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Title
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The Remise
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Date
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December 1938
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volume
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3
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issue
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9
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pages
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3, 8, 9, 10
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content
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en
THE REMISE
A new fencing season has opened and we are witnessing an outpouring of the largest field of young fencers the A. F. L. A. has ever seen. New record numbers of entrants have been established in all competitions to date, despite the fact that the A. F. L. A., under its present set-up, has made membership for its younger New York fencers as unattractive as possible.
I have a great deal of respect for the A. F. L. A. I believe that without the A. F. L. A., fencing in the United States would be many years behind its present position. I believe that its objective of bringing fencing into being wherever possible in the United States, the establishment of standard rules, the development of Olympic Fencing Teams, the supplying of opportunities for foreign and domestic fencing masters throughout the country has been a colossal task well handled and constantly pursued. I have great admiration for the scores of amateurs who have given voluntarily of their time and efforts for years that the sport might develop and prosper. Anyone differing with these opinions should take himself aside for an earnest bit of self-analysis. He is either a sour amateur or a disgruntled professional with some petty grudge of long-standing that has stained his entire viewpoint. His quarrel is probably not with the A. F. L. A. but with some officer, member or group within the A. F. L. A. that has at some time or other, purposely or otherwise, stepped upon his delicate toes.
I have the same feeling of respect for the Intercollegiate Fencing Association, the Public School Athletic League, the Recreational Fencing League, the Intersettlement Fencing League, the Illinois Fencing League, and many others. They each have a province unto themselves and each is doing a service for the sport in developing its own specialized group. The A. F. L. A. has undertaken a much bigger task and the fact that it has handled that task so well over more than 40 years certainly deserves the respect of fencers and sportsmen everywhere.
I have expressed my opinion first about the A. F. L. A. because I have a quarrel with them at the present time. I don’t wish this quarrel to be misunderstood.
Take a look at the long Schedule of Events issued by the Board of Governors to cover the New York City competitions and the National Schedule of Championships. It is a most extensive job, employing every available date for a competition somewhere. It is an intensive job likewise insofar as the Women’s foil and the higher men’s classifications go. The Preps and Novices are badly skimped. This is understandable when you realize that there are only so many days to go around and the Board of Governors has the most important duty of developing an Olympic Fencing Team and annually deciding the American Championships. My quarrel is that the Board of Governors is fulfilling its obligations as a National Organization and is neglecting its almost as important responsibility to New York City.
The A. F. L. A. was set up to afford competition to active fencers anywhere in the United States where there are enough fencers to form an A. F. L. A. unit. These units or Divisions are scattered throughout the fencing centers. The New York City group is not recognized as a separate unit but is carried as a loosely organized group that includes every A. F. L. A. member that is not registered elsewhere. The result has been, as evidenced by the Secretary’s News Letter itself, a mere 5% growth in membership in the New York City group during 1938, as compared with at least a 116% growth in all six leading Divisions. During the same season, there was a greater than 5% increase in fencing clubs in New York City. We witnessed a large growth in the Recreational Fencing League and the P. S. A. L., both within the same territorial boundaries. Certainly, there is some serious fault indicated by such a growth record, or lack of record, as the case may be.
This direct discouragement of our younger fencers has been noticed by some members of the A. F. L. A. A proposal has been made for a New York Division. The present Divisions have been brought into the discussion. A Majority and a Minority Report have been issued, for and against the formation of such a Division. Unfortunately, from reports, neither of these documents dealt directly with the problem. The one shouted for a Division stating that it would produce more members, perhaps three times as many in New York City alone, to bring as much money into the National Treasury as before. The other shouted that the A. F. L. A. would lose considerable income without the New York dues going directly to the National Treasury, the Metropolitan Group would not be interested in contributing to the expense of the Nationals and all sorts of calamitous things would happen to fencing. Both arguments were most pecuniary and ignored the plight of the younger fencers in New York City who can find little or no outlet for their fencing in A. F. L. A. competition and with what little they have costing them membership and entry fees.
There are eight fencing clubs in New York City and a good six Colleges in and about the metropolis. The bumper crop of Preps and Novices this year is only the cream of this crop. The Salle Santelli, the largest fencing club in New York City with at least 20 Novice foilsmen, entered 5 men in the Novice Foil. Similar almost-decimation of ranks occurred at the Saltus Fencing Club, Vince’s, Columbia University, C. C. N. Y., Salle Cherny, and the Fencers Club. Why? Because these boys cannot see any sense in paying A. F. L. A. dues, initiation fee and entry fee to enter one competition all season.
