In February, the local media covered the fact that two Texas fencers were named to the national team, but both were drawn from the South Texas Division. The Gulf Coast was not generating champions as it had only a few years before.

Houston’s expatriate coaches, however, did very well. At the NIFWA championships at Vassar College on February 27, 1993, Coach Michel Sebastiani and Assistant Coach Al Peters took Princeton’s team to first place over MIT, Cornell, NYU and other powerhouses.

Back in Texas, there was the usual round of tournaments both within the Gulf Coast Division and just outside it. Texas A & M fencer William Ashe remarked, "By the way the fencing across the border in Texas is hot and hopping. In February our largest tournament of the year the "Poujardieu Memorial" will be held in San Marcos Texas. The Mexican National Team has already agreed to come so maybe you and some of your friends could hitch a ride. This should prove to be one excellent tournament. "A" ranks in everything (Maybe B is sabre if were unlucky)."

The Poujardieu Memorial was held February 6^th and 7^th. The Bobcat open was February 20^th and 21^st. Both of these were held at Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos in the adjacent South Texas Division.

Greg Dilworth, a fencer at Texas A & M, the Gulf Coast Division club closest to San Marcos, noted, "The Poujardieu Memorial has become the premier fencing tournament in Texas. Last year's competition drew over 200 entries including members of the Mexican National Team, U.S. and former Soviet Olympians, and a large number of fencers from all corners. In its twelfth year, the "Pouj" honors the late fencing master Gerard Poujardieu, who was instrumental in bringing the sport of competitive fencing to Texas."

Suman Palit, the young fencer from the University of Houston attended. Not long afterward, he voiced a concern, "I have yet to attend a single tournament where masks were tested, and been to quite a few where even weapons were not checked for weight tests! Even at the Poujardieu Memorial (Ze Premier Fencing Event of South Texas!) not a mask tester in sight! Not that I mind, but are most tournament organizers reluctant to conduct safety checks for some reason or the other?"

Of course, Palit also had high moments in his fairly recent fencing career. "I've only been fencing a year, and am unranked. However, I did beat two E-rated fencers at a tournament a few months ago. The first one I took to La Belle, sweating and grunting all the way past the 5-minute limit, and the look on his face when he realized he had lost, that was sweet! Granted an E rating doesn't mean much... but at that time, just about everybody in that tournament had twice the fencing experience I had, so my wins were doubly exhilarating. I didn't sleep all weekend after that, but that's another story."

Of course, when he reflected on his first tournament, "Get butt kicked.... Whaddya expect? And by a 75-year-old in my second bout, first pool. That was over a year ago."

Now, after a little over a year of tournaments, Palit made these observations. "Most tournaments I've been to, there are never more than 30 people, and I invariably never get beyond the second pool, hell, I'm lucky if I even get through the first. So I never get my money's worth in just pure fencing time. Sure, I get to fence B-rated fencers once in a while, but I'm usually clueless the whole bout. If I got to fence more people in a pool system, I'm sure I'd learn more, retain a higher level of interest, etc, etc. Frankly, I think the way tournaments are held; particularly in Texas (Not so sure about the rest of the fencing community!) are part of the reason for the high attrition rates among beginner fencers. A lot of people I fenced at my first local tournament, I've never seen again. I'm sure they went to a bunch of tournaments, fenced 4 people in a tournament of 40, got knocked out in the first round, and then never came back. Me, had it not been for my own instantaneous love affair with the sport, and the presence of a levelheaded but very encouraging coach [Michael Mergens], I might have dropped out too. I've seen it happen in my own club. I think local tournaments, with smaller number of fencers, should have pools all the way to the top, and a larger number of fencers per pool, maybe 6-7, instead of the usual 4-5. Trying to tell some of the local tournament organizers all this is like talking to the Government."

"Down here in Texas, all open tournaments have mixed foil, epee and sabre categories. In addition, any tournament worth its name will also host women's foil and sometimes women's epee as a separate event. So the women fencers have a chance to compete in two categories at least. And most of the experienced women foilists I’ve come up against have regularly mopped up the strip with me... so much for the weaker sex. I have rarely seen women's sabre, but that's because it's a rare sabre tournament that draws more than 10 people, of whom 2-3 might be women."

