"Sonny" Mercado continued his love affair with the theatre. According to Sue Dauphin in Houston By Stages: A History of Theatre in Houston, "The Teatro de Los Amigos was founded in 1977 by Arnold Mercado at the Caso de Amigos community center for the production of Spanish language plays. Renamed El Teatro Bilingue, Mercado’s theatre moved to Ripley House, another Chicano center in Houston’s East End. It was Mercado’s goal to recognize the bilingual aspect of his audiences by presenting works that would actually mix the languages whenever possible. For his production of Of Mice and Men, Lennie and the farm hands were Mexican, the owners white, and the black man was played by a black actor. The Chicanos spoke Spanish among themselves, English to the Anglos."

In March of 1977, the Society Marschal of the SCA issued a ban on any and all "kendo, wrestling, fencing and archery at human targets." Chris Zakes/Tivar Moondragon immediately initiated a letter-writing campaign to repeal the ban.

At the 10^th Annual Van Buskirk Tournament, local fencer Brian Reed won the coveted Van Buskirk Cup.

As with every summer, June saw the AFLA’s summer National Championships. A few hardy souls from the Gulf Coast Division made the journey. Elliot Richmond and Rice University’s Robert Hurley competed in epee. The University of Houston’s Robert Baum and Steve Elkins competed in men’s foil. Patricia Dillman of the Houston Fencers Club fenced women’s foil while Tracy Yelton fenced under-19 women’s foil. Tracy’s neighbor, Brian Reed, competed in the men’s under-19 foil and sabre.

By June of 1977, as a kind of measure of success for Chris Zakes, what may be the first set of SCA rapier fighting rules were issued. The rules took up only about three-quarters of a page.

Meanwhile, one group of sport fencers were working its way east. Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards had previously proclaimed that June 1-7 would be Fencing Week in the Pelican State. Taking this as a cue, the three fencing clubs in the vicinity of the capitol in Baton Rouge hosted the Governor’s Open, June 4-5, drawing off some Houston area fencers. University of Houston fencer Clarence McCraw managed to take 6^th place in epee and 4^th place in sabre. Another University of Houston fencer, Ken Hogan, came in 5^th in sabre.

Regarding Clarence McCraw, August Skopik later noted, "Clarence McGraw was an even better football player/sprinter. He did not take up fencing until he was declared legally handicapped because of a very severe multiple leg fracture that they could not fix. It slowed him down so much that we could then see him move."

That same weekend, but west of Houston, a completely different group of Bayou City fencers competed in the Ft. Sam Houston Pre-Nationals Competition near San Antonio. A contingent from the Dad’s Club YMCA on the Westside of Houston made their presence known in the women’s foil competition. Lee Dillman captured second place, with club-mates Allison Colquhoun and Kim Jones placing 5t^h and 7^th, respectively.

As active as the local fencing scene was, things were about to pick up. Houston, in 1977, acquired its second French fencing Maitre.

Michel Antoine Sebastiani was born in North Africa and raised in French Algeria. He held a Master of Science degree in Physical Education from the National Institute of Sports of Paris. He was also a graduate of the Ecole Superieure d’Escrime of the National Institute of Sports and had earned a Maitrise d’Escrime (Fencing Master) MA from that prestigious institution.

Sebastiani had been a member of the 1959 French National Modern Pentathlon Team. He participated in major international fencing tournaments in foil and epee and had been selected as a member of the French Olympic Team for the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome.

His participation in the Olympics was curtailed by his call to service during the Algerian War. He entered the Army in January 1960 and was assigned to an intensive officer’s training program. Admitted to the Ecole Militaire d’Infanterie de Cherchell (Officer’s School) he graduated in October 1960 and immediately went to a combat company.

He served with distinction from 1960 to 1962 with various units of the French Army. While an infantry company commander, he was wounded in November 1960. He rejoined his unit while recuperating. Later in 1961, Maitre Sebastiani was named Attache Particulier du Prefet de Region (Special attaché to the Civilian Governor of the Region Ministry of Interior) and he was the liaison officer between Military and Civilian Power. He was released from active duty in May 1962 and was awarded the Algerian War Medal and the Croix du Combattant.

Sebastiani came to the United States in 1963 and joined the staff of Cornell University as Assistant Men’s Fencing Coach and Head Coach of the Women’s Fencing Team. His women’s team captured the national title in 1967, 1968 and 1969. His fencers won the NIWFA individual title in 1968 and the NCAA men’s epee title the same year.

By the 1970-1971 season, Sebastiani left Cornell to accept an appointment as Assistant Professor of Health and Physical Education at the Bronx campus of NYU. He served as the representative of the Director of Athletics at the Washington Square Campus and he coached the men and women’s fencing teams. The women won the NIWFA individual and team competitions. He also assisted with the men’s team, which won the NCAA championship that year. That team also included the women’s collegiate champion (and Olympian) Ruth White and NCAA Epee Champion, George Szunyohg.

Michel was appointed Assistant Professor of Health and Physical Education School of Sciences and Head Fencing Coach of the men’s team at Brooklyn College of the City University of NY and served in that capacity from 1971 to 1977. Two Brooklyn College fencers made the U.S Junior Team, which fenced in the World’s Championships. Epeeiste, Matthew Israel was a world semi-finalist in 1973 in Buenos Aires and Charles Brunet was a member of the 1975 Saber team in Mexico City.

Michel was appointed to serve as a member of the Junior and Senior Coaching Staffs for the United States Teams at the World Championships in Buenos Aires in 1973.

An avid jazz fan, Sebastiani had been a performer for years with various bands including a Christmas Eve Concert with Clarinetist George Louis at Preservation Hall New Orleans in 1967.

New York City, however, in the mid-1970s was increasingly being scene as a dangerous and unpleasant place to live. Sebastiani was encouraged by his then father-in-law to consider moving to Texas. Sebastiani’s wife, Nancy, was from Texas and her father had a lot of contacts.

Initially, he had accepted an offer to replace a departing physical education professor at Texas A&M University. The Sebastiani’s packed up and moved to the Lone Star State only to learn the departing professor had experienced a change of heart and decided not to leave after all. In time he managed to work as a physical education instructor at Rice University. More importantly, since he was already settling in Houston, he opened a salle d’armes.

He brought with him the years of instruction he had, himself, received from some legendary 20^th Century Fencing Masters: Maitre Maurice Morillon (Foil); Maitre Pierre Vals (Foil); Maitre Michel Dorde (Foil- Epee French National Team coach); Maitre Louis Prost (Foil); Maitre Paul Battesti (Foil); Maitre Jean Cottard (3 weapon French National Team coach in Epee, Foil, Saber); Maitre Pierre LeCaze (Foil, Saber); Maitre Serge Grisoni (Foil, Epee, Saber); and Maitre Paul Heid (Saber). He had also received saber instruction from Maestro Laszlo Szabo of Hungary at the INS in Paris.

Almost immediately, he began to gather in Houston a formidable force of talent.

Albert W. Peters also arrived in Houston in 1977 and joined Salle Sebastiani as a Prevot d’Armes. Peters, as a college student, had been the Intercollegiate Fencing Association’s epee champion at New York University in 1974. The same year his epee squad won the IFA title and went on to capture the overall IFA championship. From 1975-1977 he had competed as a member of the New York Athletic Club’s national championship epee team. Peters would become a Salle Sebastiani mainstay throughout its existence.

At about the same time, another talented epeeiste, Timothy W. Glass, moved to Houston and joined Maitre Michel Sebastiani’s downtown salle. Glass had been fencing since his high school days near Chicago. "Dad signed me up for fencing along with everything else just to give me a chance to try different things. He signed me up for band and I couldn’t play an instrument; the glee club and I had a rotten voice. The idea behind fencing was coordination to help in other sports like basketball and baseball."

The fencing took with Glass. In 1975 Glass took bronze in the world men’s under-20 epee competition. The 6-foot-5 epeeiste (considered jokingly as something of a redundancy among many fencers) was an All-American when he graduated from Notre Dame in 1978. He won the Nationals in 1979 and finished the season ranked number one.

By 1977, Glass had a dream of competing in the Olympics and he began his Olympic journey in 1977, frying chicken at Popeye’s in Houston. Glass juggled menial jobs in the Lone Star state for one reason: the opportunity to train with Sebastiani in hopes of making the 1980 U.S. Olympic team.

"I've always wanted to compete in the Olympics and be a part of the opening ceremonies," Glass related decades later. "By 1977, my dad said, 'You oughta go.'"

In a surprising short period of time, Salle Sebastiani assembled an impressive string of fencers, especially epeeistes, which would include Al Peters, Tim Glass, Robert Hurley and John Warren. Claude Caux’ pupil, Richard Alvarez fenced there from the start and saw it develop. Alvarez, however, left around 1979 to study at the American Fencing Academy at Cornell University, under Maitre Jean Jacques Gillet.

Perhaps it was a good time for capable people to assume more duties. Among the SCA fencers, in September of 1977, Chris Zakes had advanced to the rank of deputy marshal for rapier combat (epee and/or foil) for the Barony of the Stargate (Houston). Zakes later recalled there were only about two or three dozen rapier fencers in the Texas area, at this time.

That fall, Roland Reed assumed the post of Chairman of the Gulf Coast Division for the 1977-78 season. Lonnie Frankel served as Secretary. The Chair of the Southwest Section was Natalie England, from Manor, in the South Texas Division. Recalling this period of time, Mike Monks said, "Roland Reed held fencing together here. He made all the meets, "reffed" all the tournaments… He was the heart and soul of this division."

Lonnie Frankel, who had re-discovered fencing, yet again, via Roland Reed, recalled, "Roland Reed was a nice man." In addition to being secretary, he was also the treasurer.

Indeed, Robert Shelby recalled, "For many years Roland taught fencing at the Bellaire Recreation Center. One night he called me up and asked me to come over to his house; he had something important to talk to me about. As we only lived several blocks apart in Bellaire, I trotted over. Then he hit me with the news. He was going to chair the Junior Olympics, and we were going to hold it in Houston the next year. Despite many reservations on my part, Roland got a lot of help from the local fencers, and in 1978 we had an outstanding event with young fencers from all over the country."

At about this time, another young man discovered an opportunity of his own. Sinclair Oubre, originally from the Beaumont-Port Arthur-Orange, Texas region called the "Golden Triangle," was studying in Houston. "I began fencing in September of 1977. At that time I was a student at St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Seminary in Houston, and the University of St. Thomas in Houston. A high school classmate attending Rice University told me that there was a fencing club at the university. I had wanted to learn to fence from the time that I was a small child."

He jumped in with both feet. On any given night, if he was not at fencing practice, he was in a gym perfecting his footwork. "After attending classes at UST, I drove over to Rice on Tuesdays and Thursdays to take part in the Rice club. At that time, Master Arnold Mercado was the fencing coach. I really value the lessons that he gave me. He stressed solid classic form. This was a challenge, but I look back on it now, and appreciate the fact that he taught me right, and I did not have to break any bad habits."

At about the same time, back in Oubre’s native Beaumont area, a young Glenn Weathington began taking fencing at Lamar University. A native of Rome, Georgia, who had lived in eight states, he was about to make this region his home. It is interesting that he was starting to take fencing in Beaumont just as the local boy, Sinclair Oubre, was away in Houston, also just taking up the art. Their paths would inevitably cross in later years.

In November, the area the SCA designated as Ansteorra (Oklahoma and Texas minus the western tip that takes in El Paso and is in the Mountain Time Zone) was re-designated as a principality and Chris Zakes became the rapier marshal for the entire principality. The society continued its growth in Ansteorra with the official creation in 1977 of a group in the Bryan-College Station area, dubbed Shadowlands.

Meanwhile, one future SCA fencer, Robert Lyle, was getting his first real introduction to fencing in East Texas. Despite his less than inspiring encounter with fencing in Houston in 1973, he gave the sword another try. This time the instructor was the former Texas A & M University coach, Russell Wieder. "Mr. Wieder was retired, but drove from Lufkin to Nacogdoches every week, brought his own weapons and masks for us, and did it for not much more than gas money."

"He did it to share his love of the sword with us. I can not praise him enough for that gift."

"In 1977 Master Russell K. Wieder volunteered to teach a fencing class for us in Nacogdoches. He loved the sword, but he taught foil for beginners (and women) and saber because he wanted to round out our education. But he loved the epee, and he made me love it too. He taught it as a real weapon: in fact, his personal epees were sharps, with barbed point d'arrets tied on."

Another of Wieder’s pupils in this era was Wayne Hughes, a student at nearby Stephen F. Austin State University. Interestingly, Hughes had actually grown up in the U. S. Panama Canal Zone, where Wieder many years before had crossed blades with he kendo fencer.

Hughes recalled, "[I] remember when Master Wieder invited the SFASU fencing club to his house (Lufkin, TX) for an evening of social interaction and night fencing! We set up candles outside on the lawn (no artificial light form what I can remember) and fenced …saber! Now I am no fanatic of saber then (or now) but away we went!"

Wieder was now nearing the end of his teaching days and Lyle would be among his last students. Even so late into the twentieth century, Wieder was still using the old ways, especially in epee. Lyle and the other students learned epee using the Italian grip and points d’arret. Being young, they did not always observe the safest manner of using the points (a heavy cotton duck jacket), but managed to find them instructional.

As Lyle later recalled, "I learned to fence epee with a point d’arret (means Stop in French), but I didn't know the full history. We did a lot of fencing in shirtsleeves in my misspent youth, and a point d’arret can leave a scratch like a thorn when it slides. On a square hit it still feels like a TB tester. Actually, just bad enough to encourage your parries to be perfect, not enough to injure . . .but very hard on shirts."

At Wieder’s old post, Texas A&M, Abe Cyrus continued to coach the Aggie fencing club, with R. H. Ballinger remaining as faculty advisor. Presidency of the club had passed to Scott Mahan, with Mark Turpin as Vice-President, Annette Mahan as Secretary and Tom Redmond as Treasurer. Other members of the club included Luanna Lettieri, Rhonda Blinderman, Rhonda Ross, Susan Longhofer, Gary Craddock, Susan Thomas, Andy Dunks, Steven Tinker, Kathy Bauchspies, Pamela McCown, Holly Scarborough, Omer Tuncata, Fred Mergner, Philip Mitchell, Joe Elliot, Michael Christian, Regnad Kcin and C. Urchin [?]. Clearly, fifteen years had made a difference in the formerly all-male club and college.

Russell Wieder was not the only one teaching fencing for the pure love of the game. Much further down the Texas coast, in the area of Harlingen and Brownsville, Ken Hogan set up shop. According to Gerard Poujardieu, "Ken used to teach fencing at the Marine Academy in Harlingen."

Kyle Maysel, who lived and fenced in San Marcos, in the South Texas Division, recalled, "Ken Hogan was a teacher at Texas Southmost College in Brownsville... probably about 1977 through _at least_ 1981. He was the closest they had to a coach. He ran whatever there was of fencing down in the Valley at the time. He'd drive up to San Marcos all the time to compete in our events. He came up to run away from Hurricanes, too. On those occasions, he'd bring his cat, "Spooky" and stay at my place. Spooky got on with my cat, "Barker" (of the Bert-Barker Memorial fame). Ken wasn't a great fencer, but he loved it, he was very involved, and he was always coming up to compete. He'd fence all 3 weapons when there was a tourney. More fencing when he could get it."

February of 1978 brought the annual Mardi Gras Fencing Tournament in New Orleans. This year the tournament featured competitions in men’s sabre and women’s foil. The event featured, as usual, "celebrity" fencers. This year it was the National Women’s Foil Champion Sheila Armstrong and National Sabre Champion Tom Losonczy. The evening before the tournament featured 10-touch challenge matches at the International House. Guests enjoyed champagne and Creole cuisine afterwards.

At the actual event, the only Texan to place in the top three was Lois Goldthwaite, a member of the Itinerant Fencing and Chowder Society from the North Texas placing 3^rd in women’s foil. All finals were fenced on the stage of Tulane’s McAleister Auditorium. One-time Hungarian sabre champion Gabor Delneky served as judge, assisted by Mike D’Asaro, the US sabreur and Arnold Mercado, "of Rice University’s fencing staff."

Actually, 1978 was a big year for fencing in Houston. For starters, the Junior Olympics fencing competition was held at the Stouffer’s Greenway Plaza Hotel, right in the Bayou City, February 18-20. The burdens of the event fell largely upon the shoulders of the Gulf Coast Division Chairman, Roland Reed, and the Chairlady of the Bout Committee, Coloradan Gerrie Baumgart, with assistance from Arnold Mercado (the Junior Olympic Organizing Committee Chairman), Emily Johnson and Mary Huddleson. They seeded pools and fielded protests with dexterity. Col. Jim Moore of the Pentathlon Center in the South Texas Division lent strips and scoring equipment. Lew Smith, from South Texas, circulated, making certain each strip was furnished with timekeepers and scorekeepers. From the North Texas Division, Marietta Towry served by assigning directors to strips and relieving them as needed.

It seemed to work. The AFLA leadership wrote a glowing editorial "From the President" in the March/April 1978 issue of American Fencing. The same issue featured a short article on the event, written by Barbara and Roland Reed. In the article, the Reeds gave credit to all that helped.

