San Francisco
Item
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Title
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San Francisco
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Date
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November 1939
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volume
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4
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issue
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6
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page start
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11
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page end
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11
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content
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en
SAN FRANCISCO
On September 23rd, after a week of the hottest weather San Francisco had experienced in many years, the fencing season opened in this city. This competition, the Men’s Intermediate Epee Competition, qualified its three highest men directly into the Pacific Coast Championships to be held in Los Angeles in April.
Because of his newly-won National Ranking, Harry Mortimer of the Olympic Club was the target of all eyes and epees, but he proved better than the threat against him and won the competition with Salvatore Giambra of the Young Italian Club, second, and Walter Westman of the Olympic Club, third. There were nine entries.
Fortunately for the competitors and officials, the Young Italian Club, host to the competition, served cooling liquid refreshments during a recess in the competition. The heat, the season opening, and the refreshments all tended to give the evening a pleasant festive tone.
The Intermediate Sabre Competition attracted 17 entries to Treasure Island on September 29th. A large group of spectators attended the event, considering that attendance at the Fair itself was light that day.
Torao Mori, unattached, went through the six-man finals undefeated, while Salvatore Giambra, of the Young Italian Club, was second with only one defeat, and Ferard Leicester, of the Olympic Club, was third, losing only to Mori and Giambra. These men qualified for the Pacific Coast Championships.
By middle October two of the five rounds of the Heron Trophy Competition had been completed. This Competition was inaugurated to provide keen foil team competition early in the season without duplicating later season competitions. Mr. Flodden W. Heron donated a beautiful perpetual Trophy for the purpose and made certain stipulations to increase interest in the sport and fairness in results. For instance, each foil team must consist of five members, to encourage clubs into having at least five competitive fencers. To prevent one club from gaining and keeping the Trophy year after year with the same few strong foilsmen representing them repeatedly, Mr. Heron stipulated that should a club (not a university) win the Trophy, no member of the winning team might compete for the Trophy the following year. This encouraged larger squads at the clubs and tended to circulate the Trophy. To date, the Olympic Club has been its winner in 1928, 1929, 1930, 1935, and 1938; Stanford University in 1931, 1932, and 1936; and the East Bay Fencers Club in 1934.
Thus far this season the Olympic Club, the Funke Fencing Academy, and the Young Italian Club have each won two matches, and the University of California, Stanford University, and the Berkeley Team have each lost two matches. The Tournament will end on November 3rd, and complete details will be presented upon its completion.
