Order from the Chaos

All the posts

Grammaw’s Got A Sword!

by Doug Nichols | Jul 27, 2020 | Blog Post, Coaches, Coaches F - J, Funke, Erich

I’ve been spending a fair bit of time lately perusing the scrapbook of Erich Funke d’Egnuff that was donated to the Archive by Marc LeRoux some time back. It’s mostly comprised of news clippings dating from about 1937 to 1947.

Identifying the Unidentified

by Doug Nichols | Jul 13, 2020 | Angell, Tommy, Blog Post, Brownlee, Laurance, Coaches, Coaches A - E, Coaches F - J, Coaches K - O, Coaches U - Z, De Jong, Duris, Fencers, Fencers A - E, Fencers F - J, Halberstadt, Hans, Huddleson, Demi, Mori, Torao, Vince, Joseph

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.

The First Selection: Ted Lorber

by Doug Nichols | Jul 6, 2020 | Blog Post, Coaches, Coaches A - E, Coaches F - J, Coaches K - O, Coaches U - Z, De Jong, Duris, Duff, John, Faulkner, Ralph, Fencers, Fencers K - O, Lane, Arthur, Mayer, Helene, Uyttenhove, Henri

I’m not sure of the original source for the story, but it goes like this. In the early days of the AFLA, precursor to today’s USA Fencing, the East Coast was in charge.

Not Hans Halberstadt!

by Doug Nichols | Jun 29, 2020 | Blog Post, Coaches, Coaches F - J, Coaches K - O, Coaches P - T, Fencers, Fencers K - O, Halberstadt, Hans, Mayer, Helene, McDougall, John, Piller, George

The above picture has been assumed to be Hans Halberstadt for a very long time. I thought so myself, even after scanning it (thanks Kathy Krusen!) at high resolution and having every opportunity to review it with a critical eye.

The Maestro of Clay and Bronze

by Doug Nichols | Jun 22, 2020 | Blog Post, Bradford, Vinnie, Coaches, D'Asaro, Michael, Fencers, Fencers A - E, Fencers F - J, Fencers P - T, Johnson, Stacey, Northern California, San Jose State University, Schifrin, Peter, Schools/Clubs

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.

Nadi’s Victims in Caricature

by Doug Nichols | Jun 15, 2020 | Blog Post, Coaches, Coaches K - O, McDougall, John, Nadi, Aldo

If I don’t write something about Aldo Nadi for too long, I get this annoying twitch in my eye that will only begin to calm down with a collection of images and some quality time with my laptop. Buckle up!