Several months later A & M fencer Dean Willis echoed some of Palit’s observation after hearing of a woman in another state who was not allowed to fence sabre. "I don’t understand! We have women saber fencers in events here all the time -- the year before last, there were as many women as men fencing saber in the Texas Collegiate Championships. I can't remember fencing at a tournament in Texas during the last two years where there weren't women fencing saber. Also, at last summer's National event, there was a Div. II Women's Saber -- one of our Texas fencers placed towards the top. Furthermore, almost all events in all Texas tournaments are mixed. There is commonly a restricted Women's Foil event, and sometimes a Womens Epee -- but lots of women fence the mixed events. Sometimes they win, too."

Willis also noted, with favor, the increasing use of electric sabre. "I've been fencing since 1981, saber since 1982. This includes a couple of national events, and I even got medals a few times at the Texas collegiate level. Yes, electric saber changed the game. Now, when you hit the wrist on an in-time stop and step back, somebody NOTICES!"

"I had an old-school French coach, who taught small, precise movements. Visual saber was so frustrating, that after a ten years I was ready to give up -- I'd make the move, know I had hit, and the judges would stand there with a blank look. I remember one bout I lost -- for one touch, I had hit over twenty times before losing the touch."

"The first electric saber event I went to was incredible -- after all those years of not clearing the first round, I placed fourth (Big old D ranking)… So yes, electric saber has changed things. Stop cuts work. Little wrist cuts work. You actually have to make GOOD parries. It's much better, prettier, and cleaner than visual saber."

The Aggie Open was at Texas A & M University and was scheduled for February 27-28.

March continued the round of events. The University of Texas, in the South Texas Division hosted its annual Masters Open Tournament on March 6^th and 7^th. March 13^th and 14^th saw the annual Van Buskirk Memorial Tournament at Rice University, in Houston.

In New Orleans there was the Crescent City Open on March 27^th and 28^th. While plenty of fencers from the powerful South Texas Division made their presence known, no Gulf Coast Division fencers captured places in the top five spots.

Texas A & M University was the venue for the Texas Collegiate Championships on April 2-4. The A & M fencers were also shopping around. William Ashe made the following post on a fencing bulletin board. "Texas A&M University is looking for a new fencing coach. The duties include teaching introductory classes. Technically this person would be working for the Health and PE dept. Also the TAMU fencing club would also hire this person as a coach (a package deal). Salary and benefits would be commensurate with a Lecturer position in the university. It would a great advantage to the prospective coach is he/she was capable of teaching other sports (tennis, swimming, etc). For more information and a recruitment/information package contact William Ashe." Bill Ashe had also stepped down as President of the Texas A &M University Fencing Club, with Chesley Harper being his newly elected replacement.

The Aggies were hardly alone in their search for fencing guidance. In many ways, the Gulf Coast Division seemed to be shrinking away. The era of Harold Van Buskirk and Arnold Mercado, which saw the building of the Gulf Coast Division, the Southwest Section and local dominance over Southwest Conference fencing had passed on. The colleges and universities which once supported varsity fencing teams now barely supported fencing clubs and fencing as an intramural sport.

The attrition without replacement had eroded the teaching and support base. Russell Wieder was long gone from A&M. Roland Reed had closed the Bellaire Fencing Club. Michele Sebastiani, Tim Glass and Al Peters had moved to cities far from Texas. Claude Caux had passed away. Steve Farid and August Skopik had held their respective clubs together by merging. The Spindletop Cavaliers hung on, but their most active days must have seemed far behind them. Galveston, the island city that had supported two clubs in its heyday, had watched them shrink down to one, only to watch as it moved onto the mainland before giving up the ghost and evaporating.