I do not care what organizational change the A. F. L. A. may have to make to develop this large group of young fencers. If a Metropolitan Division is necessary, then I am for it. If a Metropolitan Committee, authorized to operate under the Board of Governors, would provide one Prep competition in foil, a series of Novice competitions for individuals and teams in all three weapons, a series of inter-club competitions revolving around the city during the season for fencers in all weapons, then I am for that. These boys are full of pep and we are stupid if we don't let them use it in friendly competition at the lowest cost possible. This has nothing to do with the National problem; it is a purely local proposition that should be of interest to every Club, professional, and young amateur in New York City. The Board of Governors should welcome this development. It relieves its National Schedule of every competition of classification lower than that of Junior. It might prove hard on newspaper reporters who might find it necessary to contact several places in the city on the same night to pick up the results of two and three competitions going on at the same time. It might be a hardship on a Metropolitan Committee, but where better could the Board of Governors find a trying ground for younger men to prove their executive ability.
I have a third alternative. Strip the National Schedule of all Prep, Novice and non-National Junior competitions. Have the Board of Governors set up a Junior Non-divisional Group (a subsidiary group to contain all Junior fencers. A Junior fencer in that case refers to those under 19 years of age), with jurisdiction over all these competitions. Any fencer could enter this group’s competitions so long as his classification permitted it. His dues, if a Junior, are to be kept in the Junior Group’s Treasury. His dues, if an Active or Senior fencer, are to be kept until he should fence in any of the National competitions, at which time it shall revert to the National Treasury. At the end of each season, any amount in excess of $100 should be turned over to the National Treasury. Such an arrangement would suffice to finance the necessary competitions, should quiet the fears surrounding an actual Metropolitan Division, would provide adequate competitive outlets for our younger fencers and most important of all would require no more than a Board of Governors ruling to be put into practice.
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The fencing season opened most promisingly on November 1st with the Prep Foil. It was difficult to believe that none of these boys had fenced before in an A. F. L. A. competition. I have seen poorer Junior foil competitions in the past. I felt like a visitor in a strange land to see so many fencers I did not know, but there they were, the cream of the crop, as mentioned before, as promising a group of youngsters as I have ever seen; promising trouble to our present Juniors and Seniors in years to come, promising a good Olympic Team in 1944.
The fine accomplishment of the young winner of this competition can best be described by quoting the headlines in the New York Herald Tribune the following morning, "Prokop's 14-Bout Sweep Captures Prep Foils Title." Austin Prokop, a Santelli pupil, a tall, modest lad won 14 straight bouts in an exhibition of skill and stamina that was truly remarkable in a boy his age. Furthermore, the boy seemed to gain confidence and strength as the evening progressed and appeared ready for more as the evening closed. His style was well-rounded with forceful offense and fast, varied parries and strong ripostes. Aim high, Master Prokop, there is a swell group of Senior fencers who will proudly welcome you to their select ranks if your present promise bears fruit through a few more years of hard work and application.
Albert Axelrod, also of Santelli’s, gained a well-deserved second place in this competition. His bout with Prokop was the feature of the evening. These friends of long standing fought a beautiful bout with Axelrod gaining the first touch on as pretty a parry and riposte as has been seen thus far this year. There is not a great deal of difference between these boys, the slightest edge carrying a little bit of jinx seems just now to be in Prokop’s favor.
Fashions seem to be set in these Prep competitions. Last year, fleches were in strong evidence and throughout both the College and A. F. L. A. season the fleche was an over-used method of attack. In this year’s Prep the stop-thrust was the feature. Both Gerald Levin of the Eastern District High School and Emile Jabbour of the Salle Cherny appeared to make most of their touches by this means. Its over-use possibly led to their eventual downfall. My only point is to watch out this year for an increased use of the stop-thrust in all College and A. F. L. A. competitions.
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The Women’s Foil Prep Competition attracted 20 entrants and a good crowd of spectators to open the season for the Women fencers on November 18th at the Fencers Club. As with the boys, the girls produced a bumper crop of young fencers superior to that of any former year. Mrs. Aldo Nadi, fencing a clean Italian style, as taught her by her famous fencing professional husband, was the popular favorite and winner of the competition after a final fence-off with Miss Ruth Maxwell of Hofstra College. Lacking the feminine touch, I should prefer to quote Miss Janet Owen’s account of the bout in the New York Herald Tribune: “Mrs. Nadi, a slender, red-headed young woman with promising form in the art of foils play, never had fenced before she married Nadi two years ago. Under his tutelage in that brief time she has developed a technique which enabled her to win all but two of her approximate dozen bouts last evening, and to defeat her closest rival, Miss Ruth Maxwell, of Hofstra College, 4-2 in a fence-off.”
Mrs. Nadi was decidedly nervous at the start of the evening. Any old-time fencer could smile to realize the horrible, falling feeling she must have felt as she opposed styles of fencing she had never contacted in her husband’s Salle. It is to her credit that she recovered confidence as the evening progressed and successfully overcame these various styles as she met them. With more competitive experience and greater developed stamina Mrs. Nadi should go on to more victories in the higher classifications.
Miss Maxwell deserves a great deal of credit. She fenced coolly and most sanely all evening, being defeated only in a fence-off with an opponent who has had an unique opportunity to develop the finest technique available.