A number of young Gulf Coast Division fencers took advantage of the event being held in their own backyard.

In Under-16 sabre, Robert Shelby, Fishburn and Langston each competed. In their respective pools of six (5 opponents), Shelby won 2 and lost 3. Langston’s score was 1-4. Fishburn’s pool result was no wins and 5 losses. Shelby advanced to a semi-final pool, before retiring with 1 win and 4 losses.

In Under-16 epee, The Gulf Coast Division was again represented by Robert Shelby, as well as by Binig. Shelby, fencing in a pool of 5, finished with 2 wins and 2 losses. Binig, in a pool of 6, ended with 3 wins and 2 losses. Binig advanced into a semi-final pool of 6, ending with 3 wins and 2 losses. He did not advance further.

Under 16 men’s foil saw the Gulf Coast Division represented in Round One by Fishburn (1-5 in his pool), Langston (3-3), Aiken (0-5) and Klineberg (2-3). Only Langston and Klineberg advanced into the second round of pools, with final win/loss scores of 0-5 and 1-4, respectively.

In Under-16 women’s foil, Colquhoun (2-4) and Doyle (2-3) represented the division in the 1st pool round. Neither advanced into the semi-finals.

Under-20 men’s foil saw the Gulf Coast Division represented in the Round One pools by Todd Curn (3-3), Ramsey (0-6), Bryan Reed (4-2). Reed and Curn advanced into the Round Two pools. Reed finished with 1 win and 4 losses. Curn won 2 and lost 3. Neither advanced to the third round.

In Under-20 women’s foil, Allison Colquhoun won 2 and lost 3 in her Round One pool. Doyle won 3 and lost 3. Tracy Yelton finished 4-2. In Round Two, Yelton was in a pool of five (four opponents), where she won 1 and lost 3. Doyle, placed in a different pool of five, finished 0-4.

The Under-20 sabre event Saw the Gulf Coast Division represented by Braffett (0-4), David Mercado (Arnold’s son 2-3), and the Bellaire Fencing Club’s Brian Reed (4-1) and David Hubbard (1-2). In the Round Two pools, Hubbard went down with 1 win and 4 losses. Reed won 3 and lost 2. Hubbard went on to direct elimination, losing to a fencer from the Minnesota Division. A fencer named Knies from the Central California Division eliminated Reed.

In Under-20 epee, in the Round One pools, Braffett (0-4) and David Adams (3-2) represented the Gulf Coast Division. Adams advanced to the Round Two pools, finishing with 3 wins and 1 loss. Adams continued to the third round and finished his pool with 4 wins and 1 loss. In direct elimination, Adams defeated a fencer named James from the Indiana Division, before losing to a fencer named Peter Schifrin from Central California.

Lonnie Frankel, the division secretary-treasurer, recalled that he made sure the division made money on the Junior Olympics.

Among those attending was Harold Van Buskirk. Roland Reed later wrote, "One of the last times I saw Mr. Van was at the Junior Olympic Championships we held in Houston in 1978. It was the first national fencing event ever held in Texas. We were watching sabre together and a Director flipped a coin.

" ‘What are they doing?’ Mr. Van asked me.

"I explained as best I could. Coin flipping was new then.

" ‘Hell,’ Mr. Van said, ‘If they’re going to flip coins, why take the sabres out there?’ "

The tournament that was held to honor Van Buskirk was still going strong. Roland Reed wrote, "Until recently [1990s], the Epee event was always a Group I tournament. That was the highest national designation then. This was due to the Pentathletes from San Antonio. They were all highly classified. As the tournament grew in popularity, the foil also began to rate higher and also became many times a Group I final. I have seen better foil fencing in the Van Buskirk finals many times than I’ve seen at Nationals.

"Sonny Mercado also started the Sabre Team event. Maybe around 1977-79? It was open to any three-person team, including women. (Sonny also, early on, instituted Women’s Epee as an event from time to time, though not as a regular event.) Team Sabre was fenced some years for fun and some years for blood. I always enjoyed it. Especially since Sonny Mercado, Bob Shelby (the Grand Old Man of Gulf Coast Sabre. Ever been hit by the "Shelby Surprise?") and me won the first team event held. We were forced to beat out our hotshot sons’ team of David Mercado, Brian Reed and my adjunct son David Hubbard. Our team was dubbed "the Geriatrics." Not our invention. Fencers used to vie to come up with outlandish team names."

At the 11^th annual Van Buskirk Tournament, Martin Johnsen from Louisiana won the Van Buskirk Cup.

None of this is to say that the Gulf Coast Division’s fencers stayed at home and waited for the tournaments to come to them. Robert Hurley, fencing for the Rice Fencing Club traveled to Tucson, Arizona for the 15^th annual Grand International. There he captured first place in men’s epee from a field of 37.

By coincidence, in March of 1978, Oskar Grunow passed away in Arizona. Born August 22, 1899, he had been one of the guiding forces of the Southwestern Fencing League that had pushed fencing into the Southwest Conference. He was one of the last of the 1930s generation of North Texas fencers that had dominated fencing in Texas and surrounding states in the decade before WWII,

The colleges and universities remained the core of fencing in the Gulf Coast Division, but not every project to install fencing in the schools succeeded. Robert Shelby wrote, "I was instructing a small group of kids at St. Thomas University and was contacted by some students at other universities around the state. The idea was to form a private collegiate fencing association and hold tournaments. This was brought on because fencing had been dropped by most universities in the late 50s. We held the first meet in, I think, Waco. After that, most of my students graduated and I became too busy at work to pursue the project further. There might have been a few more meets, but I don’t remember."

Not that the colleges were the only place to fence. The Houston Fencer’s Club was still sending fencers to tournaments. Roland Reed and the Bellaire Fencing Club were still about. Steve Lewis remembered, "I believe Roland's club was most active around the time that he [David Hubbard] and Roland's son [Brian] were in their teens [mid-late 1970s]. Don't quote me on this but I also recall tales of some political kefluffle (imagine that) in the division that caused Roland (a division officer at the time I think, maybe even chairman) to say the hell with it and drop out after his son had moved off to college in California… "

The Houston Fencer’s Club foilist Elizabeth Fekete traveled to San Marcos the weekend of 8-9 April for the Yorick Open at Southwest Texas State University. She was able to capture first place in women’s foil after defeating Lee Dillman 5-4. Third place went to Tracy Yelton, who was listed as fencing for Southwest Texas State University.

The week of June 24-July 1 saw the summer National Championships being held in Hallandale, Florida. In addition to the usual 12 official events (men’s foil, women’s foil, men’s epee and men’s sabre in three age groups), there were two informal events: women’s epee and women’s sabre. The AFLA was moving these events out of the closet. There were several factors at play. One of the more interesting motives was the thought that the FIE would eventually do the same and that it would not hurt for America’s women fencers to have a head start. One could make the argument that the Olympics held 26 years later would prove them right.

In individual sabre, Brian Reed came out of his first pool with 2wins and 2 losses. J. Hightower had a single win with 3 losses. The University of Houston’s Clarence McCraw came out of his pools with 2 wins and 2 losses. The Bellaire Fencing Club’s David Hubbard (a single victory) and Roland Reed (no wins) did not fare so well. In the second round of pools, Clarence McCraw finished with no wins and 4 losses. Brian Reed also lost all of his pools bouts in the second round, finding himself in a pool with such heavy-hitters as Steve Mormando and Peter Westbrook.

In Under-19 sabre, David Hubbard (2-2) and Brian Reed (3-1) did well enough in their preliminary pools. Both Bellaire fencers, however, were defeated in the quarterfinals.

In women’s individual foil, Texas A&M’s Rhonda Blinderman came out of her preliminary pool without a victory. Tracy Yelton and Judith Cull each scored only a single victory each. The Houston Fencer’s Club’s Elizabeth Fekete, however, came away with 4 wins and a single defeat to advance to the second preliminary pools. There, she again racked up another final score of 4 wins and 1 loss. This gained Fekete entry to the third preliminary round of pools, where she fell with a single victory and 4 losses.

In women’s Under-19 foil, Tracy Yelton won 3 of her 5 preliminary pool bouts. She won another 3 out of 5 in her quarterfinals pool, before being defeated in the semifinals

The Gulf Coast men’s individual foil contingent consisted of J. Hightower (0 wins-4 losses), Texas A&M’s John DuBose (0 wins-4 losses) and Bellaire’s Raymond Todd Curn (2 wins-3 losses). None advance to the next level.

In men’s Under-19 foil, the Bellaire Fencing Club’s twosome of Todd Curn (2 wins-4 losses) and Brian Reed (3 wins-1 loss) advanced from the first round, but were defeated in the quarter finals.

In Under 19 epee, the Gulf Coast’s David Adams of Salle Sebastiani won 2 out of 5 in his preliminary pool, but only won 1 out of 4 in his quarterfinal pool. Adams was just beginning. Years later, August Skopik recalled, "you can find him that he placed third in the 1980 or 1981 national championships and was also among the top if not a national junior champion about the same time. Obviously, he was a very good epeeiste. He won the JO epee qualifiers in 1981. He was also a member of the Sebastiani epee teams that won or placed in the national championships in 1980, 1981, 1982."

In individual epee, the Gulf Coast fielded a more formidable roster into the first preliminary pools, consisting of B. Kluber (2 wins-3 losses), B. Markovich (1 win-3 losses), John DuBose (2 wins-3 losses), Robert Hurley (3 wins-1 loss), Tim Glass (3 wins-1 loss) and Al Peters (5 wins-0 losses).

Advancing to the second preliminary round of pools, Salle Sebastiani’s Bob Hurley went down with a single victory to 4 losses. His clubmate Al Peters managed 2 wins to 3 losses. Glass won 3 bouts with a single loss. Glass and Peters advanced to the third round of pools. Glass won all 6 of his bouts, while Peters won 3 and lost 3. Glass was finally eliminated in the quarterfinal pools, with 1 win and 4 losses.

The Gulf Coast Division was certainly strong and healthy. The AFLA records showed that, for the year ending July 31, 1978, the division had 78 members. North Texas Division had 87 and South Texas 118.

With the start of the 1978-1979 fencing season, Elliott Richmond of Bridge City, Texas, took over as Chair of the Southwest Section. Mark Turpin of College Station took on triple duty as Vice-Chair, Secretary and Treasurer.

Meanwhile, one young Houston fencer was moving on. Arnold Mercado’s student, Sinclair Oubre, was following a different calling. "I left St. Thomas after my second year (1978), and first year of fencing to transfer to the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Once there, I joined the Capital Hill Fencing Club under the guidance of Richard Shipman. This was a noncompetitive club, but I was able to fence some really good fencers, and participated in a number of the local tournaments."

Remembering this era in Houston fencing, Clarence McCraw later wrote, " [Roland Reed] was a mentor to me and I have known him my entire fencing career along with Sonny Mercado, both great saber fencers and even greater individuals. I fenced and have taken lessons from both, as this was the competitive fencing knowledge in Houston until Michele Sebastiani came to town and opened the fencing salle downtown. I was taught the art of fencing by Claude Caux, at the time a drama instructor at U of H and one of the five French fencing masters in the U.S. We in Houston were blessed as we actually had two of the five French fencing masters in the U.S. because Michele Sebastiani was one also."

In the fall of 1978, the AFLA’s Olympic Fencing Committee introduced the concept of a "North American Circuit" of top level fencing competitions to attract members of the US National Squad, that they might get greater exposure to different fencing styles and experiences from around the country. The initial work would take another year.

On the weekend of 7-8 October, a couple of Salle Sebastiani traveled to Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos for another tournament. The epee event had guest fencers from Puerto Rico, Great Britain, Australia and Sweden. Through it all, Dr. Bob Hurley neatly managed to capture top honors in the Group I event by emerging undefeated in the finals. Another Salle Sebastiani stalwart, Al Peters took third place, with SWTSU’s John Moreau neatly lodged between them in second place.

On the weekend of 4-5 November, a Salle Sebastiani contingent traveled to Dallas for the 32^nd annual Dallas Open Invitational, renamed this year as the Duel at Dallas. In the men’s foil competition, Salle Sebastiani’s Joe Elliot captured first place among 60 entries, while his club-mate Robert Baum took second and third went to a local fencer, Dwayne Blakley of the Itinerant Fencing and Chowder Society of Dallas. In women’s foil, former Houston Fencer’s Club member and now Salle Sebastiani foilist Elizabeth Fekete captured first place from a field of 25 while Lois Goldthwaite of the local IFCS took second. In epee, Tim Glass took third place in competition with 59 other entrants. The University of Houston’s Clarence McCraw took second place in sabre out of a field of 28.

The Salle Sebastiani group returned to the South Texas Division on 24-25 November for an open epee competition sponsored by the US Modern Pentathlon Training Center and the San Antonio Epee Squad. The event was structured so that each day consisted of a separate competition. An overall ranking was then determined via a point system. There the locals and Houstonians faced, in addition to various American competitors, epeeistes from Australia, Great Britain, Austria, West Germany and Sweden. Salle Sebastiani’s contingent emerged with the top rank in the final listing with Joe Elliot in third place, Al Peters in fourth and Bob Hurley fifth.

Peters went up to Philadelphia the weekend of 2-3 December for the Lajos Csiszar Invitational, where he took fifth place in epee from a field of 47, including former Olympian Risto Hurme of NYU (who took second).

By December of 1978, within the SCA, rapier (foil/epee) fencing had become established enough that the new leadership of Ansteorra asked Chris Zakes to "put together a proposal for an award to recognize rapier fighters."

In 1978, Harold Van Buskirk was admitted to the AFLA’s Hall of Fame. The hall of fame was disbanded after this year and it would be nearly two decades before it was re-instated.

By the end of the 1970s, fencer Robert Lyle was ending his studies in the epee under Russell Wieder. "I studied for two years with a maitre d'armes, 2 hours a week and at least four hours of practice. I was a slow learner: it took about a year before I considered myself competent (twice as long as my fellow students)."

"While I was training my reflexes. Mr. Wieder was feeding me a lot of the philosophy of combat and the psychology of my opponents. That intellectual preparation is not available from books or from free sparring, but it prepared me to take advantage of both."

Lyle also noted, "I was taught epee in Italian tradition and I had a very hard time learning rapier. People kept telling me that rapier was completely different from anything I was used to, but it seemed so familiar I felt I must be doing it wrong.

"Turns out that Mr. Wieder (he never affected Maestro, but I've seen his license) taught us all the sui tempi moves (riposte with opposition, volts, passatas, and time attacks) that you use in rapier. He just never told us we were learning rapier."

Lyle concluded, "Shortly before Mr. Wieder's health failed we pleaded with him to teach us rapier. He told us, ‘I have already taught you.’ We didn't understand him."

Fencing remained robust at Wieder’s old fencing ground, Texas A&M in the 1978-1979 season. Gary Craddock was now the team president with David Dally serving as secretary. Trenton D. Shaver coached them in sabre. Doug Ridge coached foil.

Other members of the A&M fencing team were Linda Cooper, Theresa Isdale, Steven Tinker, Michelle Worthey, Louise Webster, David Gibson, Carl Forshage, Vance Burks, Jeff Riblet, Kenneth Peck, John Varney, John Askins, Tony Keeble, Tommy Tucker, Mark Pearcy, Libby Dunsmore and Russell Julian.

In February the younger fencers of America began their annual convergence at the Junior Olympics, this year held in Boston. The event opened to speeches from Clifford Irving and former President Richard Nixon. The Boston Pops played Take Me Out to the Ball Game and Anita Bryant sang the Star Spangled Banner. There was a contingent of fencers from the Gulf Coast Division present, some of whom would find themselves duelling for every opening to advance.

Gulf Coast fencers R. Aiken and Steven Farid pupil Michael Watson competed in Under-16 men’s foil. In each pools the top 4 places advanced. Both scored 4 wins to a single loss, placing second in their respective pools. In his quarterfinal pool, Aiken placed first with no defeats. Watson placed third in his quarterfinal pool with 3 victories and 2 defeats. Both advanced. In the semi-final pools, the top three places advanced, but both Aiken and Watson placed 4^th in their respective pools.

In the Under-20 men’s foil, the top 3 of each pool advanced. Ernesto Uribe and Texas A&M’s Mark Pearcy did not advance, but the Bellaire club’s Todd Curn and Brian Reed took first in their respective pools, finishing undefeated. They advanced to the second preliminary round of pools, where the top three in each pool advanced. Curn placed second in his pool with 4 wins and 1 loss. Reed placed third in his, with 3 wins and 2 losses. Both advanced to quarterfinal pools, where the top four foilists of each advanced. Now Curn and Reed found themselves in the same pool of six. Only Curn advanced from this pool to the Direct Elimination round of 16. There Curn was defeated 10-6, but in the first repecharge round among those who had lost, Curn scored a 10-7 victory. In a second repecharge round, Curn won more narrowly 10-9. He finally lost, 10-9, in a repecharge round of 4, placing 7^th overall in a field of 93.