The Gulf Coast Division needed a catalyst desperately and many of the fencers knew it. Still, the division pushed on with the business of tournaments. The Gulf Coast Divisional Qualifiers were held in Houston on April 24-25. May started off with the Wieder Memorial Tournament at Texas A & M on the 1^st and 2^nd. A week later, on May 8-9, Houston played host to the Southwest Sectional Qualifiers.

Of course, with a fair number of tournaments to attend, an education of sorts could be had for new fencers just by meeting with some of their colleagues who had been around the piste more than once. The University of Houston’s Suman Palit would recall an interesting 1993 meeting. "Well… I met a fencer out of Port Arthur (or was it Beaumont?) at a tournament. He was just into his seventies, and fenced very handily, trounced me quite convincingly, but that's another story. Apparently, he started fencing over fifty years ago (and I thought, WOW, this guy is really old) and used to fence collegiate foil & epee, when epee used to be fenced with the points d’arret. It seems you could tell who were the epee fencers at a tournament by the numerous scars on their fencing arms. Most of the pre-electric epee tournaments he went to were one-touch competitions, and if you lost five or six bouts, you were usually out of the rest of the tournament, so I guess dry epee wasn't so horrifying after all. And oh yes, he did say that the only way to do well at one of those dry epee tournaments, was to have a really good parry and a careful (as opposed to reflexive) riposte."

May of 1993 saw a bit of publicity for the fencers from Beaumont and Port Arthur. The May 9^th issue of the Port Arthur News ran a feature story on the Spindletop Cavaliers. The article noted not only long-time members such as Peter Power, but Cristiano Pereira, an exchange student from Brazil. Interestingly, at the time of the reporter’s visit, not only were Power and Pereira fencing, but in the course of the assault, Pereira’s blade broke during a lunge at Power. Happily, there was no injury to Power.

The Cavaliers’ founder, Father Sinclair Oubre, was interviewed. He estimated that the USFA had a membership of about 10,000 and the Gulf Coast Division had a membership of only 75 to 100 fencers. He noted the necessity of long drives of six hours or more to attend tournaments in San Antonio or Austin. "We think it’s wonderful if we only have to go to Houston." The club’s core membership was small at this time. He noted that the club’s two practice nights generally draw only six or seven fencers, "on a good night."

Oubre also noted a complaint common to fencing coaches. He estimated he had given fencing lessons to 100 people from Beaumont and Port Arthur and that about 90 percent, "fade away after they realize how hard they have to work."

The club did, however, provide an opportunity, alone as it was in southeast Texas, for would-be fencers from communities where there might be no chance to study fencing. Certainly club member Craig Comisky was giving a respectable showing at area tournaments during this time. Also at the time of the reporter’s visit, one young fencer present, Chris Sundgren, was a resident of the small town of Nederland. Another fencer, Jaime Gonzalez, a high school student from Beaumont, voiced an interest in attending Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas because of its proximity to the Round Rock Fencing Academy. Clearly interest and enthusiasm were there.

Farther afield, one former Caux/Sebastiani alumnus, Richard Alvarez, was contending with his own struggle. In his case it was with his former partners in the old Hanlon-Lees Action Theatre. "In 1993, the "divorce" began, with a brutal legal battle over who owned the rights to the show (I do) and who owned the name (Hanlon-Lees)."

Back in the competitive fencing milieu, the 21^st annual Junior Olympics fencing competitions were held in Colorado Springs, Colorado at the Broadmoor Hotel. This would not be one of the better showings for fencers from the Gulf Coast Division. Perhaps it reflected the loss of so many leaders, coaches and instructors. Perhaps the clubs failed to fully develop the personnel they had available. Perhaps, the personnel simply were not there. Perhaps Colorado was just too far. The Gulf Coast Division failed to send any women competitors in the foil or epee events. There was still no women’s sabre event.

