Rationality | West Coast Fencing Archive

The Fencer, part 1

by Doug Nichols | Feb 16, 2015 | Blog Post, Coaches, Coaches K - O, Nadi, Aldo

I’ve seldom run across a document that is so thick with interesting historical tidbits, but the low-tech mimeographed California-based fanzine called “The Fencer” is a highlight of its kind. I was fortunate to borrow a bound, complete edition of the entire run from Harold Hayes

The Fairmont Exhibition, 1958

by Doug Nichols | Feb 13, 2015 | Biagini, Gerard, Blog Post, California, Coaches, Coaches P - T, Domolky, George, Fencers, Fencers A - E, Fencers K - O, Magay, Daniel, National Tournament, Orley, Piller, George, Tournaments

The Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco is perched at the top of swanky Nob Hill. One of the premiere hotels in the city, it opened in 1907 after an extensive refurbishing of the damage done by the 1906 earthquake to the about-to-open Beaux-Arts building. Famed...

1964 Letterman Open Foil

by Doug Nichols | Jan 18, 2015 | Baker, Jack, Biagini, Gerard, Blog Post, California, Coaches K - O, Fencers, Fencers A - E, Fencers F - J, Fencers K - O, Huddleson, Demi, Marki, Ferenc, Mitchell, Maxine, National Tournament, Need Help, Tournaments, Tournaments 1961 - 1970

Harold Hayes of The Pacific Fencing Club on Alameda Island, Oakland, CA has been a generous contributor of cool things for the Archive. Among other things, he transferred possession of two long boxes of material he received from Mary “Demi” Huddleson, past editor of...

1979 All Cals

by Doug Nichols | Jan 17, 2015 | Blog Post, California, National Tournament, Need Help, Selberg, Charles, Tournaments, Tournaments 1971-1980

The 1979 All Cals (as in, All of California) took place at the West Field House at the University of California, Santa Cruz. It was a collegiate competition for a conference that was in the process of dwindling as funding for fencing programs across the state were...

Tomas Orley

by Doug Nichols | Jan 16, 2015 | Blog Post, Coaches, Coaches P - T, Domolky, George, Fencers, Fencers A - E, Fencers K - O, Magay, Daniel, Orley, Piller, George

Tomas Orley was one of the leaders of the student protests that sparked the Hungarian revolution of 1956 that eventually saw Soviet tanks storm into the country and forcibly return the control of the country to communist hands.

1980 Cabrillo Invitational

by Doug Nichols | Jan 16, 2015 | Blog Post, Burchard, Peter, Cabrillo College, California, Carnighan, Len, Clark Skillman, Laurel, Coaches, Coaches A - E, Ellingson,Joy, Fencers, Fencers A - E, Fencers K - O, Massialas, Greg, National Tournament, Tournaments, Tournaments 1981 - 1990

In 1980, Len Carnighan, then coach at Cabrillo Community College in Aptos, CA, hosted a tournament seeded with three of the top fencers in the area.

Order from the Chaos