S. Colquhoun was the lone Gulf Coast fencer in the Under-16 women’s foil event. In the preliminary pools, the top 3 advanced. With 2 victories and 3 losses in her preliminary pool, Colquhoun placed 4^th. She did not advance further.

In the Under-20 women’s foil, the top 3 of each preliminary pool advanced. Tracy Yelton captured the top spot in her pool by finishing undefeated, while Allison Colquhoun placed 2^nd in her pool. Both matriculated to the second preliminary round of pools, where, again, the top three places advanced. Yelton was once again in first place in her pool, while Colquhoun advance more narrowly, being in third place. In the quarterfinal pools, where the top 4 qualified, Yelton was 2nd in hers, but Colquhoun was eliminated. Advancing to an 8-touch Direct Elimination round of 16, Yelton narrowly defeated her adversary 8-7. Then, the DE round of 8, Yelton was defeated 8-2. She got another chance. There had been a repecharge round of the losers of the round of 16. The winners of that faced the losers from the round of 8 in another repecharge. Yelton fought her way to an 8-7 victory. She next won a repecharge of 4, winning 8-5, to enter the finals, where the Salle Sebastiani epeeiste placed 6^th from a field of 88.

R. Langston and F. Parigi represented the Gulf Coast in Under-16 sabre, but neither advanced past the preliminary pools.

In Under-20 sabre, the best four of each preliminary pool advanced and the Bellaire Fencing Club’s Brian Reed took third in his pool. A&M’s Andrew Dunks placed 6^th in his pool and did not advance. The quarterfinals were done in pools of 8 with the top four advancing. Bryan Reed captured first place in his pool with 6 wins and 1 loss. In the direct elimination round of 16, Reed won, only to be defeated, himself, in the round of 8. There were, however, two repecharge rounds. The second featured the losers from the round of 8 versus the winners of the first repecharge round. In this, Reed scored another victory. Then, in a repecharge round of 4, Reed won again, to move on to the finals. He ultimately placed 6^th from a field of 52.

In the Under-20 epee preliminary pools, the top 3 in each pool advanced. Here the Gulf Coast Division fencers made a formidable showing. Augie Uribe, Todd Curn and David Adams placed 1^st, 2nd and 2^nd, respectively, in their pools. In their second preliminary rounds Curn and Adams each took 2^nd place. Uribe tied for third, but in a fence-off placed 4^th. In the quarterfinal pools the top 4 advanced. Adams took 2^nd place in his pool, while Curn took first in his. Advancing to a 10-touch Direct Elimination round of 16, Adams narrowly won his 10-9, while Curn was knocked out 10-3. In a round of 8, Adams again won 10-9. Curn got another chance in the first repecharge round of 8 (the 8 who had lost the DE round of 16), but lost 10-5. Salle Sebastiani’s Adams ultimately made it to the finals, placing 4^th from a field of 77.

The 1979 Texas Collegiate Championships were held March 3-4 at Texas A&M University. The host club turned out an impressive number of competitors. Fencing for Texas A&M were Mark Pearcy, Steve Tinker, Charles Braffett, David Gibson, Gregg Taggart, Joseph Eakin, Steve Wadding, Mark Turpin, Rick Cunningham, Vance Burks, Gary Craddock, Joe Youngblood, Walter Stoebe, Tim Long, Jeffrey Thomas, Ron Bucchi, David Dally, Jim Trahan, John Varney, Bill Dickson, Kenneth Rollo, Doug Kingman, John Merrill, Kenneth Peck, Andy Dunks, Martin Frey, Trent Shaver, Kim Clark, Lee Butler, Tim Leads, Kathy Bauchspies, Lynda Brady, Lynn Maritzen, Margaret Hendrix, and Lauren Pennington.

Lamar University sent a cadre consisting of Glenn Weathington, Dale Fontenot, Jada Bundick, Cecilia Hardy, Isel Isern, and Gloria Perez.

The University of Houston was represented by Patrice Caux, Brian Reed, Richard Alvarez, Michael Monks, Mike Starnes and Steve Ramsey. The UH team had no female fencers.

Other colleges sending fencers were the University of Texas and Southwest Texas State University.

The University of Houston did well in men’s foil, with students Brian Reed and Mike Monks taking first and second places, respectively, while Southwest Texas State University’s Jim Cherry took third. In women’s foil SWTSU’s Kathi Mitchell and UT’s Michelle Chateau took the two top spots, but Texas A&M University’s Lynn Brady took third. In epee, Mike Monks captured first place for UH and Brian Reed did the same in sabre.

August Skopik would later recall Mike Monks as, "good foil fencer, and he is a lawyer with his brothers. I understand he began fencing with Roland Reed, and I remember him as a left-hander. We went to several tournaments in San Marcos together."

At the 12^th Annual Van Buskirk Tournament, Chris Trammell returned to win the Van Buskirk Cup for an unprecedented third time.

Just south of Houston a new fencing club formed and held its initial tournament. The Brazosport College Fencing Club was based in a small college in Lake Jackson, just south of Houston. It had been organized by a group of students led by David Feaganes, Jose Montes and Paul Cooper. They held their first tournament March 24^th.

Spring also meant the 1979 Southwest Sectional Championships. Among the Gulf Coast fencers who competed this year were R. Aiken, Clarence McCraw, Claire Curt, R. Baum, M. Frey, A. Colquhoun, JohnWahren, Roland Reed, Brian Reed, T. Curn, Jim Sheffield, Andy Dunks, Al Peters, Bob Hurley, Tracy Yelton, Tim Glass, and Patrice Caux.

On March 10, 1979, another Houston collegian received a very different kind of fencing honor. SCA rapier fencer Chris Zakes, who also went by Don Tivar Moondragon in the society, became the first recipient of the White Scarf. As Zakes, himself, would recall it in 2006, "Twenty-seven years ago today, the Principality of Ansteorra created the first Order to recognize courtesy, skill and teaching ability on the rapier field. At that time, there were only six kingdoms in the SCA, and rapier was (to the best of my knowledge) only practiced in two of them."

After only a bare handful of years within the society, he had become one of the most influential figures within their fencing circles. This influence was particularly felt by a younger member and aspiring swashbuckler from College Station who would later go by the name, Don Blavier. "Tivar Moondragon was my mentor and hero. Tivar introduced me to swashbuckling and encouraged me in it. When he created the Order of the White Scarf in Ansteorra, I went up and told him that members of the White Scarf needed Squires or, as I named them, Cadets and I told him that I was going to be his Cadet."

The SCA was continuing to expand in the Gulf Coast region. In Stargate (Houston), they held regular fighter practice on Sunday afternoons in Memorial Park, something which would continue for decades. There was a chapter around Texas A & M in the Bryan and College Station area. 1979 also marked the formation of a group in the Huntsville-Conroe-Cleveland-Livingston area, dubbed Raven’s Fort, no doubt after Sam Houston’s nickname, the Raven.

In fact, the serious encounter of one Houston SCA member would eventually ripple and expand outward into the realm of urban legend. It was best summed up in later years by someone researching the legend as "the ‘SCAdian [chases off/ maims/ kills] burglar with [sword/ mace/ axe/ baseball bat wielded as rattan sword]’ stories." The gist of the early legend ran something like:

"He heard someone prying at his door in the middle of the night. He had been sleeping in the nude, but the floor was cold so he pulled on a pair of sweat socks. He took his… katana down from the wall and sat on the couch, sword in one hand and the other on the light switch. He sat there in the dark, until finally the crooks broke through the door; there were two of them. He switched on the light and said one word: ‘Run.’ For some reason, Burglar #1 ran - right at him. One swipe of the sword left Burglar #1 lying on the floor with a… gash across his chest… Burglar #2 turned to run away, and…threw the sword at him. He picked up the phone and dialed 911. The police and paramedics came and carried away Burglar #1, alive but with a great story to tell in jail. Burglar #2 was found a block away, hiding in the bushes and bleeding furiously from a 3-inch cut in his right butt cheek. As the police were writing their report, one of them noticed the rattan and real swords and all of the armor, and with sudden realization said, ‘Hey, you’re one of those guys the park police are always telling us about!’ "

One SCA member noted, "It is my understanding that the protagonist was the late Sir John the Plain of Shearn, then a resident of Stargate (Mundanely Houston, Texas). One of the Stargate old-timers should be able to verify or rebut this."

SCA member and former Rice fencer Jay Rudin corroborated the account, "Yes, it was John the Plain of Shearn, in 1979 or early 1980 if I recall. I had an opportunity to hear his description of it, which is roughly as outlined, but a little less ‘legendary’. That cop had not heard of the SCA, and John didn't bring it up. He visited the kid in the hospital the next week."

Another SCA fencer, Robert Lyle, stated, "the late Sir John the Plain was indeed the swordsman who fought the burglars. I heard the story in 1978 from Don David Gallowglass (David Hughes, who lived about two miles away at the time). I never confirmed his version with Sir John, but John-John did not like to talk about it. "

A primary source of the more ‘legendary’ version, Corrie Bergeron, also dispensed the apocryphal story of an SCA member who joined the Houston Police Department. "A young squire in Houston joined the police. One day in nightstick class (this was before they switched to tonfas, and were just using batons) our hero was not paying very close attention. After all, he KNEW how to use a short sword! The instructor noticed and called him up. "[You seem not to be paying very] close attention, son. Here. [You just try to] hit me with this here stick." "You really want me to hit you, Sarge? OK, sir." And the young man faked to the leg and tapped the sergeant on the back of the head with a wrap shot. ["Try that again!"] "Yes, sir." And he did so. ["Son, you can teach this class.] And he did."

While their events may have been markedly different from the fencing of the salles, SCA fencers had to take many of the same precautions as their sports counterparts and for all the same reasons. To drive home that point a frightening incident occurred involving an epee. In May of 1979, the SCA held its First Ansteorran (Texas/Oklahoma) Crown Tournament. Chris Zakes was now the Kingdom Rapier Marshal for Ansteorra. The principality of Ansteorra had acquired sufficient members to become a kingdom. The tournament was an armored combat event to be used in choosing their own king. During a rapier list one fighter's epee broke. His opponent was hit in the armpit and there was a brief moment of very real concern. A closer examination, however, revealed merely a bruise, the skin unbroken. Nevertheless, Chris Zakes was directed to develop "better armor standards--something that will stop a broken blade. "

By June of 1979, Zakes was able to determine that 4-oz leather would serve as adequate protection from a broken blade and re-wrote SCA rules accordingly. By August, however, rumors flew of a "serious injury." Some kingdoms banned rapier combat (epee fencing) altogether. Zakes had to work fast and furious to save the event.

While it had existed within the Society for Creative Anachronisms since the very first Berkley tournament, fencing (not counting the rattan fighters) had remained on the extreme periphery of the society. In September, Zakes met with the Board of Directors and was able to persuade them that rapier combat could be conducted safely within the SCA. The board determined that rapier combat would be allowed as an ancillary activity of the SCA. By October of 1979, the SCA issued organization-wide rapier rules. These were based on the already extant Ansteorran rules developed in Texas. Although the wording would be altered from time to time, the essence would remain the same for more than twenty-five years.

Years later, Zakes recalled the search for an answer to safer foil combat, as well. "Many years ago, Don Dupre and Don Iolo in Ansteorra were attempting to find out just what it takes to put a sharp blade through human skin. Their research turned up an article on exactly that subject: "Some Medicolegal Aspects of Stab Wounds" by Dr. Bernard Knight, a British forensic pathologist."

"Dr. Knight used human cadavers and a kitchen knife mounted into a special handle that would measure the pressure applied to the knife before it penetrated. When the point of the blade was placed on the skin and pressed gently, it took 2 kilos (approximately 4 lbs.) to penetrate the skin. When the blade was thrust at the cadaver, as if in a fight, that number rapidly approached zero. The other critical factor was sharpness of the point (which makes sense). According to Dr. Knight, the underlying tissue (muscle or fat) had no significant resistance, compared to the skin: once the skin was penetrated, the blade would continue unimpeded."

"Iolo and Dupre next decided to look around for a material that would give a penetration resistance similar to that of human skin. Thin rawhide splits was what they found that worked best. They built the original Machine (a postal scale mounted on its side, with an embroidery hoop to hold the rawhide, and a framework to hold the hoop) to demonstrate this for fighters, using a real, sharp sword." The device would become known simply as "The Machine."

"Taking a #5 foil, and pressing until you get a 4 lb. reading, produces a two-inch bend in the blade. Coincidentally, a two-inch bend had already been arbitrarily defined as a "good thrust" for a foil in Ansteorra. Now there was scientific backing for that definition." Interestingly, a two-inch bend has been the result frequently sought by classical foil instructors from their students for years.

Everyone, of course, would not approve. Writer Joseph R. Svinth noted, "By the late 1970s, armor manufacture had improved, and metal armor started appearing. Therefore the training methodology had begun tipping conclusively toward a sporting attitude rather than antiquarian research."

It was likely a sporting bunch that traveled to Baton Rouge for the third annual Governor’s Open, 2-3 June. In the men’s foil competition Brian Reed placed third, followed by Clarence McCraw in 4^th. Another Houstonian, Michael Watson placed 6^th. In sabre, Reed took 4^th place to McCraw’s 5^th. In epee, Salle Sebastiani’s Bruce Markovich took 2^nd place

A sporting attitude toward fencing was certainly was the annual summer National Championships were all about. In 1979 the event was held in Colorado, but a sizeable Gulf Coast contingent participated.

In under-19 men’s foil, the Gulf Coast Division lost half its competitors in the first round.. The first preliminary round of pools advanced the top 3 in each pool. The UH student and Bellaire Fencing Club member Brian Reed took second place in his pool, advancing to the next level. So did Todd Curn. On the other hand, Michael Watson and R. Aiken, each placing 4^th, were eliminated. Curn ultimately fared the best, taking 3^rd place in the finals from a field of 40.

Of Michael Watson, August Skopik remembered him as, "a lefthander that fenced foil with Steve Farid. I beat him to qualify first at the JOs in 1981, with a group of students from MMA and Augie Uribe was third."

Tracy Yelton was the Gulf Coast Division’s only female foilist at the competition. In her first preliminary pool, she had 3 victories and 2 defeats, to place 3^rd in her pool and advance to the second round of pools. There she again won 3 and lost 2, placing 3^rd and continuing her advance. In the semi-final pool, she had 2 wins and 3 losses and was finally eliminated before she could enter the finals.

Brian Reed was the sole Gulf Coast competitor in the under-19 sabre competition. In his first preliminary pool, he finished in second place with 3 victories and 1 defeat. Advancing to the semi-final pool, he dropped to third place, with 3 wins and 2 losses. In the finals, however, he had 4 wins and 1 loss, to give him the win, taking first place from a pool of 20.

David Adams and Todd Curn fenced in the under-19 epee competition. In the first preliminary pools, the top 3 places advanced. Adams and Curn, placing 1^st and 2^nd, respectively, advanced. In the second round, they placed 2^nd and 3^rd, respectively, in their pools and continued the advance. Curn was eliminated in the second round, but Adams continued on to the finals, where he finished in 1^st place from a field of 24.

The Gulf Coast fencers competing in the men’s foil met with mixed results. In the first round of preliminary pools, the top 3 advanced. Both Al Peters and Robert Baum placed 2^nd in their pools, while Patrice Caux from UH and Texas A&M’s Martin Frey and John DuBose each came in 4^th in their respective pools. J. Hogan placed 5^th in his, while J. Hightower placed 6^th. Peters and Baum advanced to the second preliminary round of pool, in which the top four of each pool would advance. Al Peters placed third with 3 wins and 2 losses. Baum had 2 wins and 3 losses, but it was still enough to make him third in his pool. Both advanced to the third preliminary pool where, again, the top three in each would advance. This time Baum did not make it, but Peters once again placed third in his pool. He went on to a fourth preliminary pool, here the top four advanced. Once again, Peters came in third. Unfortunately, once he reached the quarterfinals pools, he placed fourth and advanced no further.

Of Texas A&M fencer John DuBose, August Skopik would later remember him as, "an epee fencer that was very unconventional, and while he was never a national finalist he used to give the top dogs fits. He was a very nice guy, and he used to fence a lot at Sebastiani also."

In the women’s foil competition, the Gulf Coast’s female foilists results mirrored the men’s. The first preliminary pools advanced the top three fencers from each pool. B. Higgins finished in 2^nd place and advanced, but T. Dominguez, placed 4^th in her pool and Judith Cull placed 5^th. The second preliminary round of pools also advanced the top three of each pool. Higgins finished 4^th in her pool and was eliminated.

In sabre, the first preliminary round of pools advanced the top three in each. Clarence McCraw finished in 3^rd place in his pool and advanced to the next round, but Ken Hogan and T. Outwin each finished in 4^th place and were eliminated early on. McCraw finished in third place in the second round of preliminary pools and continued his advance. In the third round however, he did not reach third place and was eliminated.

The strong suit for the Gulf Coast Division was now epee. The epee competition began with preliminary pools in which the top 3 in each pool advanced. Salle Sebastiani’s Al Peters and Tim Glass easily advanced, with each finishing a comfortable 1^st place. David Adams, Gary Thoreson and Bob Hurley each placed 2^nd in his respective pool and also advanced. John DuBose cut it a bit finer, placing third and more narrowly advancing. Unfortunately, Gulf Coast epeeistes Jim Sheffield and J. Hogan each finished 4^th in their pools.