In the under-20 men’s foil competition, Rice University’s Gann Bierner tied for 133^rd place in afield of 156. A fairly new Rice fencer, Timothy Miller, came in at 135^th and Stephan Mazzucco placed 149^th in the same event, but the division had no young men competing in the younger men’s foil groups. Stephan Mazzucco also competed and took 116^th place in men’s under-20 epee, out of a field of 126 competitors. Scott A. Garrett took 81^st place out of 87 in men’s under-20 sabre. Mazzucco made it a 3-weapon event by tying for 86^th place. Again, the division fielded no sabreurs or epeeistes among the younger men’s events.

By the spring of 1993, Suman Palit’s, "ragtag bunch," was meeting on Tuesdays and Wednesdays for about three hours each evening. "We do foil and epee only, and most of our club members are 1-2 year…beginners. We have a coach and a couple of old-timers who show up now and then…"

On the topic of epees, their use within the SCA was becoming more common, partially supplanting the foils first used in the earlier Ansteorra (Texas/Oklahoma) rapier lists. One SCA member voiced the concern that, "Epees were not a permitted weapon when Ansteorra set up their armor standards. That may be why the punch test isn't really set up for the dangers of epee breaks... I do know that a fighter still can refuse to face an epee on the field in Ansteorra."

One fencer from Stargate (Houston), Stephen Fischer, responded, "According to a regional deputy rapier marshal, epees are now considered a standard weapon in Ansteorra. What this recent change means in real terms is that, while a fighter can always refuse to fight against a particular epee (or foil, for that matter), one may not refuse to fight against any epee at all. Seemingly this change was made so that the fighters did not have to receive permission of the people in charge every time they stepped on to the field with an epee, which one is supposed to do with all non-standard weapons. Concerning armor protection, I recently broke an epee on an opponent in combat when the blade caught on the upper arm. It didn't even puncture the one (heavy, luckily) layer of cloth. However, if it had, he would have wanted the armpit protection to stop it from entering those arteries. I don't remember the society-wide rules, but Ansteorran armor laws require 4 layers of trigger cloth or equivalent protecting the armpits for that very reason."

He added, "As that was my last epee blade, I have been fighting foil ever since, mostly against epees. Blades heavier than epees are rather rare around here, so I don't feel like I am at too much of a disadvantage. The variety of weapons faced is one of the more interesting bits of the combat, since we do not (generally) require identical fighting styles, either." Presumably the heavier schlager style blades were not yet common among Texas SCA fencers.

Indeed, in many ways the SCA’s safety rules were more stringent than the USFA’s. USFA rules might have required the female fencers to wear breast protectors, but did not require male fencers to wear a groin cup.

Michael Toler, an SCA light fencer in Texas observed, "Light Weapons combat (Fencing in the SCA) has a better safety record than almost any high school sport in the US. The armor rules are put there, in most cases long before anyone can get injured in tourney or practice. Many of them are worst case scenarios. In Texas, we have to place pennies over the holes in our athletic cups to protect us from the one in a million shot with a broken blade that would penetrate our cloths in the groin and find one of those 1/8 - 1/4 inch holes. No one has ever had that happen, I can guarantee that. In the SCA in Ansteorra at least, we try to be a little more proactive in our protection of fighters. I agree that there are occasions where an injury has lead to an increase in protection, but this is the exception, not the rule."

Without a doubt, however, within the SCA, it was the "light fencers" (foil/epee) from Texas who had made the most progress. Dana Groff, a Massachusetts SCA member and USFA fencer, observed, "Do you want to fence SCA with some experience? Look in TX (Houston or Dallas, I suspect)…"

On May 1, 1993, the University of Houston Fencing Club hosted the Gulf Coast Divisional Qualifiers. Competitors arrived representing Houston’s West Side YMCA and three Southwest Conference Schools: the University of Houston, Texas A&M University and Rice University. The top three finishers in each event, plus one alternate, were qualified to participate in the USFA national championships in Florida. The results were:

Men’s Foil:

1^st-Brian Gardner…Texas A&M University

2^nd-John Kincher…Rice University

3^rd-Michael Mergens…University of Houston

alternate-David Burns…Texas A&M University

Men’s Epee:

1^st-David Burns…Texas A&M University

2^nd-David Swallow…Rice University

3^rd-Craig King…University of Houston

alternate-Alex Renwick…Rice University

Men’s Sabre:

