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Title
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en
De Capriles Brothers Sweep Metropolitan Championship
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Date
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March 1938
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volume
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3
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issue
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3
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pages
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1, 6, 19
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content
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en
DE CAPRILES BROTHERS SWEEP METROPOLITAN CHAMPIONSHIP
The two de Capriles brothers, of the Salle Santelli, made a clean sweep of the three metropolitan individual titles, when on successive Sundays at the Fencers Club, José won the Foil and Epée and Miguel won the Sabre Championships. To achieve this unusual result José defeated John Huffman, of the New York Athletic Club, in a fence-off for the foil crown, and nosed out Nickolas Muray, also of the N.Y.A.C., by half a victory in the épée, while Miguel had a two-bout lead over Morman Armitage of the Fencers Club in the sabre. The details of each tournament follow:
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METROPOLITAN FOIL
Starting field of 33 included 5 nationally ranked stars; José de Capriles (No. 2), Hugh Alessandroni (No. 4), John Huffman (No. 7), Norman Lewis (No. 9), and Maurice Grasson (No. 10) in addition to such outstanding junior foilsmen as Nat Lubell, Dan Bukantz, Silvio Giolito, Wallace Goldsmith, and Henry Wesselman. All of the ranked men, except Grasson, made the final. The intercollegiate champion from Yale missed out by a two-touch margin when he was defeated by Milton Soroka, of N. Y. U., in a semi-final bout.
J. de Capriles swept through 8 straight victories —4 in the preliminaries, 3 in the semi-final, and 1 in the final—before being set back by Huffman. The latter, however, lost his first bout in the final to Bukantz, so that the two leaders finished in a tie for first place with 4 victories and 1 defeat. Lubell, who was in excellent form, nosed out Bukantz for third place by a margin of two touches, after each had finished with three victories. Lewis was fifth, with a single victory, 5-2 over Alessandroni who failed to win in the final round.
José de Capriles was impressive throughout the tournament, and in the fence-off he avenged a 5-3 set-back by Huffman with a 5-2 victory over his only conqueror. Dan Bukantz's performance was the best he has shown in competition, as he barely missed tying for first place when he lost to Lubell 5-4. In the preliminary round, Rudolph Ozol, former M.I.T. star, set a whirlwind pace, defeating Grisson and Lubell in a five-bout sweep to lead his pool. The fast pace took its toll, however, and Ozol dropped out in the semi-final after defeating Alessandroni. Lewis went into the final unbeaten in eight starts, but he suddenly lost his touch. Alessandroni was in trouble early in the tournament, dropping his first bout, to Soroka, by 5-1, and trailing 4-1 in his bout with Graetz. He was able to rally and win from Graetz and thereby escaped first-round elimination.
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METROPOLITAN ÉPÉE
A small field of 18, due probably to the use of the electrical recording apparatus, competed for épée title. Six nationally ranked fencers took part: Tracy Jaeckel (No. 2), José de Capriles (No. 4), Winslow Cornett (No. 5), Al Skrobisch (No. 7), Norman Armitage (No. 8), and Robert Driscoll (No. 9). Hugh Alessandroni, former metropolitan champion, and A. P. ("Johnny") Walker, former Olympian who has returned to competition after several years' absence, were also entered.
The chief upset was the first-round elimination of Jaeckel, top-seeded star, who won only one of his five bouts. In the same pool, Philip Wiedel, of Columbia, lost qualification by a single touch after trying with Reginals Weber, Fencers Club, for third place with three victories. Skrobisch and Jean Grombach led the pool. On another preliminary strip, Cornett dropped out, also winning only one bout in five, and "Ted" Gold, intercollegiate champion in 1936 and 1937, was eliminated by two touches after trying Armitage and Nickolas Muray with three victories. On the third preliminary strip Alessandroni was eliminated, winning one and tying another bout in five tries.
José de Capriles swept through his five preliminary bouts in excellent form, then faced serious trouble in the nine-man final when he lost his first bout to Muray 3-2 and was tied by Driscoll at 3-3. Thereafter, however, he earned six straight victories and clinched the title when Muray was beaten by Skrobisch and Driscoll, who finished third and fourth respectively. Walker was fifth with 3½ wins, his victory over Skrobisch depriving the latter of a possible second place. George Thompson, N.Y.A.C., nosed out his team mate Grombach by a single touch for the sixth place, each winning 3 bouts. Armitage, with 2½, and Weber with 2 victories, completed the final pool.
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METROPOLITAN SABRE
The sabre field of 39 included all the nationally ranked stars except "Chips" Cantor (No. 5), who has not yet returned to competition, and Samuel T. Stewart (No. 6). in addition, there were George V. Worth, of Hungary, and Bela de Nagy, 1936 Olympian who was absent from last year's tournaments. The competition was keen throughout, as Ralph Marson (No. 9), bowed out of the picture in the first round; while National Champion John R. Huffman, runner-up José de Capriles, Ervin S. Acel (No. 7), Nickolas Muray (No. 8), and James Flynn (No. 10), were eliminated in the semi-finals.
In regaining the title he last held in 1933, Miguel de Capriles was in top form. He swept through the first pool with five consecutive victories, suffered his only defeat of the tournament at the hands of Robert Ebel of Yale in the semi-finals, and then scored nine successive wins—4 in the semi-final and 5 in the final. His first two bouts in the final, against Worth and Armitage, really clinched the title for de Capriles and in both bouts the new champion's timing and tactical cleverness off-set the superior technique of his rivals. In each case, the winning touch was earned on perfectly executed one-two stop thrusts with the point in counter-time.
Armitage, the defending champion, suffered 3 defeats, one in the semi-final at the hands of Nagy, and two in the final—by de Capriles and by Philip Lubart. The latter, incidentally, had the distinction of defeating Huffman twice—once in the preliminaries and again in the semi-finals. Worth, one of the pre-tournament favorites, whose entry had been widely publicized, was obviously laboring under great nervous strain in trying to make a spectacular American debut. The lithe Hungarian top-flight sabreman failed to show the dazzling speed he exhibited in training, and suffered four defeats—one in the semi-final by Nickolas Muray, and three in the final, by de Capriles, Armitage, and Nagy. The third place medal went to Philip Viscidi, Yale's intercollegiate sabre champion, on a count of touches after he, Worth, and Nagy had finished the final round-robin with two victories each.
José de Capriles had the misfortune of being eliminated on a single defeat in eight starts. He, Armitage, and Nagy, each won four and lost one in the semi-final of six men, but as there were only two qualifiers, de Capriles dropped out on the count of touches. Huffman was eliminated on successive defeats by Philip Lubart and Miguel de Capriles.
The largest club entry, from the Salle Santelli, showed 10 men in the preliminaries, 8 of whom survived for the semi-final, and 3 for the final. Yale University sent 7 men, while N.Y.U., C.C.N. Y., and the New York A.C. each entered 5.