In the second preliminary round of pools, the top 3 per pool advanced. Peters placed 1^st.Hurley took 2^nd place. Glass and Thoreson placed 3^rd. They advanced. Adams, however, placed 4^th and did not advance further. Neither did DuBose, whose placed 5^th in his pool. In the third preliminary pools Hurley was eliminated, but Thoreson, Peters and Glass continued. In the quarterfinal pools, Thoreson qualified after placing third. Peters and Glass found themselves in the same pool. Glass placed third and advanced. Peters was eliminated by placing 4^th. Glass and Thoreson advanced through the semifinals, placing 1^st and 2^nd, respectively, in their pools. Both made it to the finals, another pool, where Thoreson placed 6^th and Glass took 1^st place from a field of 189.

August Skopik, himself an avid competitor in later years, recalled the endless string of pool bouts and Gary Thoreson as, "an epeeist that was a finalist in the national championships back when there were no divisions. You qualified for the nationals and then you fenced many, many bouts (about 18 or 24) before the DEs. You had to be in the top 50% in your pool or you would be out. Some pools you would go 3-2 and still be fifth based upon indicators. He was also on several of the top Sebastiani teams."

Tracy Yelton also participated in the 1979 Western Women’s Classic, 22-23 June, in Colorado Springs. In the women’s epee competition, she took first in her preliminary pool, finishing undefeated. She remained undefeated in her second pool. She took third in her quarterfinal pool to continue her advance. She was finally eliminated in her semifinal pool.

On July 21, 1979 Patrice Yves Caux married Rebecca Thompson in Houston.

With August, the new or re-elected officers of the Section and Division took their places for the 1979-1980 fencing season. The Chair of the Southwest Section was Martin Johnson of New Orleans. Diana Szegfu held the post of secretary. More locally, the Gulf Coast Division’s Chairman was Robert Sutton of Seabrook, a small town southeast of Houston on Galveston Bay. Tim Glass served as an additional officer and the Secretary was Eileen Colquhoun.

The Gulf Coast Division held its general membership meeting in September. There it was agreed that the Gulf Coast Division would purchase two more electric scoring boxes and reels, to speed up things at the tournaments.

Competition was definitely the attitude toward fencing at Texas A&M. By the fall, David Dally had become the president of a robust club. He was assisted by Rhonda Blinderman as Vice-President, Meg Hendrix as Secretary, Gregory Taggart as Treasurer. David Gibson served as armorer. Their sabre coach was Andy Dunks.

The Texas A&M fencing club continued to thrive with a healthy number of fencers: Debbie Cocke, Annette Fincher, Joe Forbus, Louise Webster, Theresa Isdale, David Gaskill, Amy McNeil, Vince Velarde, Wesley Cunningham, George Khushf, Laura Hudson, Stathis Katsaros, David Teich, Leddi Saunders, Lucinda Knebel, Dana Dean, Larry Thorp, John Skaggs, David Guth, Keith Newman, John Minnerly, Denise Ehrlich, Tim MacAlpine, Terren Roark, Jerry Chevalier, Michael Scott, Kenneth Peck, Michael Scott, Mark Pearcy, Steve Marma, Charles Braffett, John DuBose and Carl Forshage. One other Texas A & M student began taking fencing lessons in the fall of 1979, August Skopik.

August Skopik recalled, "I took fencing as a PE class at A&M, and had played high school football but knew I couldn't do that any longer. My roommate in college actually told me that they offered fencing, and I signed up also. We had a beginner competition from all of the classes, and I placed 2nd among the 60 men. I had several people teach me at A & M the basics, and several people that I fenced against such as Martin Frey, David Gibson and David Groff."

By the fall of 1979, the AFLA’s plan for a "North American Circuit" of top-level competitions had passed its initial phase of development. An integral aspect of the North American Circuit (later abbreviated as NAC) was the requirement that participating tournaments expose the fencers to the direct elimination process. It became a requirement for a tournament to stay on the NAC or to join, that it must feature direct elimination with repecharge. The first year’s tournament list was released. Five participated in women’s foil, four in men’s foil, four in men’s epee and three in men’s sabre. In some cases a given tournament appeared for more than one event. Only one was in Texas, the Marathon in San Antonio, on 17 November.

Also released in the fall were the top point earners in the Under-19 events, nationally. Salle Sebastiani’s David Adams placed first in epee. Todd Curn was ninth in epee and third in men’s foil. Brian Reed placed first in sabre. Tracy Yelton was 7^th in women’s foil. The Gulf Coast Division’s younger generation were making themselves heard.

The 1979-1980 tournament season in the Gulf Coast Division began with the Franks Memorial Sabre Tournament. This year it was held in Bellaire. Clarence McCraw from Salle Sebastiani took first place. An unattached fencer, L. Lawyer, took second. Third place went to Roland Reed. An unattached fencer, S. Powell was fourth. The Bellaire Fencing Club’s Robert Shelby was fifth, while Salle Sebastiani’s Tom Outwin was sixth.

At the same time and place, a Franks’ Men’s Foil Tournament was also held. Fencing for Salle Sebastiani were Robert Baum in first place, Patrice Caux in second and Clarence McCraw in third. The unattached S. Powell finished in fourth place. Ken Hogan of Salle Sebastiani took fifth. Sixth place went to Ken Peck, who was unattached.

The very next day, they held epee and women’s foil events. The top six in epee were all from Salle Sebastiani. They were, in order from first: Bob Hurley, David Adams, Tim Glass, Gary Thoreson, Dick Costa and Rob Sutton. The top three in women’s foil, similarly, were Claire Cart, who was unattached, Judy Cull of the Bellaire Fencing Club and Dede Foutch of Salle Sebastiani.

The Sebastiani Epee Invitational was held on September 29, 1979. Sebastiani fencers Tim Glass and Bob Hurley took first and second place, respectively. Third place went to Slavek Rotkiewicz from the Itinerant Fencing and Chowder Society in the North Texas Division. Sebastiani fencers David Adams, Al Peters and Mike Ytterberg finished 4^th-6^th place, respectively.

The Divisional Open tournament was held at the Dad’s Club YMCA in Houston on October 13. In women’s foil, both the first place finisher, Ann Marie Walters, the second place fencer, Claire Cart, were listed as unattached. The Bellaire Fencing Club’s Judy Cull came in third. Alison Colquhoun now also listed as unattached finished in fourth place. Linda Thames who finished fifth and sixth place fencer Celia Hardy were both from Lamar University.

Salle Sebastiani’s Clarence McCraw captured first place in men’s foil, while Texas A&M’s Martin Frey came in second. Another Sebastiani fencer, Ken Hogan, finished in third place. G. Raines from Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos was the 4^th place finisher. Al Snyder and Randy Aiken, both of Salle Sebastiani, finished fifth and sixth, respectively.

As John Lusby noted, "In Texas, we had a one armed former national champion that was an A, but I'm not sure about anyone else. His name was Al Snyder (I think). Possibly Steve [Farid] from Houston, but I don't t think he ever told me that."

In the epee event, Salle Sebastiani’s Robert Sutton took first place. The second place fencer, David Dally, and the third place finisher, David Gibson, were both from Texas A&M. Sebastiani fencer John Wahren came in fourth. Two more Texas A&M fencers, John Varney and Gregory Taggart, placed fifth and sixth, respectively.

In sabre, to no surprise, Clarence McCraw captured first place, with P. Anderson from Southwest Texas State in second. In third place was Tom Outwin of Salle Sebastiani. The Bellaire Fencing Club’s David Hubbard finished fourth. Ken Hogan took fifth and Martin Frey from A&M ended in sixth place.

There was a small novice tournament held in Bellaire on October 20-21, 1979. In novice epee, with six entrants, first place went to Augie Uribe (MMA). Salle Sebastiani’s Dick Costa was second. Gregory Taggart of Texas A&M University finished third.

The novice sabre event fielded 7 entrants. Texas A&M fencers Andy Dunks and Carl Forshage, placed first and second, respectively. Third place went to Vernon Williams of Salle Sebastiani.

The novice women’s foil had eight entrants. Texas A&M’s Deborah Cocke placed first. Judy Cull of Bellaire was second. Third place went to Romona Vastuez of North Texas.

The novice men’s foil competition did a little better, drawing 18 competitors. MMA’s Augie Uribe captured first place. Second place went to James Allen from the University of Houston. Salle Sebastiani’s Dick Costa was third.

That same weekend, the Ted Keck Open was held in San Marcos. The largest event, men’s foil, drew 18 fencers and Salle Sebastiani’s Clarence McCraw took first place. There were fourteen entrants for women’s foil. Claire Cart, the unattached Gulf Coast Division fencer, took sixth place. No fencer from the Gulf Coast Division was in the top finishers in epee or sabre.

On November 3, the Gulf Coast Division Secretary, Eileen Colquhoun, sent a letter out to all of the members. I stated, in part, that the division had now purchased the two electric scoring boxes and reels. This brought the Gulf Coast Division’s inventory of equipment for electrically scored fencing to "6 sets of electrical equipment for fencing strips and one other stand-by set."

A Gulf Coast Divisional tournament was held November 17-18 at Lamar University in Beaumont.

A Gulf Coast Divisional Open Tournament, which had been scheduled for December 8-9, 1979 at the Clear Lake City Recreational Center, had been reset. It was held that weekend in Houston at the Marian High School gym

For America’s elite fencers, like Tim Glass, there was disappointing news coming from the Nation’s capital that December. In reaction to the invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union, the United States would boycott the 1980 Olympic in Moscow.

In February 1980, Clement D’Albergo passed away. The man who made the Galveston team a force to be reckoned with in the 1930s and who helped Jack Baird, Bill Brown, Everett and Naomia Abbott and others rebuild post-war fencing in Texas was gone.

Early in the year, the relatively new South Texas Division began what would become a tradition. The first annual Poujardieu Open Fencing Meet, honoring Maitre Gerard Poujardieu for his work and accomplishments, was held. "Pouj" had, by this time, been the epee coach of the US Modern Pentathlon team training center at Ft. Sam Houston for over twenty years. For this inaugural competition, four members of the French National Modern Pentathlon team arrived to compete in epee. Members of the French team took the top two spots from a field of 26, but Salle Sebastiani’s Al Peters grabbed third place. In an indication of changing times, the open foil competition, with 20 fencers, was won by Lois Goldthwaite of the Itinerant Fencing and Chowder Society from the North Texas Division. She also captured the top spot in women’s foil from a field of 12. Southwest Texas State University swept the top three sabre spots.

In East Texas, a couple of Russell Wieder’s students made a trek to Houston. Waynes Hughes, like Robert Lyle, had studied under Wieder since 1977. "I do remember Bob Lyle. I also had a fencing buddy where we both drove down to Houston (Master Wieder could not go; circa 1980?) to participate in a novice tournament. A Houston local came in first; I came in second (I received a stainless steel letter opener) and my fencing friend third. Not bad for our tiny club and no coach which shows (for me) the quality of training we received from Master Wieder."

The Junior Olympics of 1980 felt the impact of the Gulf Coast Division’s fencers.

In under-20 women’s foil, Tracy Yelton took first place in her preliminary pool after emerging undefeated. A fellow Gulf Coast fencer, Joy Skaggs, did not fare so well, emerging win no victories. Yelton advanced to the second round pools, doing almost as well, with 4 wins and a single loss. In her third round pool, Yelton also won 4 bouts with only one loss. It was enough to put her first in that pool and allow her to advance to the direct elimination stage. Yelton fought her way through the direct elimination tables to reach the semifinals and finishing in 4^th place.

In under-16 women’s foil, Diana Foutch from the Gulf Coast Division came out of her preliminary pool with a single victory to 4 losses. And did not advance further.

In the under-16 men’s foil, R. Aiken placed 2^nd in his pool with 4 wins and 1 defeat. He came second in his second round pool, as well, with 3 wins and 2 losses. In his semi-final pool, however, he scored 2 wins and 3 defeats to place 4^th. He advanced no further.

In the under-20 men’s foil, Ernesto Uribe came out of his preliminary round robin pool with 2 wins and 2 losses. August Uribe emerged with similar results, as did Michael Watson. Former Gulf Coast foilist Todd Curn, now relocated to Ohio, placed first in his pool. In the second round pools Michael Watson emerged with 2 wins and 3 losses, as did Ernesto Uribe. August Uribe turned is around to emerge with 3 wins and 2 losses. He alone advanced to the third round pools, but there won only 2 bouts and lost three. He advanced no further. Todd Curn ultimately placed 4^th.

Decades later, August Skopik recalled Todd Curn as, "a very good foil fencer that went to Ohio. I think he was a doctor or became a doctor. He died in an accident or something at a very young age. If you look in Ohio about 1985 - 1990 there is probably a Todd Curn memorial. His parents would come to invite me."

In under-20 sabre, Brian Reed was undefeated in his preliminary pool. Like Todd Curn, however, Reed was no long based in the Gulf Coast Division. Now attending college, he represented the Southern California Division. The only Gulf Coast Division sabreur was Texas A&M’s Andy Dunks, who won 2 and lost 3 in his pool. He made it to the second round pools, but no further.

Dunks would also soon move on. Skopik remembered Andy Dunks as, "a sabre fencer at A&M that was a freshman when I was, or maybe even a high school student in Bryan and began fencing with the A&M club before he was a student. He lived with Martin Frey or in Martin's parents’ house. I heard that he became a monk."

In under-16 epee, Chad Miller placed 4^th in his preliminary pool with 2 wins and 3 losses and did not advance to the next round.

In under-20 epee, Salle Sebastiani’s David Adams emerged in first place with 4 wins and 1 loss. Augie Uribe also emerged from his pool with an identical win-loss ratio, but due to indicators, emerged in third place from his pool. Ernesto Uribe won 3 bouts and lost 2 to finish 2^nd in his pool. Adams and both Ernesto and Augie Uribe advanced to the second round pools. Only Adams advanced past those to the third round. David Adams came in 2^nd place in his third round pool with 3 wins and 2 losses. He was defeated in his first direct elimination bout, but won another in repecharge with the others who had been eleiminated in the first table. He then won his next repecharge bout. He won twice more to fight for a spot among the finalists. He finally emerged in third place overall.

Following the Junior Olympics, the National Under-20 Team was selected. This would be the group to represent the United States at the World Championships in Venice in April. Among those making the team were Brian Reed (sabre), and David Adams (epee). Todd Curn, the Houstonian now moved to Ohio, made the men’s foil team.

There were opportunities for rather intense competitions back in Texas, as well. The 18^th Annual Pentathlon Open Epee was held at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. In addition to the more local fencers, the Finnish Modern Pentathlon Team arrived for that international touch. Competitions were held on Saturday and Sunday. In the Sunday event, Tim Glass from Salle Sebastiani did manage a third place place finish among some impressive competitors.

Back at Salle Sebastiani, Richard Alvarez returned as prevot d’armes. Within the year, though, he was on the move, this time to Paris, where his wife, Linda, studied mime at Marcel Marceau's school of Mime. Richard studied fencing under Maitre Pierre LaCaze. At Cite University, he also expanded his study of sabre, rapier and dagger, and baton under Maitre Heddle-Roboth.

In March 1980, Chris Zakes was pursuing a different kind of rapier study. Among other things, he participated in Rice University’s Baker College’s production on the 18^th-22^nd of Romeo and Juliet, in which he choreographed the sword combat. (He also took a minor cast role as "2^nd Watch"). In the same month, the First Ansteorran Queen's Champion Tournament was held with 30-40 combatants. It was the beginning of a tradition.

Rice was also the site, that month, of the Gulf Coast Division’s premier competitive fencing event. The 1980 Van Buskirk Tournament was held March 8-9 at Rice University. As in years past, Roland Reed continued as one of the organizers and, as always, the local fencing community came together for the event. As August Skopik recalled, Steve Farid was a supporter. "Steve Farid was and is a good friend to fencing, an excellent coach, and helped with the Van Buskirk by providing t-shirts at cost and other things. He owns International Sporting Goods."

In the course of the tournament, a party was held for the fencers and their families on Saturday night, March 8, hosted by Dr. Robert Hurley and Ms. Tracey Yelton.

The largest event was the epee event with 48 fencers. Salle Sebastiani’s Robert Hurley took first place with the USMPA’s John Moreau coming in second. Hurley’s club mate Al Peters placed 4^th.

Frank Lategano of the New Orleans Fencing Club won men’s foil, from a field of 37 entries. Salle Sebastiani’s Tim Glass took second with Dwain Blakley of the North Texas Division’s IFCS coming in third. Salle Sebastiani fencers Michel Zalesky, Clarence McCraw and Al Snyder took 4th-6^th, respectively. One of the newer fencers, August Skopik would later recall, "I was more impressed with a foil finalist named Al Snyder that finished 6th, fencing in his 50th year of fencing. He started fencing in his early 20s or late teens at Stanford recruited from tennis."

