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Title
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Aldo Nadi Replies to "The Hornets' Nest"
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January 1939
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4
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10
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ALDO NADI REPLIES TO "THE HORNETS' NEST"
Our December issue carried an article containing an exchange of letters pertaining to a fencing writeup in the Bulletin Index. That writeup quoted Aldo Nadi as having said "There is little wrong with American fencing other than downright incompetence." The article terminated with a letter by Giorgio Santelli in which he stated that this quotation was "probably a misrepresentation," but in which he also went on to add statements concerning Mr. Nadi's fencing record which that professional desires to clarify.
We herewith present a statement of record which the Editor believes represents the greatest competitive fencing record ever attained. There is nothing in the records of modern fencing which can equal this record in foil, in all three weapons and in the number of years in which such supremacy was maintained. We are pleased to submit Mr. Nadi's letter.
—
Dear Editor:
I thought I would never again have the opportunity of writing in your magazine, but it just happens that my name is being mentioned in your columns perhaps too often. I do not want to sound like the great Garbo, but, like her, I sincerely wish "to be left alone."
I have read in your December issue that according to the Editors of the Bulletin Index of Pittsburgh, I have stated in the past that "American fencing is downright incompetent." I flatly deny that this statement was ever uttered by me, and even less countersigned by me. I must here say that the fencing teachers in this country who first developed this sport in the U.S.A. deserve the highest praise. Giorgio Santelli is unquestionably one of them, and as far as the tremendous amount of work accomplished in the last twelve years is concerned, he might perhaps be put at the head of the list.
Now, I would like to answer the letter in your last issue by my old friend, Giorgio Santelli, himself. After that issue was out, he told me that he had just stated some facts, and that obliges me to state some others.
Comparisons should always be avoided, but considering that some have been made, it is my right to discuss them.
Giorgio Santelli says that in Los Angeles, Joseph Levis "bettered Aldo Nadi's best Olympic Foil achievement." It is true, for in Antwerp (1920, the only Olympic Games in which I took part) I was third in foil, with the same number of victories in the final as the fourth and fifth. Let us not forget that another Nadi, whom I had to help anyway, was first. At that time I was twenty-one, with scarcely any record — because of the war — except that I had won the Italian Amateur Championship and a few other tournaments.
Anybody who has followed my career knows that at twenty-one my strength was about one-fifth of that reached at the age of twenty-five, and maintained for at least ten years. This is confirmed by the fact that Cattaü, second in Antwerp and many times champion of France and Europe, was twice beaten by me later: 10–4, Milan, 1922; 14–8, Paris, 1929. And if Giorgio Santelli just thinks that my very good friend and excellent fencer, Joseph Levis, has ever been or is a stronger fencer than I was or am now in spite of my forty years, I will just let him think what he likes. But only think.
As far as my Olympic Sabre achievement is concerned (sorry, Giorgio, but I am afraid I shall have to go into this, for the opportunity is not to be passed), I must remind my Italian colleague that in the same games at Antwerp in 1920 I was second in that weapon, while another Nadi, six years older than I, was first. Incidentally, Giorgio Santelli himself was eliminated in the semi-finals of that same competition, just as he was no better than fifth in the pre-Olympic Italian "Tournament of Champions" held in Venice in July 1920, immediately before Antwerp, while I was second again — another Nadi first, as usual.
It is true that I have never met any American amateur fencers in a regular match. But perhaps I am not quite finished yet, and for a few more years I am ready to meet any American amateur, giving him a handicap of three touches in a twelve-touch bout, in any weapon. This, of course, is not meant to diminish in any way the high opinion I have of more than one American fencer. But I think I could take the chance, considering that more than one of France's title holders have been beaten by me, in France, with the score 12–3.
Giorgio Santelli continues: "Unfortunately, Aldo Nadi turned professional before winning either any Olympic or World Amateur Championship. His greatest claims for supremacy were all established as a professional, which obviated the necessity of entering the long, gruelling tournaments that are the real test of a champion. In a single ten-touch challenge match he should prove supreme in foil and very high in either sabre or epee."
And I say: Considering that an older Nadi had to win the games at Antwerp, it was rather difficult for me to do more than reach second place. But I most certainly challenge the second statement in the above quotation. As a professional I have won, from 1924 to 1927, four years in succession, the Italian Professional Championships in foil, epee, and sabre, always without a single defeat; amongst those professionals there were some who could beat the best amateurs in the world of that time in all weapons. As a professional I have beaten fourteen Champions of France in regular matches (foil and epee, because in France nobody was ever allowed to meet me in sabre), from Haussy to Gardere, the greatest Professional and Amateur champions France has had in two generations. This record, incidentally, has not been equaled by anybody, and all those victories were obtained in France. As an amateur and as a professional I have won fifty-three competitions, twenty-two tournaments, and thirty-one individual matches against championship title holders of Italy, France, and Europe, in all weapons.
If this is not sufficient for what Giorgio calls the "test of a champion," I am indeed sorry that my past cannot offer him a more "gruelling" record.
In the third sentence of the above quotation, Giorgio was very generous in stating that I "should prove supreme in any foil test." But when his generosity is really great is when he states that in a sabre or epee test I should prove to be "very high."
I am very sorry that I had to bother you, dear Editor, as well as the readers of the Riposte, with such a long self-apology of my career; but you will perhaps agree with me that after reading your last issue something had to be said, once and for all.
With many thanks and kindest regards,
Very Sincerely yours,
Aldo Nadi