1^st-Dean Willis…Texas A&M University

2^nd-Mark Stout…Rice University

3^rd-Steve Lewis…Rice University

alternate-Roger Soden…Texas A&M University

Women’s Foil:

1^st-Judy Cull…Rice University

2^nd-Chesley Harper…Texas A&M University

3^rd-Zsuzsa Szotyory-Grove…Westside YMCA

alternate-Diana Rae McKinney…Texas A&M University

Women’s Epee:

1^st-Suzanne Simpson…Rice University

2nd-Chesley Harper…Texas A&M University

Diana McKinney was becoming more active within the Texas A & M Fencing Club, than her placement at this contest would indicate. In addition to serving as Treasurer from 1991-1992, she was club Vice-President in 1993 and, from 1992-1994 served as captain of the women’s foil team.

For Michael Mergens, however, this marked one of the last times he would list himself as a member of the University of Houston Fencing Club. In the summer of 1993, Mergens went to the USFA Coaches College in Colorado, for his Foil I certification. He returned USFA-certified as an instructor in foil. It was time to move on. Mergens recalled, "The student leadership graduated and the interest sort of died down."

"We limped along until one day it dawned on us that we weren’t getting anyone from the school anymore and we were all from Clear Lake. At that point I contacted the Clear Lake Recreation Center about teaching there. We did and that is kind of the beginning of CLFC." Mergens had founded his third fencing club: the Clear Lake Fencers Club. Others from the last incarnation of the University of Houston Fencing Club, like Nicole Dickson, came on board. Others like Suman Palit and Craig King stayed with the U of H club.

The new club’s relationship with the Clear Lake Recreation Center, however, proved very short-lived, culminating in an odd event known to the club members as the "Backboard Affair." The club members fenced in a gymnasium equipped, not surprisingly, with basketball nets and backboards. At one point fencer David Burns tapped the glass backboard on a basketball net with the tip of his foil. It shattered. There were discussions between the Center and the CLFC, which ended less than amicably. It was time for a new home.

At about the same time, the Clear Lake Fencers’ Club found a new and more lasting home at the Ed White Memorial Youth Center in Seabrook, on Galveston Bay near NASA and between Houston and Galveston. Here, just a little along the coast from the waters plied by the 19^th Century buccaneers Michel Aury and Jean Laffite, the Clear Lake Fencing Club would stay into the 21^st Century. Perhaps they enjoyed such a long stay because, in this gym, no one was allowed to tap the backboards.

The local colleges had always been the backbone of Gulf Coast fencing. They provided places for Harold Van Buskirk, Arnold Mercado, Russell Wieder, and Al Peters, among others, to draw recruits from. Additionally, this also often provided some type of steady employment (although often for no money from the school itself) for these coaches, allowing them to devote time to developing talent.

Smaller, non-collegiate clubs had always been in the background. The Corpus Christi and Galveston clubs were largely based at local YMCAs and businesses. The Houston Fencers’ Club had held itself together since the 1940s, but often keeping in the background. Roland Reed had scored some success with the Bellaire Fencing Club. Sebastiani had been wildly successful in recruiting and developing talent, but had largely lost money and his club lasted but half a decade. The Bayou City Blades still drew on practice space from Rice and the Duchesne Academy.

The universities, primarily Rice, Texas A&M and the UH, had remained dominant because they could maintain an instructor over time. Some were paid by the schools to teach fencing, thus they became constants that long-term programs or clubs could be built around. Others were able to draw some financial support by giving lessons on their own to school-based clubs. Either way, it was this constancy of recruits and funds that lay at the heart of collegiate dominance of local fencing. The schools were the base for Arnold Mercado, Harold Van Buskirk, Russell Wieder, and Abe Cyrus. Michele Sebastiani even took out a small paying post teaching fencing at Rice, as did Al Peters after him. Claude Caux was at UH for almost two decades.

