Heziburo Okawa
Japan-born Heizaburo Okawa is a three-time Olympian for Japan, three-time Japanese National Foil champion and twice US National Foil champion. At the height of his competitive career, he was ranked 10th in the world in foil. Marrying the daughter of his coach, Torao Mori, Okawa took over coaching duties at Salle Mori after the unexpected death of Mori. Okawa taught at Salle Mori and coached at several Southern California Universities.
He eventually retired from Cal State Fullerton after more than twenty years as a University coach. His image was famously captured during a bout with Jean-Claude Magnan, with Okawa low and backwards reaching up to hit Magnan who is rising up to thrust down at Okawa. The image was taken by Gene Glazer of New York, who only recently learned how famous his image had become.
Articles
The San Jose Summer Workshops
Sometime prior to the summer of 1977, Michael D’Asaro and Charles Selberg devised a plan to create a summer workshop for fencers. Both were instructors at Universities, San Jose State and UC Santa Cruz, respectively
The Walls of the Joseph Vince Studio Los Angeles, CA
The Joseph Vince Studio was on Santa Monica Blvd, in the heart of Beverly Hills; a grand location to attract an amazing assortment of Talent with a capital T. Quite a number of Movie Stars spent time with Joseph Vince.
A Well-Traveled Man
Heizaburo Okawa has been quite a few places and seen a lot. And accomplished a fair bit in the process. Let’s run it down, shall we?
Where have we been?
Where Have We Been? What a crazy bunch of weeks! It may still take a bit to get back up to speed with regular stories, but the reason will hopefully be made clear as I describe recent events. First, Nationals. That would be the US Fencing National Championships,...
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