In women’s foil, from a field of 19, Salle Sebastiani’s Tracy Yelton captured first place after defeating Oklahoman Alice Moore. Third placed went to Nancy Walters of Dallas’ IFCS. Houstonian Clair Cart, who did not declare for a team, took fourth place. Austin’s Liz Ronchetti placed fifth, while Salle Sebastiani’s Judy Hart came in sixth.

In Van Buskirk’s favorite weapon, sabre, Salle Sebastiani’s Clarence McCraw captured first place after defeating SWTSU’s Paul Anderson. McCraw won the Van Buskirk Cup and it may be thought of as an auspicious moment, as he was on the verge of a very successful period in foil and sabre. Third place went to Scott Clark of the Dallas Fencers Club. Salle Sebastiani fencers Tim Moore and Tom Outwin came in 4^th and 5^th. August Skopik recalled, "I saw the Texas Flash, Clarence McGraw, win the saber tournament when Coach Van Buskirk was presenting the trophy and it was one of my first tournaments."

A Salle Sebastiani team consisting of McCraw, Outwin and Moore won team sabre. A sabre team from the Dallas Fencing Club was second. Third place went to a Texas A&M team consisting of David Dally, Martin Frey and Andy Dunks.

At about the same time, one of Arnold Mercado’s former pupils was returning to the Texas Coast. Sinclair Oubre recalled, "I graduated in 1980, and returned to Port Arthur for one year. I did a little fencing at home, but it was a lot of self training, and attending the Van Buskirk in Houston."

In nearby Beaumont, Glenn Weathington had fenced at Lamar University since 1977. Now out of school, "I started working full time, but my wife was still there and I stayed active with the small, young club there." He also observed, "Lamar went [NCAA] Division 1 sports and fencing was included as one of the twelve sports needed, but only for the first year. So I was the first and last Division 1 coach for Lamar University fencing. After my wife, Gloria, graduated we moved away from the fencing and did not really do much again until the mid-1980s."

With the spring came the 1980 Southwest Sectional Championships. One noticeable change was the increase in women’s events. Nancy Anderson won the under-19 women’s foil, epee and sabre competitions. Under-19 men’s foil and epee went to M. Scott and M. Watson. Curt Neal took the top spot in Under-19 men’s sabre.

Tracy Yelton took the gold in women’s foil. Frank Lategano won men’s foil. Bob Hurley took the gold in epee. Chris Trammel was the sabre victor.

In April 1980, Tim Glass made the U.S. Olympic squad as an epeeiste. Sadly, it was as close to the Olympic as he would get.

President Jimmy Carter had announced a boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games in December to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Glass said he first thought the move as just a "political threat," but once he saw the USSR was not going to budge, he and his teammates knew they weren't going to the Moscow Games.

"It was already a thrill for me to be the best in the nation," said Glass, "I just had to take it in and move on. But it was the Olympians who had suffered while the U.S. was concerned with punishing Moscow."

Glass’ teammates debated competing at the Games anyway, but under the international flag. Travel restrictions and the government's suspicions, however, made this loophole a difficult move. "I wouldn't have gone along with it," Glass said. "It's my country. I'm gonna follow the boycott because doing that would have been like competing against one's own country."

The International Olympic Committee held a ceremony in Washington D.C. in July 1980 to celebrate making the team.

Years later, Michel Sebastiani, who considered Glass, "one of the most dedicated students I've ever had," recalled his disappointment at the turn of events. "For me, it was years of hard work straight to the drain." As for Glass, "Tim was at his best and the Olympics would have been the supreme award for him. I made him suffer in training, for his own good, and he just executed my orders diligently."

Glass had trained six to seven hours a day, five times a week. Glass said he exercised for two hours early in the morning, went to work at the hotel from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and capped the day with a four-hour workout. On weekends he competed in tournaments.

For his part, Glass recalled Sebastiani as resembling a French adventurer who joked around during practice. "His training was intense, but he made it fun. "He would tease me saying, 'Hey big man, see all the things that we did today?'"

The 1980 summer National Championships were held at Manhattan College in New York City, 21-28 June. Once again, the Gulf Coast Division gave good account of itself, with fencers placing everywhere from near the top spot to the last place.

In men’s foil, Salle Sebastiani’s Al Peters captured 13^th place from a field of 202. Another Salle Sebastiani fencer, Todd Curn, placed 65^th. Ken Hogan, the "kid" in Montrose Bob Shelby had met, now also fenced at Salle Sebastiani and placed 123^rd. Texas A&M fencer David Dally came in at 136^th place. Another Aggie fencer, Martin Frey, tied for 178^th. Salle Sebastiani fencer M. Peterson placed 202^nd.

In under-19 men’s foil, Michael Watson of the Houston Fencers Club placed 33^rd from a field of 35.

In women’s foil, Salle Sebastiani’s Tracey Yelton took sixth place from a field of 179. The Bellaire Fencing Club’s Judith Cull tied for 146^th, while A. Madden from Salle Sebastiani placed 179^th.

In the women’s under-19 foil event, Texas A&M University’s D. Ehrlich finished 42 out of 43.

In "men’s" epee (a first at the nationals, in and of itself) with 179 competitors, the six highest from the Gulf Coast Division all called Salle Sebastiani home. Robert Hurley and Tim Glass placed 20^th and 21^st, respectively. Al Peters took 34^thplace. David Adams came in 65^th , closely followed by Gary Thoreson in 67^th.M. Ytterberg placed 92^nd. Texas A&M University’s Gregory Taggart came in at 97^th while David Dally came in at 153^rd.

In under-19 men’s epee, David Adams came in second place from a field of 32. Aggie epeeiste Michael Scott placed 25^th.

In "men’s sabre," with 128 competitors, David Guth from Texas A&M placed 104^th. Ken Hogan placed 114^th, while David Dally tied for 121^st and Gregory Taggart, tied for 127^th.

Not surprisingly, given their results in individual epee, the Salle Sebastian group put together an epee team that cut its way through all 44 other teams until finally being defeated by the USMPA and left in second place. Texas A&M put together a men’s sabre team that did not advance beyond their pools.

Parallel with the summer nationals ran an event titled the Metropolitan Open, which featured competitions solely in women’s epee and women’s sabre.

In women’s epee, 20-year-old Tracey Yelton, a member of the 1980 World Junior Team, led her pool of five with four victories and advanced. Texas A&M’s Pauletta Wrentz, did not fare so well and, acquiring no victories did not advance. As well, Judith Cull and D. Ehrlich did not advance past their first pools. In her second round pool, Tracey Yelton again placed first to continue her advance to the quarterfinals. In that pool she placed second but continued her advance into the quarterfinals. There she again held on at second place, earning her an advance to the semifinals. Unfortunately here she stalled into third place, in a pool where only the top two advance, leaving her to finish 6^th from a field of 79.

Far more important than individual placements, when Dr. Jane Littman defeated Peggy Walbridge to take the gold medal, Dr. Littman also became the first female epeeiste in the world to achieve an "A" classification.

The indomitable Dallasite, Lois Goldthwaite, of the Itinerant Fencing and Chowder Society, was there. She had served years before on the AFLA commission working to phase in women’s sabre and epee. She had also fence and been a finalist in the women’s sabre and epee events that were held at the sites of the last three summer nationals. This week, she finished 5^th in both sabre and epee.

In August of the same year, the SCA fencer Chris Zakes attended his first "Pennsic War." An SCA annual event, it brings members from around the country together in combat. This Pennsic, the SCA’s ninth, allowed Zakes to encounter SCA fencers from other areas. His reactions, as he later recalled, were "I met about a dozen rapier-fighters from the East, their fighting style was quite different from what we were doing in Ansteorra: sort of saber fencing using epee blades. Weird."

By the summer, A&M fencer August Skopik was out to diversify his training. "I took the beginning class at Texas A&M fall of 1979, and in the spring [1980] I worked with Kenneth Perkins. That summer I worked with Roland Reed at the Bellaire Club."

"… Roland Reed, whose son Brian Reed was an All-American at San Jose. Roland was a good fencer, and I think had picked it up at the Naval Academy. My first tournament was in Houston, and my first bout in a competition was against Al Peters. Roland brought me to a new level in fencing, and my first tournament back I was able to compete, if not beat Tim, Al and others."

On the national scene, the AFLA’s Olympic Fencing Committee inaugurated a new program for the 1980-1981 fencing season. The program would be known as the North American Circuit and would provide an opportunity for all fencers to earn "national" points. Four events in each weapon were designated as "circuit" events. Points would be awarded the top third of the entry field, never to pass 24^th place. First place would earn 100 points. The 24^th place competitor would receive 16 points.

With the coming of August, the new and returning officers of the Gulf Coast Division took up the reins. Nancy Sebastiani, wife of Michel, assumed the position of Gulf Coast Division Chair. The Bellaire Fencing Club’s Roland Reed and Texas A&M’s Martin Frey served as additional directors, with Marie McCarthy-Glass (Tim’s wife) serving as Division Secretary.

The Chairman of the Southwest Section was Scott Harmon of Dallas.

In the Gulf Coast Division, the season began with the Franks Memorial, September 27-28, in Houston. In men’s’ foil Clarence McCraw of Salle Sebastiani captured first place, while Michael Watson of the Houston Fencer’s Club took second and K. Woodward from SWTSU placed third. In women’s foil, Tracey Yelton took first, followed by H. Valskavitch, who did not claim a club affiliation and another Salle Sebastiani foilist, D. Foutch, in third. The top three spots in epee were a clean sweep for Salle Sebastiani with Al Peters, Bob Hurley and Slavic Rotkiewics winning 1^st-3^rd places. The required sabre event was a bit more eclectic. Clarence McCraw took another first place medal. Second went to SWTSU’s Paul Anderson, while third went to Texas A&M’s Martin Frey.

A bit to the west, in the South Texas Division, an era ended. On Tuesday, September 30^, 1980, after more than two decades of service, Maitre Gerard J. Poujardieu conducted his last official evening supervising fencing at the US Modern Pentathlon Training Center at Ft. Sam Houston, near San Antonio. A bottle of wine set to one side to celebrate his retirement. "Pouj" gave an interview, which later appeared in the May/June 1981 issue of American Fencing.

In the interview, he described why he felt the French continued to medal in fencing, in spite of competition by such superpowers as the US and the USSR. "For them fencing is still a game.Serious, maybe, but still an enjoyable pastime. They are happy to win, but still know how to lose with dignity and fairness."

"For them a fencing hall is not a cold sanctuary where you obey, immediately and without a word, orders shouted by a kind of drill sergeant, but a place with fun and laughter, jokes and recreation: they will mix work and play."

When asked why the US teams and clubs did not use more French fencing masters, he replied, "During the sixties about ten good French fencing masters moved to the US hoping to impose their teaching and get American fencing out of the rutty road."

"Here is what happened to them: two moved back to France, after a few years, weary of being a voice in the wilderness; some others switched to a more rewarding, at least morally, situation: one is teaching dumb show [mime] and theatrical fencing in a college [presumably a reference to Claude Caux at the University of Houston]; another one, though teach some hours in a high school, has made a small fortune in real estate; another one, sick of keeping up a rat race, opened a restaurant; etc., most of the rest live more or less scantily, misunderstood, their advices disregarded and even laughed to scorn."

His view of the immediate future of American fencing was not much more positive. "Gloomy, barring an unforeseen miracle."

"Our fencers keep going to the Olympic Games and the Seniors’ World Championships, the only two significant competitions, and often fall at the first or second round, their defeats soothed by the sound and wide use of the English language, an illusion of power, superiority and preeminence."

"They will stagnate in a kind of blazing poorness, challenged and often beaten by Cuba, our backyard tiny neighbor, overtaken, yesterday by Russia, Poland, Rumania, etc… and to-morrow by China."

"So you see, I don’t harbor any delusion. Is the time going to come when the majority of U. S. fencers are going to get rid of fakes and frauds, the one who talk a lot, think very little and act even less, to finally listen to the truly good ones?"

Not withstanding the above, Maitre Poujardieu was not wholly pessimistic. He had, himself, carved out many champions. He was, however, a realist on the subject of American aspiration for Olympic fencing gold.

Back in Houston, on October 3-4, the Sebastiani Anniversary Invitational epee tournament was held. Bob Hurley and Slavek Rotkiewicz (now also fencing at Salle Sebastiani) took first and second. Third place went to Dwayne Blakley, formerly of the Itinerant Fencing and Chowder Society and now with the Dallas Fencing Club.

The university clubs were also starting up at this time. The Texas A & M University Fencing Club was an active bunch. David Dally continued as President for the 1980-1981 season with Theresa Isdale now the Vice-President. The remaining, standard officers consisted of Meg Gallatin as Secretary and Gregory Taggart who remained as Treasurer. The number of appointed posts had, however, expanded to include Kenneth Peck who was in charge of tournaments, Meg Hendrix running fund raising, and Debbie Furtado heading up publicity. David L. Guth was their armorer.

Other members of the 1980-1981 A & M Fencing Club included August Skopik, Gloria Sanchez, Larry Gilmore, Dora Doyle, Martin Frey, Andy Dunks, Kelly Shea, Pauletta Wrentz, Zack Heckmann, Britt Crist, Paul Kline, Mark Williams, Larry Tharp, Hubert Seaton, Corey Corey, H. W. Luke, Fritz Bates, and Michael Scott.

This was around the time Frey graduated and left Texas A&M. August Skopik remembered Frey as, "the best fencer at A&M before I got there, and he was a Senior when I was a freshman at A&M. He was not rated, because the lowest rating was a C. He got his C in Alvin after he graduated in a tournament with Tim Glass, Al Peters, myself and some others. I was fourth and he was third. He beat me 5-4 when the timekeeper said halt and I stopped at 4-4, and he hit me after the timekeeper halt but before the director's halt began. Good guy, and he went to work for a medical supply company in Houston after graduation and married a schoolteacher."

At the University of Houston, it was a little different. As Steve Lewis remembered, "I got started in fencing by taking Caux's class at UH as a student back around 1980 or so. It was a free elective, held under the auspices of the drama department, not a PE class...still it was basic fencing and not acting, focused on footwork, simple blade work, judging, and directing. Maitre Caux was quite accommodating of those interested in the sport and let several of us 'audit' the class (i.e. drop in take footwork) even after graduation." It was good that Maitre Caux was there for them.

On October 25, 1980, Charles Harold Van Buskirk passed away. An obituary in American Fencing read, "A former President of the AFLA, he was a member of the U. S. Olympic Teams of 1924, 1928, 1932 and was captain of the 1940 team. He was U. S. Epee Champion in 1927, a medallist in succeeding years in sabre, outdoor sabre, and three-weapon national championships."

"For over 20 years, while a professor at Rice University, he kept the sport of fencing alive in the Houston, Texas area. The Gulf Coast Division has held a tournament in his honor for the past nine years, but this year it became the Van Buskirk Memorial Tournament and will so continue."

Roland Reed wrote, "The ones of you who never knew him missed a rare experience and a rare man. His name and his championships are listed in the back of the old yellow fencing rule book. I was especially fond of Mr. Van because he took an interest in my son’s fencing. He gave me a lot of good advice."

The same weekend Harold Van Buskirk died, October 25-26, several Gulf Coast fencers were at the Ted Keck Open in San Marcos at SWTSU. In men’s foil, Patrice Caux (Claude’s son), fencing for Salle Sebastiani, capture first place from a field of 38. In women’s foil, with 18 entries, Sally Vansiclen of the Bellaire Fencing Club took 5^th. In epee, Salle Sebastiani’s Slavic Rotkiewics took 5^th out of 24. In sabre, with 16 entries, Patrice Caux took another gold medal. Club-mate Clarence McCraw came in second. Another Salle Sebastiani sabreur, Tim Moore, took 7^th.

In San Antonio, at the Marathon Epee, the South Texas Division fencers made the best of the fact that the US boycotted the summer Olympics. They invited Johan Harmenberg of Stockholm, who had won the gold medal in epee in Moscow, to participate. As usual, there were two different competitions on Saturday and Sunday. In the Saturday event, Bob Hurley and Tim Glass finished 5^th and 6^th, respectively. On Sunday, Al Peters took 6^th.

On November 1-2, at the Duel in Dallas tournament, Tracey Yelton took fourth place in women’s foil. Her colleague Al Peters captured first place in men’s foil from a field of 47. Two more Sebastiani foilists, Paul Schmidt and Clarence McCraw took 4^th and 7^th, respectively. Bob Hurley won the epee event with Gary Thoreson placing 8^th. In sabre, which was fenced as one big round-robin by pools, Clarence McCraw took 5^th.

For another Salle Sebastiani epeeiste, the competition was considerably more distant. In lieu of, and as a consolation for not, competing in the Moscow Olympics, the USOC agreed to fund a "substitute" trip to China. (China also did not participate in the 1980 Summer Games). Tim Glass and the US team departed November 19^th and returned December 4^th.

The US team had its ups and downs from city to city, with the exception of the epee team. On November 25^th they competed in Beijing. The US women’s team (foil), which included Texan Stacy Johnson, lost to their hosts 11-5. The US men’s foil team won 10-6. The US sabre team did not fare so well. Peter Westbrook won his four bouts, but the team, as a whole, lost 9-7. Meanwhile, Tim Glass and the epee cadre defeated their hosts 11-3, with Glass pulling three victories, himself.

