified in place of Sands. With the score 4-all, Kapner fleched but missed, and Mansfield scored on a delayed stop to save his comrade-at-arms a place in the finals. Once there, however, Tommy failed to win any of his five bouts.
The first surprise of the tournament occurred in the qualifying rounds for the New York area, when Lt. Fred R. Weber, who rated the strongest epeeist in the country, failed to survive the eliminations as a result of defeats by Lewis Kapner and Winslow Cornett, both of whom advanced. Weber’s touch was missing that day for the first time this year.
Next was the exit of Hugh Alessandroni, whose remarkable record in winning the metropolitan championship and his undefeated record in the New York preliminaries stamped him as a favorite. Midway in the semi-final, Alessandroni’s fine all-around game fell prey to the snares of more experienced epeeists.
The last of the leading fencers to be put out was Miguel de Capriles, who had to be content with 7th place after a fence-off with Max Kapner for that position. Mike was slightly scratched in the neck in the quarter-final, and it may have affected his timing which was not up to par. He was lucky to finish as high as he did.
The performance of the Kapner brothers was better than they have done for some time. Bill Randall and Ed Deming of Yale showed great promise, while Sgt. Winslow Cornett was highly dangerous as long as his bad knee held up.
