Charles Selberg
Fencing Master at UC Santa Cruz, member of a team that won gold at the World Master’s Championships
Preserving Fencing History
The passion for fencing history you’ll find reflected here on the West Coast Fencing Archive can be traced to the legacy of Charles Selberg.
An exceptional teacher and storyteller, Charlie brought fencing history to life for his students through his vivid tales of great fencers and famous bouts.
His estate, filled with posters, photos, scrapbooks and other fencing memorabilia, became the initial collection for the Archive. Since then, we have incorporated sixty more collections and counting.
The Latest Story
Women’s Foil, circa 1971
The 1971 US National Championships were held on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, commonly known as Cal. The locals did pretty well, too!
Other Tales from the Archive
Aldo Nadi’s Record, Part Two
It’s entertaining, reading through Nadi’s ruminations on his life and career as a competitive fencer. That he possessed a finely honed ego – to which he admits in one section – is obvious. In addition, he clearly has an excellent memory to remember so vividly events...
Aldo Nadi’s Record, Part One
Aldo Nadi was a great fencer. He… well, let’s let the back of his business card explain: High praise, and not misplaced. Nadi was an Olympian for Italy in the 1920 games, winning gold in all three fencing team events and an individual sabre silver medal,...
Fencing and the Summer of Love
The short version, the one I like best, is that he was qualified to be a member of the 1968 Olympic sabre team, with one condition. The condition, as allegedly put forward by the AFLA’s selection committee, was that he cut his hair.
July 1981: World University Games, Part 2
Let’s get right to the action. The first match in the top four pits the great Soviet fencer Vladimir Smirnov against Federico Cervi from Italy. Unfortunately, we pick up the battle past the mid-way point with Smirnov leading 8-5…
World University Games, Part 1 July 1981
Training under former Olympic coach Michael D’Asaro, I was fortunate to have teammates that traveled to major competitions and would come back knowing the names of the current greats. But for those of us who did not travel internationally, all we knew were a few names and reputations.
1970 Fencing Masters World Championship, London
The mastermind behind the ultimately triumphant performance of the US Masters team at the 1970 World Fencing Masters Championships was, without doubt, Raoul Sudre, head coach at Cornell University.
The Last Captain
FEATURE LENGTH FENCING DOCUMENTARY
For fifty years, the Hungarian National Sabre team had two constants: they took home gold in every tournament they entered and they had George Piller.
This is the story of Jekelfalussy (Piller) Gyorgy, the 1932 Olympic Sabre champion who defected to the United States during the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne.
By Doug Nichols and Greg Lynch
Meet the Fencers
Meet the Fencing Masters
Relic Spotlight
A trio of medals, gold, silver and bronze from the Colonel Laurance Brownlee collection.
Film Library
Check out our video library
Vintage Posters
View our collection
Books
By the West Coast Fencing Archive
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STORY
Have something to share or add? Our goal is to capture the stories we know are out there. Plus photos, videos, home movies, posters—you name it. All this material helps preserve the stories of West Coast fencing.
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