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Title
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The Sabre 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 SABRE CHAMPIONSHIPS
The only champion to retain his title was Norman C. Armitage, now winner of the sabre championship for three straight years and holder of a unique record for the year’s Olympic tryouts. Norman finished with a perfect score, having won every competition of Olympic rating that he entered. He missed only one, the metropolitan championship, because of his badly burned arm, and he received full credit for that one according to the method of scoring which allowed one absence from the tryouts.
Armitage had to have valuable aid from Nickolas Muray in order to retain his title. Early in the finals, Nick defeated Peter Bruder, who in turn beat Armitage in the last bout of the regular round robin. Taking advantage of Norman’s flashy composite attacks, Pete stop cut him on the wrist three times against feints to the flank, to force a fence-off for the championship. In the deciding bout, however, Norman changed his tactics completely and won a decisive victory.
Third place went to John Huffman, who was not at his peak. Johnny lost only to Norman and Pete, but he had trouble in all his bouts. Perhaps part of the trouble lay in the fact that he warmed up strongly with the foil, expecting to fence that weapon before the sabre, and then found that he had to go on in the sabre first. He had had no time to regain the feel of his favorite weapon.
Miguel de Capriles nosed out Nick Muray for the fourth place by the margin of one touch given, after they had tied in bouts and in touches received. Mike defeated Nick 5-2 and carried Huffman to 5-4, thus earning his winning margin.
The sixth finalist was young Max Frank, captain of the N.Y.U. champion team, and runner-up for the individual intercollegiate title. Frank earned his place in the final by a steady performance through the qualifying rounds. In his last bout of the semi-finals, after defeating Ralph Faulkner of Los Angeles, he shut out Bruce Wallis, of Columbia, to gain the final on touches over Wallis and Bela de Nagy. Although he failed to win in the final, Frank, who was the only undergraduate to go so far, put up a series of splendid bouts. Slowness on the riposte nullified his effective parries, as he was hit repeatedly on quick remises.
Ralph Faulkner, member of the 1928 and 1932 Olympic teams, was strongly favored to reach the final on his splendid past record. However, he had the misfortune to catch a bad attack of the grippe which kept him in bed for a full week before the tournament, and he appeared against the doctor’s orders. Faulkner went through the quarter-final in good shape, but lost 3 out of 4 bouts by a single touch in the semi-final. He was unlucky to be below par physically, and had he been well, there is little doubt that he would have been a finalist.
His colleague from the west, Ed Carfagno, lost out by the margin of one touch, when he and Nick Muray finished the semi-final tied in bouts. Carfagno showed his best with the sabre, although we understand he is rated more highly in foil and epee. His game is unorthodox from the point of view of the sabre style prevalent in the East, but he uses the point with deadly effectiveness. He is far more relaxed with the sabre, and this allows his timing to improve.
Fred Linkmeyer, also from Los Angeles, surprised by reaching the sabre semi-finals ahead of Richard Ripple, Army’s intercollegiate champion. Fred’s highly individualistic tactics with the sabre made him a dangerous opponent. Ripple, on the other hand, looks like one of the most promising younger sabre men in the country. He has a good style and excellent competitive temperament, although he finds difficulty in changing his tactics to meet unorthodox opponents.
Howard Hayden of Detroit, and Kevin O’Neill Kehoe of the University of Notre Dame, were newcomers who attracted attention. Great hopes were held for Lon Hocker, member of the American International Team of 1930, but unfortunately the lack of top-flight competition has taken the keen edge off his game, and he was eliminated early in the quarter-final round.
In the qualifying round in New York, the greatest upset was the elimination of S. Thompson Stewart, the best of the younger men in sabre. Stewart, like Faulkner, competed while ill, and the physical handicap was too great to overcome. Wallis, of Columbia, who is another promising youngster, eliminated the veteran Ervin S. Acel in the quarter-final. With the exception of Sands and “Doc” Acel, the sabre field ran true to form. The cream of the sabre men is still in the New York area, but the top matches are few, and it is to be hoped that stronger competition will be forthcoming in future national championships.