The 1990s saw a fundamental shift begin away from college based clubs. Certainly college-fencing clubs would continue, but their pre-eminence in local fencing was about to be eclipsed. The Bayou City Blades had been forced to withdraw from the Duchesne Academy after the Caux affair and their subsequent relations with Rice University were strained. A significant section of the UH club was now splintering off to Clear Lake.

A few months later Nicole Dickson received a telephone call. Craig King was trying to revive the foundering University of Houston Fencing Club. While Dickson and some others contacted by King stuck with the Clear Lake club; he was able to maintain a viable membership, including the newer fencers like Suman Palit, for a year or so.

Sometimes, even newer fencers, like Palit, could tell when skill and technique were lacking. "The foil finals at last years [1993] [Southwest] Sectionals were disgusting. I counted no less than 25 simultaneous flicks in a 5-touch bout…I recall Vinnie Bradford was the director, and halfway through the bout she threw her hands up in disgust and proceeded to throw out virtually every flicking action. The fencers got the message after awhile, though."

The May 22, 1993 issue of the Houston Chronicle ran critic Ann Holmes’ review of the Houston Ballet’s post-Claude Caux/post-Al Peters production of Romeo and Juliet. Six years had passed since its debut at the gala grand opening of the Wortham Theatre Center, Holmes gave the piece a very favorable review, stating, "It was marked by superb dancing and strong mime and dueling scenes." She did however add, "There are a few shortfalls: the lack of good fencing in the first scenes (it improved later)…."

Events at this time seem ephemeral and lacking in permanence. A lot of people who would contribute to the fencing world moved through Houston, but for most their destinies called them to make their contributions elsewhere. In June of 1993, a young man named Allen Gall moved to Houston. He had previously studied fencing at Texas Tech and now began fencing at the Rice University club. Only a year later he would move to Dallas, where he would shortly thereafter found the Renaissance Fencers' Club and become a mainstay of the North Texas Division.

In June of 1993, Leslie McFarland Marx won the women’s epee gold medal at the National Championship in Ft. Myers, Florida. In the course of the competition, she defeated the 1991 champion, Margo Miller in the finals. A native Houstonian, she had not discovered fencing until after she had left Texas.

The summer of 1993 also brought the return of the US Olympic Festival to nearby San Antonio. Several Gulf Coast Division fencers, from Bill Ashe in College Station to Suman Palit in Houston planned to make the pilgrimage to the Alamo City to view the competitions.

By the summer of 1993, a very real vacuum should have been noticeable to those seeking fencing instruction in and around Houston. There had been a lot of losses of late. Claude Caux was gone. His son, Patrice, would not long remain. His replacement, Chuck Hudson soon moved to Seattle. University of Houston Fencing Club founder Michael Mergens had relocated to the Clear Lake area. Rice University’s Al Peters moved onto the Ivy Leagues.

In fact, the noticeable lack of fencing instructors who could also serve as stage fencing choreographers might account for one import to Houston, David S. Leong. Gregory Boyd, the artistic director of the Alley Theatre in Houston had taken it upon himself to both direct and take the lead in the theater’s upcoming production of Cyrano de Bergerac. Slated to open September 8, 1993, Boyd began working on his fencing in June. Leong, one of only nine certified "fight masters" in the United States was brought in for the swordplay and battle scenes.

Of course, in Houston, fencing was not just for sport fencers. The SCA chapters in the area were doing better than their competitive counterparts and had well dispersed times and places for fencing practice. SCA fencer Ernesto Maldonado (Geoffrey Scrymger), from the Bryan-College Station area, described the situation. "In Stargate (Houston), there is the official practice Sunday, but there's also practice Monday (Armored at U of H), Wednesday (Armored at Bear's and Rapier at U of H), Thursday (Rapier at Bear's), and Gate's Edge practice sometime during the week at NW Houston. Additionally, there are private practices during the week as well."

Theatrical fencing began to get back on its feet, finally, when Chuck Hudson’s place as stage combat instructor was taken over by Brian Byrnes. Byrnes would remain at the University of Houston into the 21^st century.