The Americans next competed in Nanking on the 28^th. The men’s foil team gave it their all before being defeated 9-7. The women’s foil team, led by Stacy Johnson who had to fight both her opponents and severe cold, also lost. The sabre team fared no better. Glass and his colleagues, on the other hand, triumphed 10-6. Again, Glass scored three victories.

December 1^st saw them in Shanghai, where the program was arranged for them to fence 12 bouts in each weapon. Each match would end when a team took seven victories. The women’s foil team fell 7-0 to their Chinese hosts. The male foilists narrowly prevailed by 5 touches in a 6-6 final. In sabre, the US prevailed 7-3 with Peter Westbrook remaining undefeated. The epee team won 7-4 over the locals, with Tim Glass scoring a single, but decisive, victory.

For Tim Glass, he emerged with a personal record of 11 bouts, 7 victories and 4 defeats.

Back home, a number of Gulf Coast Division fencers had to travel only so far as San Marcos on November 22-23 for a small tournament at Southwest Texas State University. Mike Watson, from Steve Farid’s Houston Fencer’s Club took second place in men’s foil from a field of 38. Salle Sebastiani’s Gary Watasche took fourth place. Ken Hogan, fencing for Salle Sebastiani, took 3^rd in epee from a field of 18. He also took 5^th in sabre, which also had 18 entries.

His top fencers also embraced the new North American Circuit from the outset. At the Csiszar Open Epee competition in Philadelphia, December 6-7, Robert Hurley, Tim Glass and Gary Thoreson finished 3^rd, 6^th and 20^th respectively. A week later, in New York City, at the Michel Alaux Women’s Open Foil tournament, Tracey Yelton took 16^th place.

Some Salle Sebastiani fencers competed closer to home. Clarence McCraw competed in SWTSU’s smaller Holiday Tournament on December 6-7, taking 4^th in sabre from a field of 8.

Besides Harold Van Buskirk, Houston was to lose another of the long-time driving forces in local fencing, Arnold Mercado. In Houston by Stages: A History of Theatre in Houston, Sue Dauphin wrote, "In 1980 he presented El Gesticulado (The Imposter), Mexican playwright Rodolfo Usigli’s 1938 drama about the Mexican Revolution of 1910 and Garcia Lorca’s La Casa de Bernarda Alba. Arnold Mercado left Houston in December, 1980, and El Teatro Bilingue continued under the direction of Ruby Perez at Ripley House." Arnold Mercado recalled, "I left Houston in 1980 to work in New York and I imagine that's when I stopped at Rice. I can't remember if it was the spring or the fall; I tend to think it was the spring."

The new North American Cup Circuit continued with their second events. The tournaments in this group included the D’Asaro Women’s Foil competition in San Jose, California on January 10^th. The next day saw the D’Asaro Men’s Foil competition in the same city. In sabre, there was the Piller Sabre Open in New York City on January 18^th.

Two Texans found themselves fencing it out in the first tournament. Vincent Bradford placed 2^nd out of 66 entries in the D’Asaro Women’s Foil event. Tracy Yelton-Hurley took 19^th in the same event.

The 1981 Mardi Gras Fencing Tournament was held February 7-8 at Tulane University. The Gulf Coast Division did place anyone highly in the men’s sabre event. In women’s foil, however, the gold went to Vinnie Bradford after she defeated Stacy Johnson. The field of 14 women foilists was described as "rugged." The third place went to Nanci Walters and 4^th place to Lois Goldthwaite. All but Johnson (listed as "unattached") represented the ubiquitous Itinerant Fencing and Chowder Society, based in the North Texas Division.

Men’s epee was arranged as an 18-person round robin that resulted in a tie between Salle Sebastiani fencers Robert Hurley and David Adams. Young David finally triumphed in the fence-off.

Tim Glass won the epee competition in the U. S. Sports Festival in 1981.

The AFLA Junior Olympic Championships were held February 14-16 in Cleveland, Ohio, and a few Gulf Coast Division fencers made the trek.

D. Foutch from Salle Sebastiani took 16^th place in the women’s under-16 foil event. L. Phares took 22^nd place in the same event from a field of 44. In the under-20 women’s foil competition, D. Foutch placed 45^th and D. Ehrlich placed 53^rd out of 85 competitors.

In under-16 men’s foil, R. Aikens fought his way to 4^th place in a field of 58. P. Zameska came in at 51^st place while G. Buck tied for 57^th. In under-20 men’s foil, M. Watson came in 24^th out of 93 competitors. In the same event, August Skopik tied for 59^th and L. Tharp ended in a 3-way tie for 77^th.

In under-16 men’s epee, G. Buck and G. Valentine placed 31^st and 32, respectively, out of 33 competitors. In under-20 men’s epee, David Adams placed 18^th, Augie Uribe 30^th, and J. Wahren 65^th from a field of 69.

The Gulf Coast Division did not have an entry in the under-16 men’s sabre event. The under-20 men’s sabre competition saw 62 sabreurs converge, with Robert Shelby the sole Gulf Coast entry taking 52^nd place.

A week later, the epee entry in the North American Circuit was held. The Pentathlon Open, February 21-22, was held in San Antonio. Tim Glass took part, placing 2^nd. Robert Hurley took 19^th place from among 66 competitors. During the event, a special chrome-plated, engraved honor epee was present to Maitre Poujardieu, the tournament’s founder.

It was the 14^th annual tournament to carry his name, but this year it was the first Harold Van Buskirk Memorial Tournament. It was held on March 14-15, 1981. A flier, featuring cover art by Gary Watashe, from the event speaks to the format used at the time. "AFLA Rules will apply. Preliminary pools will be fenced to a round of 16 fencers in a 10-touch direct elimination with repechage. Final of 8 will be direct elimination to a winner."

It also noted, "If there are fewer than 15 Women’s Epee entries, men eliminated in the first round of Men’s Epee may register to participate in what will become a Mixed Epee event."

First place in sabre (24 entries) went to Martin Johnson of the New Orleans Fencing Club, winning him the Van Buskirk Cup for second time. The Bellaire Fencing Club’s Bryan Reed took second, followed by Salle Sebastiani’s Clarence McCraw in 3^rd. The IFCS’ own Vinnie Bradford took first place in women’s foil (26 entries). Tracy Hurley of Salle Sebastiani was third. Mens’ foil (35 entries) was a clean sweep for Salle Sebastiani, with Al Peters, Robert Hurley and P. Schmidt taking 1^st-3^rd places. In epee (28 entries) Tim Glass and Robert Hurley were 1^st and 2^nd, respectively.

In the team sabre event (a requirement of Van Buskirk tournaments), with 7 entries, the Bellaire Fencing Club’s team of Roland and Bryan Reed and David Hubbard captured first place. Salle Sebastiani’s team (Tim Glass, D. Taft and Alan Finger) took second. Third place went to a composite team made up of Ken Hogan, D. Clark and S. Clark.

For Alan Finger, this was a last hurrah. "I lost interest shortly afterwards because of the coaching."

Several Gulf Coast fencers, mostly affiliated with Salle Sebastiani, went to San Marcos the weekend of April 4-5 for the Yorick Open (The mascot of the local Southwest Texas State University fencing club was a skull, hence the name.)

In men’s foil, with 30 competitors, Sebastiani foilist P. Schmidt captured first place, while J. Rassenfoss placed 5^th. Two Salle Sebastiani epeeistes, D. Adams and M. Ytterberg placed 2^nd and 3^rd, respectively, in their event from a field of 16. There 14 for the sabre event and 7^th place went to Salle Sebastiani’s Ken Hogan, while 8^th place went to Andy Dunks of Texas A&M University.

The Gulf Coast Division sent several competitors to the Southwest Section’s Championships that spring, as well. The Texas A&M University Fencing Club sent May Maddux. Lenore Phares came from the Bellaire Fencing Club. Michael Watson, Randy Arhen, Florence Wall and Paige Fox from the Houston Fencers’ Club attended. Salle Sebastiani sent Ken Hogan, Geraldo Uria, John Wahren and Mitchell Peterson

The 1980-1981 season saw considerable activity and success for the Aggies. The Texas A & M University Fencing Club placed second in the Texas State Collegiate Tournament. Two Texas A & M fencers, John Vastano and Tanna Rose, captured their school’s All-University Championships in men’s and women’s fencing during the spring of 1981. The Aggies had sent two fencers to the Junior Olympics. They also qualified two fencers in open competition and two in under-19 competition to attend the final AFLA summer national championships.

Far removed from the Olympic-style competitive fencers were the growing numbers of Society of Creative Anachronisms members who had practiced what they called "rapier" fencing. Houston and the Gulf Coast region lost one of the most influential voices in SCA fencing in May of 1981, when Chris Zakes, Tivar Moondragon, moved to Austin.

For Texas A & M fencer August Skopik, the summer was another chance to expand his training beyond what was offered in College Station. "The next summer [1981] I worked with Michelle Sebastiani, and… there was a pool of talent to learn from such as Tim Glass, David Adams, Al Peters, etc."

June 20-27 a lot of that talent found its way into the North Texas Division for the 1981 summer National Championships.

In women’s foil, former Houstonian Vinnie Bradford, now a member of the North Texas Division’s ubiquitous Itinerant Fencing and Chowder Society, finished 6^th in a field of 137. Tracy Hurley of Salle Sebastiani placed 35^th. IFCS fencer Lois Goldthwaite took 78^th. C. Tremonte of Salle Sebastiani held 93rd place. Texas A&M’s D. Ehrlich took 99^th, while the 100^th place was taken by K. Green representing something called the Gulf Coast Fencing Club. Judith Cull, fencing for the Bellaire Fencing Club came in 124^th. Salle Sebastiani member M. Zaleski placed 131^st.

In men’s foil, Salle Sebastiani’s P. Schmidt captured 8^th place from a field of 183 competitors. His club mate Al Peters placed 23^rd. "T. Curn," with no attachment listed was 38^th. Sebastiani fencer J. Hogan tied for 123^rd. Another from that salle, G, Watasho placed 133^rd, while club mates K. Rassenfoss and M. Peterson tied for 134^th and 170^th, respectively.

Women’s epee drew 74 contestants and Tracy Hurley took 11^th place. Lois Goldthwaite took 13^th place.

There were 158 for men’s epee and David Adams from Salle Sebastiani came in 3^rd. Tim Glass, who took 9th, represented the same salle. Robert Hurley, who most recently fenced for Salle Sebastiani placed 15^th, but listed no club affiliation. Dwaine Blakley of the North Texas’s IFCS took 29^th. Sebastiani fencers Al Peters, S. Rotkiewicz, and Gary Thoreson came in 52^nd, 53^rd and 55^th, respectively. The same salle’s M. Ytterberg, R. Coasta, and J. Hogan took 102^nd, 105^th, and 139^th places, respectively.

Sabre drew 112 contestants and, not surprisingly, Peter Westbrook of the New York Fencers Club took first place. Clarence McCraw from Salle Sebastiani finished respectably in 29^th place. A club mate, K. Rassenfoss finished 73^rd, while another, J. Hogan, tied for 86^th place.

The Gulf Coast Division did not make as large a presence in the youth events, but in U-19 women’s foil, with 33 competitors, the Bellaire Fencing Club’s L. Phares and the Houston Fencer’s Club’s P. Fox placed 28^th and 29^th, respectively.

R. Aiken of the Houston Fencers Club placed 26^th in U-19 men’s foil from among 36 competitors. Club mate M. Watson placed 29^th.

Salle Sebastiani’s John Wahren came in 31^st out of 37 in the U-19 epee event.

Parallel with the summer nationals was a semi-separate women’s open sabre tournament nearby, in Fort Worth, June 26, 1981. The women were pushing to escape from being relegated to foil alone. There were33 competitors for this event and the IFCS’ indomitable Lois Goldthwaite came in 4^th. Aggie fencer D. Ehrlich placed 10^th.

June 27^th, as part and parcel of the summer nationals, the 1981 annual meeting of the membership of the AFLA was held at Texas Christian University in Ft. Worth. Of the entire organization, there were only 19 members physically present, with another 133 represented by proxy.

These would be the last summer national championships for the Amateur Fencer’s League of America. 1981 was the year that the AFLA became the United States Fencing Association (USFA). The name change was voted on by the AFLA membership to reflect more accurately the fact that theirs was the governing body for fencing in America.

In many ways, the organization was striving to rectify several ills with the name change and a fundamental change in its philosophy. This coincided with the strengthening of the North American Circuit. The circuit’s purpose was to create a circuit of very tough, very strong tournaments that the nation’s best fencers could participate in and keep their edge, as opposed to expending their efforts in too many less challenging local events.

As the AFLA metamorphosed into the USFA, the organization shifted its focus to the nation’s elite fencers, believing the sport could best grow and thrive if fertilized with Olympic gold, silver and bronze. As to the small, local clubs most American fencers belonged to, Carla Mae Richards in a 1981 article in American Fencing summed up the leadership’s belief that, "Should one of our goals be ‘grass roots’ development? If we review other sports, it appears that growth of a sport is directly related to the prestige of its top athletes. Prestige is gained by the prominence of top athletes in each sport… With medals we gain publicity; with publicity, we gain the interest of the public."

"First and foremost, we must be concerned with our survival as a sport, and not as a recreational activity. To survive as a sport, we must channel our efforts toward proving the means by which we will garner medals. To do this, we must commit our limited financial resources to our potential source of medals – the best of those in the junior and senior ranks."

The thrust was clear. The new USFA’s focus would be on the elite fencers.

That same issue of American Fencing carried the regular column of AFLA/USFA President Emily Johnson. This issue it read, in part, "How do we get away from our ‘elitist’ image? We are the poorest group of the elite that I have ever known. Changing our name is a start… Changing our logo from the befeathered cavalier will be a help."

"Be patient with cuteness, but try to steer the reporter away from coy references to D’Artagnan. Our method of scoring always seems to bother them, as if the one having the lower score being the victor is unique to fencing. Tell them it is like golf and it becomes understandable."

Obviously another thrust would be to prove fencing was a "real" sport. (Interestingly, by the close of the 20^th century, points would cease to be awarded AGAINST the fencer who was touched and be awarded TO the fencer making the touch. Perhaps not enough Americans knew much about golf.)

Other things ended that summer. On August 31 Patrice Caux and Rebecca Thompson were divorced.

Back in Texas, Port Arthur native, fencer and student of theology, Sinclair Oubre, moved away again, pursuing his calling. "In 1981, [I] went to graduate theology school at Der Katholieke Universiteit der Leuven in Belgium. I brought my fencing weapons with me, and began to fence in the university club. A Fleming whose first name was Roger, was the fencing coach. Because of the good formation that Mercado gave me, I was able to hold my own in Belgium, and was one of the best fencers on the club. However, academic and seminary formation always interfered with consistent training. I would get to a certain point of development, and then have exams, or special seminary programs, and have to miss for a week or two. I found that each time this happened that I was set back three or four weeks in training."

Roland Reed, the erstwhile coach of the Bellaire Fencing Club, had won the post of Chairman of the Gulf Coast Division for the 1981-1982 season and took office that summer. Colleen Tremonte was Secretary of the Division.

The Chair of the Southwest Section was the former Rice fencer, David Ladyman. Like former Rice fencer Chris Zakes, who had so influenced the SCA, Ladyman now lived in Austin. Charles Michaels served as the section’s vice-chair. The Secretary was Helen Valkavich. Oscar Barrera was the Treasurer.

Just down the road from Austin, on November 21-22, the 1981 Marathon Epee Open Fencing Tournament was held at U. S. Modern Pentathlon Training Center at Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio. Tim Glass came in third place on Saturday and second on Sunday, finishing in second place overall, behind 1980 Olympic epee gold medallist Johan Harmenberg of Sweden.

For the elite competitors, December brought that year’s North American Cup Circuit events. The first was the Michel Alaux Women’s Open Foil in New York City on December 5, where Vinnie Bradford came in second. The next day, December 6, was the Csiszar Open Epee in Philadelphia, where Salle Sebastiani’s Tim Glass, David Adams and Gary Thorenson took 6^th, 20^th and 24^th places, respectively, from a field of 95. On December 13 New York City was the scene of the Michel Alaux Men’s Open Foil, where P. Schmidt of Salle Sebastiani placed 10^th. The Kadar Sabre Open on December 17 in Cleveland, Ohio had 75 entries, but no fencer from the Gulf Coast Division placed in the top 24.

For the higher level fencers, January brought the second event in each weapon’s competition in the North American Cup Circuit. The Circuit Cup #2 for women’s foil was the D’Asaro Open on January 9. With 77 entries, Vinnie Bradford took 2^nd place and Tracy Hurley came in 17^th. For men’s foil, Circuit Cup #2 was the men’s half of the D’Asaro Open on January 10. Salle Sebastiani’s P. Schmidt placed 23^rd from a field of 90.

In men’s sabre, with 63 competitors, Circuit Cup #2 was the Pillar Open on January 17^th.

