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A Sketch of "America's First Fencing Hero" : Lt. George Charles Calnan, U.S.N. [continued]
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May 1942
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7
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2
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12
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13
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en
A Sketch of "America's First Fencing Hero"
LT. GEORGE CHARLES CALNAN, U. S. N.
This is the second of two articles about Lt. Calnan, America's first fencing hero, who died in the dirigible "Akron" disaster in 1933. It is told chiefly in his own words, written in 1932. At that time, at the request of one of our editors, he wrote a short fencing autobiography. This is the first time that this material is made available for publication.
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"In June of 1923 a team was picked to go to England and to fence in London for the Thompson Trophy, a trophy donated so generously by the late Colonel Robert M. Thompson for competition each four years between England and the United States. While in London I fenced on the foil and epee teams, winning all my foil bouts and losing all but one of my epee bouts. From London we went to Birmingham and fenced there, and from Birmingham we went to Edinburgh and fenced the Scots. Then back to London where we again fenced. This was all good international experience and helped all the members of the team.
"In 1924 after getting second place in the National Epee Championship, I went off to Paris with the Olympic Team. That year we did not do much as far as results are concerned, but we indoctrinated a large group of young fencers, who composed the team, with the desire to improve the fencing in this country."
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First Foil Championship
"In 1925 I won my first National Foils Championship. This was a very close competition between Nunes, Peroy and myself, Nunes winning from me, Peroy winning from Nunes, I winning from Peroy, and all three winning from the fourth man. By adding up touches, it was found that I had won by one touch.
"In 1926 I again won the Foils Championship. This year England sent a Thompson Trophy team to this country and we met on three successive nights at the old New York Athletic Club. There I put on the peculiar exhibition of winning my four foil bouts the first night and losing my four epee bouts the next night. I am afraid I did not give the team much assistance."
Calnan ran his string to four consecutive victories by winning the foil championship in 1927 and 1928. In the latter year, he was a member of the American Olympic Team in both foil and epee, and acted as a deputy for the Captain of the team, Col. Henry Breckinridge. Calnan's story of these games follows:
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1928 Olympics
"That year we selected what we considered the best balanced fencing team that had ever represented the United States up to that time. Down through the years since 1920 the leading fencing clubs and the colleges of the United States had been importing one European coach after another, so that there was being built up in this country a school of young fencers, which was gradually approaching in skill and knowledge of the sport the fencers of the European countries. The fencing team which went to Amsterdam contained such names as Breckinridge, Peroy, Lyon, Rayner and Van Buskirk, of the older group of fencers, who were handing the burden of competition over to a new generation, and such names as Levis, Every, Huffman and Armitage of the younger generation. The team made an excellent showing at Amsterdam, Levis winning eleventh place in the Foils Individual, marking the first time that an American fencer had ever reached the final pool of an Olympic Games.
"Both Milner and I reached the finals in the Epee Individual Championship and I survived that to enter a so-called superfinals of four men. We fenced ten touches to determine the Olympic Championship."
These superfinals were run on an elimination basis, Gaudin of France vs. Thorn of Belgium, and Buchard of France vs. Calnan of U. S. A., the two winners to fence for the championship and the two losers to meet for third place. There was some controversy at the time and since, as to whether the pairings were proper in view of the round-robin rule which requires members of the same team to meet first. Calnan never entered into that controversy, and does not mention it in his autobiography. In his view, the pairings were correct on the basis of the seeded draw.
"In these superfinals, I fenced what I consider the most dramatic bout of my fencing experience. I fenced Buchard of France, who was at that time Champion of Europe, and we see-sawed back and forth until I had attained the lead at 10 touches to 9. There was great excitement in the assemblage during this bout, first because it was a remarkable thing to have an American still fencing at such a stage in the proceedings, and secondly, because the whole Italian team, who had not entered any of its members in the Individual Championship, was rooting for anybody to win except a Frenchman. Buchard tore off his mask and walked over to the audience, emphatically shouting 'Mal juge, mal juge!' It was with the greatest difficulty that he was convinced that the bout was not over and that the winner had to be two touches in advance to win the bout. We went on guard again and after about ten more minutes of fencing Buchard won the match by 13 to 11."
In the meantime, Gaudin had defeated Thorn. In the championship bout, Gaudin defeated Buchard in a remarkable struggle. Then Calnan overwhelmed Thorn for third place, 10–6.
The rest of Calnan's story is brief: In 1929, Levis defeated him for the national foil championship. In 1930 and 1931, Calnan reversed the tables to win his fifth and sixth foils titles. In 1931, also, Calnan placed third in the National Epee Championship, and first in the National Outdoor Epee Championship. In 1932, Levis won the foil again, and Calnan dropped to third, as Alessandroni came second. In the outdoor epee, Calnan took second place. Then came the 1932 Olympic Games. Of these Calnan says nothing, "since you know all about what happened … I will not bore you with the details." Thus the autobiography ends.
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A few details might be supplied: In 1931, Calnan might have won the National Epee Championship. In the final one-touch bout, in an exchange at close quarters, both he and his opponent missed and Director Henry Breckinridge called halt. His opponent touched Calnan on the arm, on an immediate replacement, while Calnan's missed. One of the judges called attention to the fact that the touch had scored after halt. Calnan said: "The touch is good! I was still fencing."
Calnan had been an officer on the dirigible Los Angeles for several years, when he had a serious accident in January, 1932, although no permanent ill effects resulted.
When the Olympic Committee was about to select the American athletes who would respectively take the oath and carry the American flag at the Opening Ceremonies, Calnan was entitled to the greater honor because he was the veteran of Olympic competition on the American team. Yet he was quite willing to carry the flag and to relinquish his place to F. Morgan Taylor, who would have preferred to take the oath.
As to the 1932 Olympic Games, they are the brightest page in American fencing history. Under Calnan's indomitable leadership, the foil team upset the champion French team, 8–8 in bouts, 62–60 in touches, in the final pool, thus causing a three-way tie for first place. Although on the fence-off, France took first and Italy second, the United States' third place tied the previous record, set in 1912. Then, in the epee, the United States duplicated this final position for a new record. In both team events, Calnan carried the brunt of the scoring power of the American squad, and in addition he finished sixth in the individual epee final. Levis' second place in foil, and the record of Huffman and Armitage as sabre finalists, were the other highlights of the games.
In August, 1932, Calnan married Miss Lillian Collier, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Henry Collier of New York, at High Gate Springs, Vermont. Col. Henry Breckinridge was the best man. Calnan and his wife lived in Watertown, Mass. for some time, and then moved to Lakehurst, New Jersey, when he assumed his post in the newly completed dirigible Akron.
A Sketch of "America's First Fencing Hero" : Lt. George Charles Calnan, U.S.N.
A Sketch of "America's First Fencing Hero" : Lt. George Charles Calnan, U.S.N. [continued]
