Tommy Angell
Tommy Angell, a Bay Area native, represented the US at the 1964 Olympics and had a long run as a top women’s foilist. She was a member of the Pan American teams in 1963 and 1971, and the World Championships teams those same years. While never winning the US National individual title, she was a perennial finalist of over a decade.
In San Francisco, she fenced for Hans Halberstadt before moving to Pannonia, working first with George Piller then Ferenc Marki. In 1966, she led the Pannonia team to a National Team title. Tommy was a multi-sport athlete at UC Berkeley and competed internationally in field hockey and fencing concurrently. She was inducted into the Cal Athletics Hall of Fame in 1980.
Articles
Identifying the Unidentified
When I struggle with ideas for writing about fencing history for this site, I have a couple of favorite fallback topics. If you’ve been reading for awhile, you can probably guess most of them.
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!
A Newfound Respect
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.
The Woman in the Center
I'm always fascinated by people who are the first to do something. I take little interest in things like climbing Everest, other than reading the current news of how the mountain's exploitation is causing the needless deaths of adventurous souls from around the...
The Little Woman With The Big Briefcase
Tommy Angell was the type of person who overcame obstacles. It doesn’t seem to matter how challenging things may have been; she simply took them on and beat them. Not just took them on; she seems to have sought them out and demolished them.
My Heroes are all Women, Part One
I’ve had two brain-melting events in the last few weeks that have left me in a state of awe that I could really be so lucky. To many, it might be tough to understand how I can get such a thrill out of the circumstances that have arisen.
1964 Olympic Trials, Women’s Foil
Well, in 1964, Julie was a foil fencer, and a good one. Good enough to make the final at the 1964 New York World’s Fair, where the Olympic Qualifier event was held.
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