Vincent “Vinnie” Bradford
Native Texan Vincent “Vinnie” Bradford began fencing as a teen at a time when there were few her age competing and even fewer young girls. One exception was Stacey Johnson who, as they prepared for college, convinced Vinnie to go with her to San Jose State to train with Michael D’Asaro and his premier student, Gay.
The three women became an unrivaled power in both collegiate and open National competition. Vinnie was a four-year First Team All American and won the collegiate Nationals twice. As a team, the three women won the US National team title four times and all three were Olympians, Vinnie in 1984 at Los Angeles.
READ MORE...Vinnie won the Individual Foil title once and the Individual Epee title four times, winning both titles in 1984, the only woman to ever win both National Championship titles in the same year. As her competitive career came to a close she became a sought-after coach teaching in her native Texas and was Assistant Director of the National Coaches College.
Articles
Short Stories
A number of things have come my way recently through various paths. Taken individually, they add to the collection in nice ways, but don’t necessarily give me the grist to crank out a full story around them.
The Maestro of Clay and Bronze
My first impression of Peter Schifrin was formed by my reaction to seeing his sculpture work used in a poster for a fencing tournament. It was a photo of his sculpt of his teammates, Vinnie Bradford and Stacey Johnson, and I was fascinated by it.
Historical Holiday
Driving around Southern California may not seem like much of a Holiday, especially when traveling alone, but a recent weekend outmatched all my expectations. The plan was to make four different stops in hopes of collecting fencing history.
The Spartan Women, Part One
The last article I wrote, which featured Michael D’Asaro’s time in San Antonio and the Army, got me thinking about one of the reasons I decided to attend San Jose State to train with him. That reason was the awesome strength of his Women’s foil program.
Another Fortuitous Occurance
It’s impossible to know why these things happen. They can’t be planned for or expected yet I’ve been experiencing more than my share of these types of events since starting this archive and I couldn’t be happier about it. This is simply the latest.
The First NCAA Women’s Championship
Everything has a first time and 1982 was the year of the first Women’s Foil championship for the NCAA.
1983 D’Asaro Women’s Foil Final
The 1983 D’Asaro Women’s Foil was one of four national circuit events held during the season at different venues prior to the national championships in the early summer. Preliminary rounds were fought at San José State until the final 8 were decided
Photo Gallery
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