The Circuit #2 event for men’s epee, the only one held in Texas, was the Pentathlon in San Antonio on January 23. Among the 68 entries, D. Adams represented Salle Sebastiani while coming in 2^nd place, Tim Glass in 14^th place, M. Ytterberg in 18^th and John Wahren in 23^rd. The next day, their traditional second day, entirely separate tournament was held (This one being a non-circuit event). This time Tim Glass placed second.

In the Pentathlon Open’s separate "Ladies Epee" competition, they mirrored the men’s format of two days with separate epee competitions and a combined "overall" winner between the two days. On the first day, the top three finishers were Tracey Hurley, Vincent Bradford and Stacey Johnson. On the second day Johnson was first and Bradford third. Stacey Johnson became the overall winner with Vinnie Bradford the overall second place fencer.

January 23-24 saw the 3^rd annual Poujardieu Open held at Southwest Texas State University. Among those making the trek was Salle Sebastiani alum Ken Hogan, now coming from Texas Southmost College in Brownsville on the lower Texas coast. He managed to place 6th in mixed foil, 8th in mixed sabre, and 1st in mixed epee.

In January 1982, the first (SCA) Academy of the Rapier was held in Ansteorra (Texas/Oklahoma).

Right behind the Circuit #2 events was the first Circuit #3:the Mardi Gras tournament (the North American Cup Circuit #3 for sabre) on February 6. What was noteworthy here was the use of an experimental system of electric sabre being developed by Uhlman. In a women’s foil event that was not part of the circuit, Tracy Hurley captured first place from a field of 24 that included several from Venezuela’s national women’s team. The Circuit #3 for the other weapons would not be held until March.

The Junior Olympics were held in Los Angeles February 13-15, 1982. A modest number of up and coming Gulf Coast Division stalwarts made the journey.

In U-16 men’s foil, with 45 competitors, T. Potoczniak placed 30^th. The U-20 men’s foil drew 85 entries, but none from the Gulf Coast.

Lenore Phares placed 15^th in U-16 women’s foil from a field of 30. Paige Fox was also there, placing 23^rd. U-20 women’s foil had 67 competitors. In this event Fox fared better, coming in 50^th, than Phares who came in at 58^th.

U-16 men’s epee drew 24 epeeistes. The only Gulf Coast entrant, however, was D. Hitchcock, who finished in 16^th place. In the U-20 epee event, with 58 competitors, two entrants who finished in opposite ends represented the Gulf Coast Division: John Wahren in 11^th place and M. Duskin in 56^th place.

Sabre, once such a strong and popular weapon in the Gulf Coast Division was beginning a long slide down in popularity. A. Potoczniak became the Gulf Coast Division’s only entrant among 31 fencers, placing 31^st. The division had no representation among the 51 fencing U-20 men’s sabre.

Back in Texas, on the same weekend, the South Texas Division held their annual Bobcat Open at Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, February 13-14. A coterie of Salle Sebastiani fencers who were too old for the JOs made the trip. Kirby Rassenfoss placed 3^rd in men’s foil from a field of 33. Tracy Hurley captured first place in women’s foil, with 13 entrants. Husband Robert Hurley captured the top spot in epee from among a field of 25. In sabre, with 15 competitors, Clarence McCraw captured first place while club-mate T. Outwin was close behind in 2^nd place.

The next weekend, on February 20-21, the South Texas Division held an unclassified tournament for lower-ranked fencers. Texas A&M’s August Skopik captured first place in men’s foil from a field of 23.

By March the third tournaments in each North American Cup Circuit were playing out. The Gulf Coast Division had very little representation in the top tier finishers, this round. There was one notable exception, however: Tim Glass placed 3^rd from a field of 85 at the General Dynamics tournament in Los Angeles on March 13^th.

The 1982 Harold Van Buskirk Memorial Tournament was held March 13-14 at Rice University. The Bout Committee of the tournament was made up of Roland Reed, Judy Cull, Mitch Peterson, and Cindy Templeton. A flier from the tournament (depicting Bilbo Baggins holding Sting) also listed "club representatives." They were: August Skopik (Texas A&M University); Steve Farid (Houston Fencers’ Club); Al Peters (Salle Sebastiani); Ken Hogan (MMA); Lew Smith (Southwest Texas State University); Ben Price (Baton Rouge Fencing Club); Ted Cotton (New Orleans Fencing Club); Denny Clark (Dallas Fencing Club); Jim Reinhart (Rice University); and, Lois Goldthwaite as "representative at large."

Salle Sebastiani’s Clarence McCraw, for a second time, won the sabre event and the Van Buskirk Cup. As one fencer of this era observed, "And that was dry sabre back in them days with no strips to pick up. After they got done yelling and throwing their masks around the sabreurs usually went to go outside and blow things up with fireworks."

In April the North American Circuit #4 events were held. The only significant placement from the Gulf Coast Division was in the epee event, the Cherry Blossom Open in Washington DC on April 25. Salle Sebastiani epeeistes Gary Thoreson and Al Peters placed 18^th and 23^rd, respectively.

(It should be noted, however, that former Houstonian Vinnie Bradford took first place in the Helene Mayer competition for women’s foil in San Francisco on March 20, from a field of 78.)

The 1982 Southwest Section Championships were held that spring. In women’s foil, Salle Sebastiani’s Tracy Hurly took first place from a field of seven competitors. Marie McCarthy, also from Salle Sebastiani placed 4^th. There was a women’s epee event that drew five competitors, but none from the Gulf Coast Division. Women’s sabre was not fenced.

In men’s sabre, with 10 competitors, Salle Sebastiani’s Clarence McCraw took second place. Texas A&M’s August Skopik finished in 8^th place.

The men’s foil competitions drew 18 fencers. Of Gulf Coast Division fencers, Texas A&M’s August Skopik fared best, placing 7^th. The only other fencers from the Gulf Coast Division in this competition were Mike Jones from Texas A&M and Salle Sebastiani’s Mitch Peterson.

Men’s epee drew a field of 17. Salle Sebastiani stalwart Robert Hurley took the gold, while his club mates Michael Ytterberg and Dwain Blakely took silver and bronze, respectively. August Skopik took 6^th place.

The 1982 summer National Championships were hosted by the Capitol Division in and around Washington DC. As usual, the largest event was men’s foil, which drew 166 competitors. The competition was tough and none of the Gulf Coast Division’s fencers made it into the final 32. Salle Sebastiani stalwart Al Peters finished in 64^th place. His colleagues K. F. Rassenfoss and J. K. "Ken" Hogan came in 77^th and 102^nd, respectively. August Skopik from Texas A&M University finished in a tie with another fencer for 104^th place.

Women’s foil pulled in 133 fencers. Again, none of the Gulf Coast entrants made it into the direct elimination round of 32. The highest finisher was Judy Cull from Roland Reed’s Bellaire Fencing Club. Marie McCarthy from Salle Sebastiani placed 86^th. Another Salle Sebastiani foilist, Colleen M. Tremonte came in 107^th.

In men’s epee, a Salle Sebastiani specialty, 142 competitors turned out. Club members Rotkiewicz, Al Peters and Tim Glass made it into the direct elimination round of 32, where the first two were defeated (in Al Peters’ case in a contest with the South Texas Division’s formidable John Moreau). Tim Glass held on by winning his elimination round 10-3. He also won his bout in the elimination round of 16 by a score of 10-6, but was defeated in the round of 8 with a score of 10-8.

At this point the repechage began. Al Peters climbed back into the competition by winning his repechage bout 10-9. His colleague Rotkiewicz was not so fortunate and lost his second chance 10-7. Peters was taken out in his next bout, losing 10-3 to Risto Hurme, the former Finnish Olympian. Tim Glass also used the repechage to get back into the fray, winning his first bout 10-5.

Glass made it into the final tableau of 8, but was defeated there.

As to the remaining cadre of male epeeistes from the Gulf Coast Division (all from Salle Sebastiani), Gary Thoreson from Salle Sebastiani finished in a tie for 59^th place. John Wahren ended in a tie for 85^th place. M. Wilkinson came in 129^th.

Women’s epee was growing and drew a respectable 63 competitors with South Texas’s Vinnie Bradford capturing the top spot. There were no competitors from the Gulf Coast Division in this event.

109 sabreurs turned out for the men’s sabre competition, with New York’s indomitable Peter Westbrook capturing first place. Clarence McCraw from Salle Sebastiani did fight his way into the elimination round of 32, where he was defeated by Westbrook’s formidable colleague Steve Mormando 10-2. McCraw went into the repechage, but failed to score the victory he would need to stay in the game.

Of the remaining two entrants from the Gulf Coast Division who competed in sabre, Salle Sebastiani’s J. K. "Ken" Hogan placed 85^th and Texas A&M’s August Skopik finished in 106^th.

Women’s sabre drew 28 for its competition. The Gulf Coast Division could not boast a large sabreuse population at this time, but one of them, Denise Ehrlich, turned out, finishing in 26^th place.

In spite of the large numbers of fencers competing at the summer nationals, on June 4^th, at the USFA’s annual membership meeting held concurrent with the event, the turnout was slim. Twenty-one members were present with only another 38 represented by proxy.

It should be noted that, this same year, the National Fencing Coaches Association of America followed the lead of the old AFLA and renamed itself, becoming the United States Fencing Coaches Association (USFCA).

While Michel Sebastiani’s salle continued to produce impressive fencing results, he was not the only Sebastiani who was deeply involved in high level fencing. His wife, Nancy Sebastiani, spent part of the year as a US Team manager for the 1982 World Fencing Championships in Rome. She ultimately also wrote an article for the September/October 1982 issue of American Fencing.

At the salle, itself, fencers came and went. Richard Alvarez had returned from Europe and was teaching there. Texas A&M fencer August Skopik had come down for the summer. "I took a summer of instruction at Sebastiani, but as I was working towards graduation at A & M Michel got the coaching job at Princeton. Michel was great, and intensified the lessons and speed."

The same year, Roland Reed closed the doors on the Bellaire Fencing Club.

For the still newly christened USFA, there was another change. In August of 1982, the organization moved its headquarters to the United States Olympic Committee complex in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

With the start of the 1982-1983 season the officers of the Southwest Section took their posts. David Ladyman returned as Section chair. Martha Ladyman served as Secretary-Treasurer. Texas A&M’s August Skopik served as President of the Championships.

Back in Texas. the newly elected officers of the Gulf Coast Division of the USFA that took over their offices on August 1^st, including Nancy Sebastiani. The Chairman of the Gulf Coast Division was originally listed as Dwayne Blakley, a recent transplant from the North Texas Division where he had fenced with the Itinerant Fencing and Chowder Society. (Lois Goldthwaite, another IFCS alumnus had also moved to Houston recently).

The Secretary was Mitchell Peterson. The Treasurer was Ray French. Nancy Sebastiani was designated an "additional director." The rules stated that divisions were entitled to additional directors beyond the chairman based on the number of USFA members within the division:

1-112 members meant no extra directors

113-187 meant one extra director

188-262 meant two extra directors

263-337 meant three extra directors

338-412 meant four extra directors

413-487 meant five extra director, etc

The inference is that there was somewhere between 113 and 187 USFA member fencers with the Gulf Coast Division.

The USFA bylaws also allowed divisions to elect alternates for each director to substitute for that director if the director was absent from meetings. The alternates were Judy Cull and Tim Glass.

The Division Chairman Dwayne Blakley was an avid competitor. August Skopik recalled of Blakley, "He was a left-handed foilist and epeeist that was at least a B if not an A at least in epee. In foil, you could win every tournament in the region and not necessarily get a B much less an A. He was a division officer, (I think chairman, in 1984 or so)."

In College Station the new school year brought in new fencers. Allan T. Curry recalled, "I started fencing as a freshman the fall of 1982 at Texas A&M. We did not have a coach in those days. Actually we didn't have a coach in any of the days that I was fencing for A&M (fall 82- spring 88). August Skopik was (I think) a junior at the time, the president of the Fencing Club, the primary influence on me as a fencer, and taught me a bunch. He graduated in 1984."

In October, the US Fencing Officials Commission released their list of rated directors in the USFA. At this time the numeric scale for each director’s rating was from 1 (able to direct finals at the National Championships) to 5 at the base. (Later this year, there would be a re-organization of the number from 1-7). In Texas, the USFA rated referees were:

Gulf Coast Division

Claude Caux (rated 5 in each weapon)

Timothy Glass (rated 5 in foil and 1 in epee)

Lois Goldthwaite (rated 5 in foil, 5 in sabre, 4 in epee)

Marie McCarthey (rated 5 in foil)

Mitchell Peterson (rated 5 in foil)

Colleen Tremonte (rated 5 in foil and 5 in epee)

South Texas Division

Vincent Bradford, (rated 3 in foil)

Stacey Johnson (rated 1 in foil and 2 in epee)

David Ladyman (rated 5 in foil and 5 in epee)

John Moreau (rated 4 in foil and 1 in epee)

Paul Pesthy (rated 1 in epee)

North Texas Division

Ed Sims (rated 5 in epee)

Marietta Towry (rated 5 in foil)

William Towry (rated 5 in each weapon)

Steve Vandenberg (rated 5 in foil and 3 in epee)

unknown

Nelson Iry (rated 5 in sabre)

Martin Johnsen (rated 5 in each weapon)

Robert Nieman (rated 2 in epee)

Mark Turpin (rated 5 in epee)

Paul Whitmore (rated 5 in epee)

Howard Williams (rated 5 in foil and 5 in epee)

Clearly, the Gulf Coast Division had little to boast of in terms of its director’s cadre.

If Richard Alvarez were in the midst of another of his temporary association with Salle Sebastiani, when they separated the next time it would be because it was Michel Sebastiani who was moving on. On October 17, Stan Sieja, the popular fencing coach at Princeton University passed away suddenly from a stroke. Sebastiani left to take over the fencing program at Princeton. Salle Sebastiani would hold together for a time, but its days were numbered. It was Houston’s loss and Princeton’s gain. At the time Sebastiani took over, the Princeton fencing program had only a varsity men's program. Women’s fencing had only club status. Changing this would become one of Sebastiani's first goals.

During his stay in Houston, at least one of his students was a USFA finalist every year from 1978 to 1984 including Tim Glass, David Adams, Tracy Yelton and Gary Thoreson, Paul Schmidt and Brian Lee. Glass was National Champion on Epee in 1979 and Adams Junior Epée champion in 1979. Glass was selected as a member of the aborted 1980 Olympic Team.

In November, however, Salle Sebastiani’s fencers were still a force to be reckoned with. On November 6-7, several traveled to the Duel at Dallas tournament. Tim Glass captured first place in men’s foil. Clarence McCraw did the same in sabre. Men’s epee was a tougher nut to crack, with Tim Glass and Bob Hurley placing 5^th and 6^th, respectively.

Salle Sebastiani’s women did just as well. In women’s epee Lois Goldthwaite captured first place and Tracey Hurley finished in 4t^h place. In women’s foil, Tracey Hurley took second place, while Lois Goldthwaite, Colleen Tremonte and Marie McCarthey finished in 5^th, 6^th, and 8^th places, respectively.

The 1983 Junior Olympics were held in Tampa, Florida. Of the Gulf Coast Division’s contingent, only John Wahren and P. Fox had considerable competition experience behind them. Most of the others were seeing national competition for the first time.

The under-16 men’s foil competition drew 71 entries. Four relative newcomers to such events represented the Gulf Coast Division: J. Kukella in 44^th place; D. Brett-M. in 62^nd place; G. Tar in 65^th place; and, B. Ratcliff in 71^st place. Under-20 men’s foil drew 92 competitors. R. Aiken placed highest among Gulf Coast entries, finishing in 47^th place. The only other Gulf Coast entrant was D. Hitchcock, who came in 67^th place.

The under-16 men’s epee event had 44 entries, two being from the Gulf Coast Division. R. Greisel finished in 21st place, while J. Kukella came in 27^th. In the under-20 men’s epee event, Salle Sebastiani alum John Wahren came in 19^th from a field of 67. A relative newcomer to such events, P. Milton finished in 61^st place. The remaining Gulf Coast entry, D. Hitchcock, tied for 66^th.

The under-16 men’s sabre competition, R. Griesal finished 21^st out of a field of 33. J. Kukella finished in 26^th place, while D. Brett-M. finished 33^rd. In the under-20 event, P. Milton came in 47^th from a field of 60.

In the women’s under-16 foil competition, Gulf Coast fencer M.-S. Tar finished in 24^th place, while P. Fox finished 26^th. Between them, finishing in 25^th place was a North Texas Division fencer named Katie Kowalski. The under-20 women’s foil event drew 79 competitors, but P. Fox, finishing 53^rd was the Gulf Coast Division’s only presence.

The year 1983 also saw an unusual movement within the SCA’s fencing community. Another principality had published their first set of rapier rules, using fiberglass buggy whips instead of steel fencing blades. The practice was disseminated and did attract some adherents in Ansteorra for "fiberglass fencing."

