The 1940 American Olympic Fencing Team
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The 1940 American Olympic Fencing Team
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July 1940
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5
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en
The 1940 American Olympic Fencing Team
On May 5th the American Olympic Committee and the American Olympic Association voted to authorize and instruct its Games Committees to select a theoretical Olympic Team in the same manner as though a team were being chosen for actual Olympic competition at Helsinki. Awards will be available for presentation to team members to commemorate their selection for an American Olympic team.
This decision of the American Olympic Committee and the American Olympic Association is highly commendable. The active competitive years in many sports are few in number. The runner who is at the peak of his ability this year may well have passed his peak four years from now and through circumstances beyond his control never receive the honor of Olympic selection which would otherwise have been his. This is not so true of fencing as of other sports, for fencers continue good for years and seem to be competitively efficient longer than most other athletes. Nevertheless, the American Olympic Games Fencing Committee has selected its 1940 American Olympic Fencing team in accordance with the request of the Parent Olympic Organization.
After deciding upon a four-man team in each weapon, a two-girl women's foil team, a Captain-Manager, a Coach and a Trainer, it was voted that selections should be made upon the point system adopted by previous committees. By this system the 1938 Championships were given the weight of one, the 1939 Championships the weight of two and the 1940 Championships a weight of four. All other scheduled official tryouts were given a weight of one. These last mentioned consist of all invitation individual senior events on the 1940 Metropolitan Schedule (originally scheduled as Olympic Tryouts) and the 1940 Pacific Coast and Midwest Championships. Fencers placing from first to eighth received eight to one points respectively. These ratings per competition, multiplied by the weight factor, were totaled to give the final point score. It was further decided that a fencer making the team in two weapons would give way to a succeeding fencer in one of the weapons. Non-citizens also yielded their places to citizens. The results of such a point tabulation were as follows:
Foil
Dernell Every – 66
Warren A. Dow – 57
Norman Lewis – 49
Dr. John R. Huffman – 33
Edward Carfagno – 31
Jose R. de Capriles – 28
Silvio Giolito – 23
Daniel Bukantz – 14
Lieut. Richard Steere – 12
Hugh V. Alessandroni – 10
Alfred R. Snyder – 8
Byron Krieger – 8
Nathaniel Lubell – 7
Sabre
Dr. Norman C. Armitage – 76
Jose de Capriles – 55
Dr. John R. Huffman – 48
Miguel A. de Capriles – 41
Ralph E. Marson – 33
Diaz Cetrulo – 22
Peter Bruder – 20
Dr. Ervin Acel – 19
Edward Carfagno – 16
Nickolas Muray – 11
Dr. James Flynn – 9
Lon Hocker – 8
Leonard Bellman – 7
Epee
Jose R. de Capriles – 53
Alfred Skrobisch – 45
Loyal Tingley – 48
Fred W. Siebert – 32
Commdr. Leonard Doughty – 23
Robert Driscoll – 20
Andrew Boyd – 14
Ralph E. Marson – 14
August von Munchhausen – 13
Jean V. Grombach – 12
Lieut. Gustave Heiss – 12
Norman Lewis – 10
Miguel A. de Capriles – 10
John L. Thompson – 8
Saul Karch – 7
Women’s Foil
Miss Mildred Stewart – 60
Miss Helena Mroczkowska – 49
Miss Madeline Dalton – 33
Mrs. Marion Lloyd Vince – 28
Miss Barbara L. Cochrane – 27
Miss Carol King – 24
Mrs. Dolly Funke – 21
Miss Maria Cerra – 19
Miss Dorothy Grimmelmann – 15
Miss Moreene Fitz – 12
Miss Maxine MacMasters – 8
Miss Paula Sweeney – 7
After dropping Huffman from foil and J. de Capriles from sabre, since they were definite selections in sabre and epee respectively, the 1940 Olympic Fencing Games Committee has announced the following members of its 1940 American Olympic Fencing Team:
Foil: Dernell Every, Warren A. Dow, Norman Lewis, and Edward Carfagno.
Sabre: Norman C. Armitage, John R. Huffman, Miguel A. de Capriles, and Ralph E. Marson.
Epee: Jose R. de Capriles, Alfred Skrobisch, Loyal Tingley, and Fred W. Siebert.
Women’s Foil: Miss Mildred Stewart and Miss Helena Mroczkowska.
Captain-Manager: Harold Van Buskirk.
Coach: George Santelli.
Trainer and Assistant Coach: Alvar Hermanson.
In the selection of coaches, consideration was given to the fact that eight of the twelve men chosen were the present pupils of Santelli while two were pupils of Hermanson.