This competition introduced the new four-touch bout in Women’s foil. It proved highly satisfactory from all appearances and permitted an otherwise long competition to be finished within reasonable time limits.
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With foil as the basic weapon in fencing, it is only natural to expect that foil fencing in the younger classifications should be superior to the sabre and epee fencing. With all due respect to the participants, this fact was evident at the Novice Sabre Competition held at the N. Y. A. C. on November 3rd. Douglas Gerard of the Salle Santelli won first place after a late-competition upset of William Ritayik of the Saltus Club. An interesting sidenote on this competition was the fact that Gerard only entered this competition as a preliminary warming up for a competition he wished to enter out of town. He was without hope of victory and retained a relaxed mental and physical attitude until his success showed promise of final victory. In the deciding bout with Ritayik, the latter was the first to achieve four touches and still Gerard came through by letting his opponent force the game and achieve self-defeat through over-eagerness.
I do not wish to detract from Gerard’s victory or underestimate Ritayik’s promise as a sabreman. However, I believe the facts behind this victory of Gerard’s deserve to be stressed. Ritayik was definitely beaten by himself by forcing the fight against a more-relaxed opponent who only took advantage of the opportunities offered. Gerard is a hard, temperamental fencer with good promise. This evening his casualness offset his temperament and he won out against a cooler, headier fencer than himself.
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What a competition the Novice Foil proved to be. With 74 entrants it was necessary to hold this competition over a two-day period. Austin Prokop of the Salle Santelli confirmed the promise shown by him in the Prep Foil by winning with only one loss in a total of 20 bouts. He suffered no loss in the Finals, however, to establish a most unusual record for his first two competitions.
Theodore Green of the Saltus Club won second place by losing only to Prokop. Green has remained just short of a Junior ranking the past few years. He has a fine hand technique but has yet to develop a mobility in leg work to match the higher-ranking fencers. Arthur Axelrod took 3rd place. Daniel Alagna, who first appeared in A. F. L. A. competition in the John Allaire Trophy contest last year, is confirming the promise he gave at that time by winning fourth place. Alagna impresses us as a young foilsman with a good future who will move from class to class in jumps with discouraging plateaus between. We hope that he will have the patience and persistence to carry on through these plateaus that discourage but nevertheless are sometimes necessary to gather the momentum for the next upward step.
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An amusing remark was made by one of the boys following the Novice Sabre competition. “Can you imagine, I’ve had twelve lessons from Santelli and was put out in the first round.”
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The Nadis have cancelled all arrangements abroad for their fencing exhibitions in London. What is England’s loss is America’s gain and we are selfish enough to be pleased at these altered plans. Nadi maintains his private Aldo Nadi Studio at the Savoy-Plaza.
The Vinces are en route to Los Angeles by automobile with planned stops between for fencing exhibitions. They plan to establish a Salle d’Armes in Los Angeles while maintaining their New York Salle d’Armes under an Assistant.
Santelli has accepted a contract as fencing master this season at Hofstra College. His Salle Santelli and the N. Y. A. C. complete his heavy schedule.
Cabijos handles the Saltus Club and Vassar. Castello and Julia Jones teach the boys and girls at N. Y. U. respectively. Greco specializes at his own Academy as does Senac at his private Salle. Pinchart is master at the Fencers Club. Joseph Smith is master at Hunter College and the Metropolitan Club. Montague is at C. C. N. Y. Stevens is at Pratt Institute. Murray is master at the N. Y. A. C. and Columbia University. Argento is at the Fencers Club and the Philadelphia Sword Club. St. Leger is at Henry IV. Capt. Smith and Col. Cherny maintain their own Salle d’Armes. Pasche is at St. Johns College.
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About ten years ago the officials of the A. F. L. A. were compelled to speak to Mr. Santelli to restrain him from over-enthusiasm at contests in which his pupils participated. He is no longer an offender. I mention this bit of history to introduce a criticism today of Mr. Nadi. At the Women’s Prep competition, he was naturally most keenly interested in Mrs. Nadi’s success. He could not resist whispering words of encouragement and perhaps of instruction to her as she fenced. It is doubtful if such are of any value to a competitor during the concentration of a bout, but there are definite reports that Mrs. Nadi’s opponents were upset by them. During the final fence-off he took a prominent position at center and, as it happened, directly opposite the Director. He just could not restrain himself. As it happened, the Jury was entirely cold-blooded and impervious to the excitement of the nearest spectator.
I have praised Mrs. Nadi’s fine victory elsewhere in this column and gladly repeat this praise. She won cleanly, fairly, and deservedly. On the other hand, it is only fair to Miss Maxwell, a fine young girl, that she return to Hofstra College with no feeling that she was ganged up on by the A. F. L. A., the Judges, Mr. Nadi, or any combination of these. Knowing the A. F. L. A., there will be a severe warning for this offense or at least any recurrence of it. Knowing myself, any reoccurrence will find me a furious Charlie McCarthy and I will proceed to “mow him down” either in this column or personally at the regrettable loss of a much-valued anonymity.
