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Title
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Intercollegiate Fencing Association Championships
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Date
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May 1940
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volume
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5
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issue
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3
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page start
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3
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page end
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3
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content
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en
INTERCOLLEGIATE FENCING ASSOCIATION CHAMPIONSHIPS
Even the most optimistic followers of the New York University fencing team would not have forecast as favorable an outcome for their team's prowess as actually occurred in the 47th annual championship of the Intercollegiate Fencing Association on March 29th and 30th on the fencing strips at N.Y.U.'s School of Education. Trailing Navy's highly rated team as the last fencing session was entered, the New York University fencers went into a spirited fighting finish that saw their college come off with the three Individual crowns, the Foil Team title, and the Three Weapon crown.
Silvio Giolito, N.Y.U.'s senior captain, came through with 18 straight victories in two days to win the Individual Foil Championship. His victory had been correctly forecast by the experts in advance, for this fast left-hander's prowess with the foil had won him respect throughout the season in Intercollegiate competition.
Daniel Appleton of Navy, the only foilsman given a chance to upset Giolito, won second place with 6 wins, 2 losses, and 23 touches against him in the nine-man Finals, while Arthur Tauber, sophomore left-hander from N.Y.U., surprised many by breaking into the medalist class and taking third place in this, his first year of varsity competition. Tauber tied with Appleton in bouts won and lost but had 29 touches against him at the end of the Finals.
With Giolito and Tauber piling up an impressive string of 14 foil victories in the Final round alone, N.Y.U. had no difficulty in capturing the Foil Team Championship with a 10-bout lead over Navy, its nearest rival.
Frank Scharfstein of N.Y.U., fencing his first all-varsity year, slashed through a strong nine-man sabre Finals undefeated to produce the greatest upset of the Championship. The sabre field was one of the strongest in years, including Abraham Campo, defending Champion from Navy, as well as a strong and complete trio of Alan Strock, Alan Rorick, and Davison Dalziel of Army, and James Welles, Jr., of Columbia. Alan Strock of Army took second place with 6 wins and 2 losses in the Finals, while Abraham Campo took third on touches over Alan Rorick of Army, with both fencers having 5 wins and 3 losses apiece.
With complete representation in the Finals, the Army sabre team piled up an impressive lead for undisputed first place in that weapon. Its victory was obtained with a total of 32 sabre bouts won against 23 victories for the Navy, the second-place winner. Columbia University was a close third with 22 victories.
We witnessed another upset in the Individual Epee Championship when Arthur Tauber of New York University, already mentioned for his third place in Foil, led a strong nine-man Finals, which included Mindy Slikas, also of N.Y.U., Philip Glennon and James McPherson of Navy, and Jack Zaugg of Princeton, to win the gold medal with 6½ wins and 1½ losses. Slikas was a close second with 6 wins and 2 losses with 11 touches against, while McPherson took third with 6 wins and 2 losses and 12 touches against.
The Princeton University Epee team piled up too large a string of victories in the earlier rounds to be upset by N.Y.U.'s strong bid for the team title in the Finals. Princeton was first with 29½ victories, while N.Y.U. was second with 28½ wins and Navy was third with 26½ bouts won. The team results in epee were the closest of the tournament.
As previously mentioned, the Three Weapon Team title was decided by the strong offensive put on by the individual representatives of N.Y.U. in the Final rounds. N.Y.U. was first with an accumulation of 83½ victories in all weapons, while Navy’s well-balanced team, which took two seconds and one third team place, was second with 73½ points. Columbia retained its third place position from last year with 48 points, an unusual drop behind the second team score.
A comparison with last year’s results shows N.Y.U., Navy, and Army as reshuffling their 1st, 2nd, and 4th positions of 1939, while Columbia and C.C.N.Y. maintained their 3rd and 5th 1939 positions respectively. Cornell maintained its 8th position, while M.I.T. jumped from 9th to 6th and Princeton jumped from 10th to 7th to push Harvard and Yale down into the lower positions.
FINAL THREE WEAPON AND SEPARATE WEAPON STANDINGS
[Team] | Epee | Foil | Sabre | Total
N.Y.U. | 28½ | 34* | 21 | 83½
Navy | 26½ | 24 | 23 | 73½
Columbia | 7 | 19 | 22 | 48
Army | 4 | 11 | 32* | 47
City College | 17½ | 13 | 12 | 42½
M.I.T. | 15½ | 14 | 12 | 41½
Princeton | 29½* | 5 | 17 | 39½
Cornell | 11½ | 14 | 8 | 33½
Harvard | 9 | 15 | 7 | 31
Yale | 4 | 7 | 16 | 27
Pennsylvania | 7 | 7 | 11 | 25
Hamilton | 11 | 8 | 13 | 22
FINAL FOIL ROUND—FIRST FOUR PLACES
1. Silvio Giolito, N.Y.U., won 8, lost 0.
2. Daniel Appleton, Navy, won 6, lost 2, touched 23 times.
3. Arthur Tauber, N.Y.U., won 6, lost 2, touched 29 times.
4. Herbert Spiselman, Columbia, won 5, lost 3.
FINAL SABRE ROUND—FIRST FOUR PLACES
1. Frank Scharfstein, N.Y.U., won 8, lost 0.
2. Alan Strock, Army, won 6, lost 2.
3. Abraham Campo, Navy, won 5, lost 3, touched 28 times.
4. Alan Rorick, Army, won 5, lost 3, touched 30 times.
FINAL EPEE ROUND—FIRST FOUR PLACES
1. Arthur Tauber, N.Y.U., won 6½, lost 1½.
2. Mindy Slikas, N.Y.U., won 6, lost 2, touched 11 times.
3. James McPherson, Navy, won 6, lost 2, touched 12 times.
4. Philip Glennon, Navy, won 4, lost 4.
