Rationality | West Coast Fencing Archive

Photo Grab Bag

by Doug Nichols | Jun 24, 2019 | Blog Post, Carnighan, Len, Coaches, Coaches A - E, Coaches F - J, Faulkner, Ralph, Fencers, Fencers K - O, Marx, Bob, Marx, Michael, Oregon, Schools/Clubs, Studio of American Fencing

If you’ve been checking in here regularly, you’ll know I frequently haunt the corridors of that virtual thrift store known as Ebay. Sometimes I find things of fencing interest, sometimes I don’t. It’s a mix of disappointment and fascination.

Road Trip!

by Doug Nichols | Jun 17, 2019 | Alpar, Julius Palffy-, Blog Post, Coaches, Coaches A - E, Coaches K - O, Coaches P - T, Fencers, Fencers K - O, Magay, Daniel, Marki, Ferenc, Piller, George

My first introduction to Ferenc Marki was at the 1978 Junior College Championships for Northern California. Maestro Marki called us all together at the start of the Men’s Team Foil to explain the format and strip assignments. He spoke for a good 15 minutes and I didn’t understand a single word that he said.

The American Greco

by Doug Nichols | Jun 10, 2019 | Blog Post, Coaches, Coaches F - J, Coaches K - O, Fencers, Fencers P - T, Greco, Anthony, Halberstadt, Hans, Nadi, Aldo, Shurtz, Skip

It’s a common enough name. By searching the White Pages for Greco in San Mateo, CA, it returns 388 records. Widen it to the whole of the US and there’s over 36,000. In the fencing world though, one family has a lock on who you think of when putting the names “Greco” and “Fencing” together.

Another Fortuitous Occurance

by Doug Nichols | Jun 3, 2019 | Blog Post, Bradford, Vinnie, Carnighan, Len, Coaches, Coaches A - E, Coaches K - O, Coaches P - T, D'Asaro, Gay, D'Asaro, Michael, Fencers, Fencers A - E, Fencers K - O, Massialas, Greg, Northern California, Okawa, Heziburo, San Jose State University, Schools/Clubs, Selberg, Charles

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 Little Woman With The Big Briefcase

by Doug Nichols | May 27, 2019 | Angell, Tommy, Blog Post, Coaches, Coaches F - J, Coaches K - O, Coaches U - Z, Fencers, Fencers A - E, Fencers K - O, Fencers P - T, Halberstadt, Hans, King, Harriet, McDougall, John, Mitchell, Maxine, Northern California, Romary, Schools/Clubs, UC Berkeley, Visconti, Edward

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.

Mystery To Me

by Doug Nichols | May 20, 2019 | Blog Post, Coaches, Coaches F - J, Coaches K - O, Coaches U - Z, Faulkner, Ralph, Fencers, Fencers K - O, Halberstadt, Hans, Magay, Daniel, Mitchell, Maxine, Nadi, Aldo, Orley, Schools/Clubs, Southern California, Uyttenhove, Henri, Vince, Joseph

The mystery to me today is fencing master John Mckee from Southern California who trained hundreds and hundreds of fencers over decades. For all the people he taught and all the times he was in the paper, it’s his nature and character that I can’t get a handle on.

Order from the Chaos