by Doug Nichols | Oct 14, 2019 | Angell, Tommy, Baker, Jack, Blog Post, Brownlee, Laurance, Coaches, Coaches A - E, Coaches F - J, Coaches P - T, D'Asaro, Michael, Fencers, Fencers A - E, Fencers K - O, Halberstadt, Hans, Mitchell, Maxine, Northern California, Pannonia Athletic Club, Piller, George, Schools/Clubs |
It’s so much fun to have your expectations and assumptions blown to bits. That happened to me this week when I had the great fortune to meet the daughter of long-time Letterman fencer Colonel Laurance Brownlee. Colonel Brownlee was a fixture of West Coast...
by Doug Nichols | Oct 7, 2019 | Blog Post, Brownlee, Laurance, Coaches, Coaches F - J, Coaches K - O, Fencers, Fencers A - E, Funke, Erich, Halberstadt, Hans, O'Brien, William |
The founder and long-time fencing master at The Letterman Fencers Club was Dr. William O’Brien. The club’s home was a gymnasium in San Francisco’s Presidio, a windy patch of green near the southern foot of the Golden Gate Bridge. In a very real...
by Doug Nichols | Sep 30, 2019 | Baker, Jack, Biagini, Gerard, Blog Post, Coaches, Coaches A - E, Coaches F - J, Coaches K - O, Coaches P - T, D'Asaro, Michael, Fencers, Fencers A - E, Fencers K - O, Fencers P - T, Halberstadt, Hans, Lane, Arthur, Mayer, Helene, McDougall, John, Mitchell, Maxine, Moore-Selberg, Julie, Nadi, Aldo, Nottingham, Jack, Okawa, Heziburo, Piller, George, Selberg, Charles, Shurtz, Skip |
In the woods of Southern Oregon off a dirt road and across a valley from the winding I-5 was a fencing salle d’armes built by Charlie Selberg in an old barn. It was stuffed to the rafters with fencing memorabilia dating back decades. I fenced there a couple of...
by Doug Nichols | Sep 23, 2019 | Blog Post, Boyd, Andrew, Coaches, Coaches A - E, Coaches F - J, Coaches K - O, Coaches P - T, Coaches U - Z, Duff, John, Faulkner, Ralph, Fencers, Fencers A - E, Fencers K - O, Mayer, Helene, Mori, Torao, Nadi, Aldo, Piller, George, Uyttenhove, Henri |
When I have the opportunity to visit someone who has fencing memorabilia that I can scan for my collection, I often don’t get a chance to thoroughly take in the significance of everything I’m working with. I work fast, replacing one item from the flatbed...
by Doug Nichols | Sep 9, 2019 | Blog Post, Fencers, Fencers K - O, Mayer, Helene |
It’s a struggle to not take cheap shots at the drawings in old fencing books, at least for me. Sometimes though, the artist’s interpretation of the message the author is trying to convey is just too good to forego a bit of a laugh. Take the above photo,...
by Doug Nichols | Sep 2, 2019 | Blog Post, Cabrillo College, Carnighan, Len, Clark Skillman, Laurel, Coaches, Coaches A - E, Coaches K - O, Coaches P - T, D'Asaro, Gay, D'Asaro, Michael, Ellingson,Joy, Fencers, Fencers A - E, Fencers K - O, Marki, Ferenc, McDougall, John, Moore-Selberg, Julie, Northern California, Nottingham, Jack, Okawa, Heziburo, San Jose State University, Schools/Clubs, Selberg, Charles, The Fencing Center |
You don’t forget your first team, or your first teammates. The fortuitous circumstances surrounding my introduction to fencing couldn’t be more memorable; a time filled with remarkable personalities. Fencing was my first college course. Fencing, the game I’d always...
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