While few enough competitive fencers were aware of the Society for Creative Anachronisms and its version of fencing, most of those who did looked with some scorn on the organization, considering it a "dungeons and dragons" fantasy group. In all fairness, the SCA held no truck with wizards and dragons… that was left to Amtgard. If there were sport fencers who looked somewhat askance at the SCA, they would have had great difficulty even being able to focus at Amtgard, an organization that incorporated out west, in El Paso in February 1983 and embraced fantasy warfare. In essence, it is a live-action fantasy role-playing game, one of several which sprang up during this time period.

Overly colorful on its best day, Amtgard was the semi-spontaneous creation of a man named James Haren, under the alias of Peter LaGrue. A kind of small-time confidence man with a background in Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, LaGrue had recently been expelled from another fantasy role playing group, called Dagohir, in Maryland. One Amtgard member later recalled, "He could stand in front of you and lie with absolutely no concern over whether or not you knew the facts of situation. Attempts to challenge him would bring attempts at verbal or physical intimidation. At the same time, he was so silver-tongued that only the finest orator could challenge him, a formidable fellow. Unfortunately for LaGrue not everyone in Amtgard in those days was a pushover."

Finding himself in El Paso, he placed an ad in a local paper the week before the 13^th of February 1983. The ad announced a celebration "birthday bash" for Attila the Hun and directed people to a local park and told them to look for the pavilions and siege machines. There were none. For the 40-odd people who showed up, all they found were LaGrue and some members of an old science fiction fan club playing with LaGrue’s weapons. None of this even slowed LaGrue down.

Attendees were told that Amtgard was a nationwide organization. Each person playing Amtgard was charged $1.00 per week dues, and $2.50 for a rulebook. In order to play, each person had to purchase a rulebook. LaGrue pocketed the money.

Matt Amt recalled, "A couple years ago I was put in touch with another Amtgard member (some
question about costuming, I think), and discovered the group's website. It was quite startling to see how large and far-flung it had become. Reading through the archives, I found references to the exact same kind of troubles with la Grue that we had had--eventually Amtgard had thrown him out, too. What a hoot! I like to believe that Amtgard has flourished not because of him, but in spite of him."

For some reason he also, very early on, had Amtgard make contact with the local SCA chapter. By Amtgard’s own chronology, on February 26, 1983: "Amtgard challenges the SCA and the SCA breaks Amtgard's weapons." Before too much longer, however, LaGrue generated sufficient hostility among his own rank and file that he chose to disappear, leaving the group to recreate itself with more satisfying results. In a fairly short time the group spread across two dozen states with a large number of chapters in the Houston-Galveston area. An Amtgard member later recalled, "Since then he was reported as showing up once in Granite Spyre (Houston), where he challenged a number of people, but then keeled over and threw up on somebody's sword."

While Michel Sebastiani was settling into the Princeton fencing program, the fencers he mentored continued to make their presence felt in the spring North American Cup competitions. All were still fencing under the Sebastiani name, although interestingly, they more often than not now listed themselves as with the Sebastiani Fencing Academy. Tracey Hurley finished 6^th out of 68 in women’s foil at the Helene Mayer International. She also finished 18^th at that year’s women’s foil competition at the Csiszar Open.Clarence McCraw finished 21^st out of 48 in the sabre event at the Governor-General of Canada competition. In the General Dynamics epee event, Tim Glass finished 8^th in a field of 84. He also finished 7^th out of 97 in epee at that year’s Cherry Blossom Open.

The 1983 Harold Van Buskirk Memorial Tournament was held March 12-13 at Rice University. A flier for the event also noted "Saturday night – pizza and beer party."

In the all-important sabre event Salle Sebastiani’s nearly unstoppable Clarence McCraw once again walked away with the top spot. He became only the second person to win the Van Buskirk Cup three times. H. Williams from Texas Tech and Chris Trammel of the New Orleans Fencing Club were second and third, respectively. Trans Texas fielded the winner in the requisite team sabre competition.

The top three spots in the epee event were a sweep for the Sebastiani cadre. Tim Glass, John Wahren and Al Peters were first, second and third, in that order.

B. Martin, a Sebastiani fencer, took first place in men’s foil. Second place went to K. Woodward from Southwest Texas State University. The third place slot fell to Al Peters.

Lois Goldthwaite, fencing with the Sebastiani fencers took first place in women’s foil. Nancy Walters, fencing unattached, came in second. Michelle Chouteau from Salle Sebastiani took third.

Texas A & M University hosted the Southwest Section Championships on the weekend of April 30-May 1, 1983. Aggie fencer August Skopik served as President of the Section Championships.

Men’s foil drew a field of 16 competitors and Sebastiani fencers Tim Glass and Vince Yokom took the gold and silver prizes, respectively. A&M’s August Skopik came in 4^th. The 5^th-8^th places were a sweep for the Sebastiani group and taken by Ed Hallmark, Kirby Rassenfoss, Ray French and Mitch Peterson, respectively. The 9^th place sport went to Dennis Horvath from A&M. Other Gulf Coast fencers who fenced in the event were Brad Meyer, Kelly Fergason and Jason Alter from Texas A&M and William Dixon from Rice University.

Men’s epee drew 18 fencers. The Sebastiani Fencing Academy swept the top places. Tim Glass, Bob Hurley, David Adams, Dwain Blakely, John DuBose and Ed Buckingham placed 1^st-6^th, respectively. Other Gulf Coast competitors were August Skopik, Michael Scott and Brad Meyer, all of A&M, and Rob Sutton, Ed Hallmark and Ray French from the Sebastiani cadre.

Ten fencers competed in the men’s sabre event. Sebastiani fencer Clarence McCraw took the gold in this competition. A&M’s August Skopik placed 6^th. His club mate Kelly Fergason came in 8^th. Salle Sebastiani’s Randall Sumpter took 9^th.

Women’s foil drew a field of 16. First place went to Lois Goldthwaite, now fencing for the Sebastiani Fencing Academy. Two other Sebastiani fencers, Nancy Walters, recntly arrived from LSU, and Michelle Chouteau placed 4^th and 5^th, respectively. Others from the Gulf Coast Division who fenced in this event were Sebastiani fencers Colleen Tremonte, Debbie Aiken and Toni Ingverson, the Houston Fencers’ Club’s Paige Fox, and A&M fencers Carol Gottula and Lia Valkavich. There were also two unattached Gulf Coast competitors, Tracy and Terry Maxfield.

In the under-19 women’s foil event, Lia Valkavich took second in a field of nine. Paige Fox came in 3^rd place. Tracy Maxfield took 5th. Sixth place went to Marie-Sophie Tar from the Houston Fencers’ Club. Her club mate Karin Roy placed 7^th. Debbie Aiken from the Sebastiani contingent was 8^th. The unattached Terry Maxfield was ninth.

In the under-19 men’s foil competition, Houston Fencers’ Club member Randy Aiken finished 2^nd in a field of eleven. Aggies Dennis Horvath, Alan Curry and Russell Smith finished 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th, respectively. William Dixon from Rice University finished in 6^th place. Jimmy Livings of the Houston Fencers’ Club was 7^th. Mike Marchbanks from A&M was 8^th. The 9^th place spot went to another HFC fencer, Gabriel Tar, while D. Korphage from A&M was the 10^th place fencer. Curiously, 11^th place went to an unattached Gulf Coast fencer named James Joiner.

There were six competitors in the under-19 epee event. Texas A&M’s Dennis Horvath placed third, the best of the Gulf Coast fencers present. Aggies Mike Marchbanks and Russell Smith placed 5^th and 6^th, respectively.

In the under-19 sabre event, Horvath placed first from a field of five. Aggies Mike Marchbanks, Russell Smith and Alan Curry finished 2^nd, 4^th and 5^th, respectively.

Two teams were generated to fence 4-weapon competitions. The winning team was dubbed "Rassma’s Spasmas". It was composed of Kirby Rassenfoss (men’s foil), Marie McCarthy (women’s foil), Colleen Tremonte (epee) and Tim Glass (sabre). They defeated the "Taxi Squad" consisting of Ed Hallmark (men’s foil), Michelle Chouteau (women’s foil), Ray French (epee) and Clarence McCraw (sabre).

Overall, seven members of the Texas A & M club qualified for the summer nationals to be held in San Francisco. The Aggies, themselves, finished the season ranked third among state college fencing clubs.

It was about this time that Ken Hogan, who taught fencing along the extreme southern edge of the Texas Coast passed away. Kyle Maysel recalled, "Ken died after I went off to Lubbock to Texas Tech for law school (in 1981)." Fencing Master and cancer survivor Gerard Poujardieu wrote, "Ken used to teach fencing at the Marine Academy in Harlingen and died of cancer. In those days, the survival rate from the Disease was 35%; now, I'm told, it's closer to 70%."

One fencer who stuck around was Robert Baum. Skopik recalled, "Robert was a very good foil fencer, and he was originally from Dallas. He learned from DeGall, and was someone I had to learn to beat to become an elite fencer. I saw him at nationals in the Vet 40 foil in Austin, and I think he placed 18th or so. We were good friends, and he fenced with Sebastiani and at Duchesne Academy with us when we were there. He now lives in Connecticut I think."

The summer Nationals were held June 4-11. The Gulf Coast Division sent its share of competitors, many from the old Salle Sebastiani. Interestingly, the documents of day now describe the club as the Sebastiani Fencing Club.

The men’s foil competition drew 169 entries. The highest any Gulf Coast Division fencer reached was 72^nd by Salle Sebastiani’s V. Yokum. Another Gulf Coast Division fencer, B. Martin, finished in a tie for 79^th. Sebastiani foilist Kirby Rassenfoss finished 103^rd. Former Texas A&M fencer August Skopik, now fencing under the Salle Sebastiani banner, finished in 119^th. R. French, claiming the same salle finished in 148^th place.

In women’s foil the Gulf Coast Division turned out much more robust numbers of competitors, most notably Tracey Hurley, still flying the Salle Sebastiani banner, who captured 22^nd place from a field of 143. Lois Goldthwaite, claiming the same affiliation, finished in 34^th place. N. Walters, who simply listed herself as fencing for the Gulf Coast Division, came in 67^th. Salle Sebastiani’s Colleen Tremonte made it to a tie for 86^th place. Two of her club mates, Michelle Chouteau and Marie McCarthy, finished side-by-side in 91^st and 92 places, respectively. Judith Cull made it to 112^th place. She listed her affiliation as simply the Gulf Coast Division, as did D. Ehrlich, who ended in a 3-way tie for 140^th place.

Tim Glass, fencing for Salle Sebastiani, captured 2^nd place in men’s epee from a field of 121, losing only to Paul Pesthy from the South Texas Division. Salle Sebastiani’s August Skopik tied for 60^th place. Long-time Sebastiani epeeiste D. Adams finished 87^th.

The South Texas Division also took the top spot in women’s epee when Vinnie Bradford won first place from a field of 52. Close behind was Salle Sebastiani’s Lois Goldthwaite in 5^th place. The remaining Gulf Coast entrant, K. Nettle of Texas A&M, finished in 43^rd place.

To no surprise, Peter Westbrook from New York captured 1^st place in men’s sabre for the seventh time. Salle Sebastiani’s Clarence McCraw finished in 35^th place from a field of 97. August Skopik placed 43^rd.

The USFA held no women’s sabre event, but the host, the Northern California Division, hosted its own event, drawing 31 competitors from across the nation. They also held some parallel under-19 events in men’s and women’s foil and in men’s sabre and epee. Texas A&M’s D. Horvath finished 17 out of 20 in under-19 epee. R. Aiken from the Houston Fencers Club tied for 17^th place out of 29 competitors in under-19 men’s foil. D. Horvath also took a run at the under-19 sabre event, finishing 12^th out of 20. P. Fox, fencing for the Houston Fencers Club, finished 25^th out of 28 in under-19 women’s foil.

Back in Texas, another young girl was pursuing her own specialized studies This was 12-year-old Renee O’Connor. The Katy, Texas native had just begun studies at the Alley Theatre. These studies would continue in later years at Houston’s High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. While an actress and not a fencer, by the late 1990s, she would acquire a sword-wielding fame, of sorts, playing the character of Gabrielle on the syndicated television series Xena: Warrior Princess.

Later this same year, Katie Kowalski and her family moved to Houston. Only about 13 years old, Katie had begun fencing much earlier. She had watched her mother, Sara Kowalski, practice. Soon enough, Katie began to learn the moves, herself. Sara Kowalski’s coach, Delmar Calvert, told her Katie had natural talent. Katie first had to ground herself in the basics, using sticks, not foils, before she could take lesson from Calvert. Katie persevered and became dedicated to the sport and to Calvert’s approach, "You can tell his students at any big meet because their form is so good."

Katie continued her fencing as her family moved, first to San Francisco, around 1981, which she called her "dead year." Here she had a new instructor and, at the age of eleven, she was his only junior student. Katie practiced against much older adversaries. She also began competing in the Junior Olympics. She found contending with the intensity of the fencing of older male opponents overwhelming. "If I was going to quit," she later recalled, "I would have quit then, but I wanted to be the best."

After that, the Kowalskis moved to Dallas. Katie took lessons from Martin Johnson. Her fencing progressed and she began to win trophies. Now, with the family’s move to Houston in 1983, Katie came under the tutelage of Claude Caux.

A young Garreth Sarosi also arrived with his family in Houston that year. Like Kowalski, he had already had some fencing experience. "I started fencing in Minnesota. We lived in St. Paul at the time. I guess I was 11 years old. My father, who came from Hungary in 1956, had fenced, as did virtually every athletic Hungarian. He tried to interest my older brother in the sport, but in Minnesota hockey is King and my brother wasn't going to give up on the prospect of local fame with hockey. So, my dad got me into the sport. I started at a place in Minneapolis, I think, and the instructor's name was (I think) Rich Jacobson (spelling may be off)."

"In 1983, we moved to Houston. When we were moving to Houston, Herman Hospital or UTHSC arranged a lunch meeting for me with Al Peters. A very nice guy that I would run across again at Princeton. Fencing dropped out of my life for a while then."

As the 1983-1984 fencing season began in August, David Ladyman returned once more as Chair of the Southwest Section. Martha Ladyman was, again, Secretary-Treasurer. As the 1984 Southwest Section Championships were to be held in the Oklahoma, one that division’s own, Steve Koening was President of the Section Championship.

Dwain Blakely, until recently a North Texas Division stalwart, stepped in as Gulf Coast Division President. Nancy Sebastiani served as an additional division director.

In 1983, the Salle Sebastiani alumni were moving in different directions. Former Prevot d’Armes Al Peters accepted a position teaching fencing at Rice University. Sebastiani, himself, joined the U.S. Olympic Fencing Team as one of their coaches. Tim Glass, meanwhile, won the bronze medal for epee in the 1983 Pan Am Games in Caracas, Venezuela.

While Steve Farid’s Houston Fencers’ Club, were still around, the departure of Michel Sebastiani and the closing of the Bellaire Fencing Club had left a void. Into that was formed the Bayou City Blades. August Skopik recalled, "The Bayou City Blades started right after Sebastiani closed, and Nancy Anderson (Sebastiani) and Tim Glass started the club at Duchesne Academy."

It would serve for those like Randy Sumpter. August Skopik noted, "He… fenced for Sebastiani as a beginner when the club disbanded."

Ellen Santaniello (later Ellen Adriance) was also among those last students at Salle Sebastiani. She had first taken fencing from Claude Caux at the University of Houston back in 1979. She left the college in 1981, at a time when there were some initial moves being made to try to start another fencing club at the University of Houston. In 1982 she began taking lessons from Sebastiani. She recalled Richard Alvarez as a competitive fencer at the time. Adriance unfortunately had arrived just in time for the salle to close a few months later. While it mat have seemed that fencing opportunities were closing, there were other avenues available. Adriance later recalled other fencing groups which were available in the first half of the 1980s, "Bayou Blades, Steve Farid's group, Rice and [the] three clubs used to meet at Duschene Academy on Memorial for practice led by Claud Caux or Patrice Caux."

Shown here in later years as fencing coach at Cornell. He came down to Houston with Michel Sebastiani in 1977. He was part of one of the most formidable cadre of epee fencers ever amasses in once place. With Tim Glass, Bob Hurley and others they made Salle Sebastiani a force to be reckoned with on a national scale. After Sebastiani moved to Princeton, Peters coached fencing at Rice University. In time he left to assist Sebastiani at Princeton. Later he became the Cornell coach.

Three of the guiding forces behind Houston's most successful salle d'armes to date, circa 1982. No doubt they could not imagine what the future had in store for each of them. (left to right) Nancy Anderson Sebastiani, Michel Sebastiani and Claude Caux.

(Photo courtesy of Richard Alvarez.)

Michel Sebastiani (left) and Claude Caux (right) cross blades at Salle Sebastiani, circa 1982.

(Photo courtesy of Richard Alvarez.)

Shown beside a sabre for scale. The first Franks Cup was won in 1948 by Steve Farid. When he won it again in 1949, it was "retired" and he was allowed to keep it. This second trophy was given for a year to each winner from 1950-1978. (The winner also got a "keeper.") Each year that winner's name was enscribed on the base. In 1979, with no more room for names, it was retired and given to that year's winner, Robert Shelby. (Photo courtesy of Robert Shelby)