Within the competitive milieu, one thing that 1993 might also be noted for, was the fact that this was the year that August Skopik, "retired."

For those whose fencing interest did run more to the historical/theatrical/SCA type, there was, each fall, the Texas Renaissance Festival in Plantersville. Some folks even took up the mistaken notion that the SCA, in fact, operated the event. As one SCA member from Houston, Stephen Fischer, said when trying to make the TRF/SCA relationship more clear, "[The] Texas Renaissance Faire is put on by an individual who has nothing to do with the SCA. He has arranged with the SCA that we run some (2?) games, fighting demos, some security, and keep an information booth for anyone interested in the SCA. I don't know many of the details (for instance what security from SCA people entails), but the bulk of the entertainment and colour are hired by the TRF people and have no real connection with the SCA, although there is some overlap. Anyone who works at TRF through the SCA must work 2 hours a day and then can spend the rest of the time wandering around doing whatever they want. In addition, their local group gets some money for every man-hour - each Houston group that I know of (4) received about $850 last year. Not a bad deal for anyone, but the SCA certainly does not put on the Faire…"

He also added, "Before TRF became such a big event, the owner rented the site out for SCA events (Twentieth Year Celebration, for instance), but he no longer feels it's worth the hassle."

Still, the local fencers kept fencing. In late October of 1993, the University of Houston Fencing Club, under Craig King, hosted a novice foil tournament, which was a D tournament. Rice University also maintained a healthy organization. Their membership included the formidable August Skopik. An A-rated epeeiste and a B-rated foilist he, as young Suman Palit observed, "does the best parry-ripostes I’ve ever seen."

The autumn of 1993 also saw the release of a minor motion picture, By the Sword. Starring Eric Robert and F. Murray Abrams and set in a contemporary fencing salle. It is a story of a murder, the shadow it cast over those involved through the years, and redemption. In the supporting role of fencing coach Danny Gallagher was former University of Houston actor and fencer, Brett Cullen, a pupil of Claude Caux.

November 12^th gave some of Houston’s fencing clubs a chance to let the public see them. Michael Mergens received a call from a film distributor who was giving a preview of the newest version of The Three Musketeers, starring Keifer Southerland, Oliver Platt and Charlie Sheen. Could Mergens arrange some sort of fencing demonstration to go with the preview? As the University of Houston fencer Suman Palit described it, "…naturally, not an opportunity to be passed up. It was a blast, after being introduced to the crowd, coach [Mergens] gave a short talk on the history of fencing and then a few semi-choreographed 3-touch sabre and epee bouts. I wish I fenced that prettily in competition, but never mind. A joint effort by Rice, Clear Lake and University of Houston fencing clubs, and some good publicity for the sport. It was worth it just to hear people gasp when I doubled over in the middle of a fleche due to a stop-hit on the sternum."

The demonstration displayed the convivial relationships among fencers from the different clubs and within the clubs. Michael Mergens, for his part announced a Coach’s Christmas Open at his residence to all members of the Clear Lake Fencers’ Club, "and their spouses or significant others." They were invited to, "an evening of camaraderie." The flier closed with the statement that CLFC membership was not required.

On February 12, 1994, the University of Houston Fencing Club hosted its first Spring 1994 Unclassified Fencing Tournament. As in the past, the Gulf Coast Division’s University-based clubs at Texas A & M and Rice, dominated. Nevertheless, the Spindletop Cavalier of the Beaumont/Port Arthur/Orange area and Michael Mergens’ club in Clear Lake put themselves on the map. Additionally, one of Jerry Dunaway’s students at South Houston High School made a respectable showing. The results were as follows:

Mixed Unclassified Foil…field of 15

1^st Gann Bierner…Rice University

2^nd M. Scott Priddy…Texas A & M

3rdT Michael Mergens…Clear Lake Fencers’ Club

3rdT Scott Anderson…Texas A & M

5^th Erik Deickert…Texas A & M

6^th William Elliot…South Houston High School

7^th Craig Comisky…Spindletop Cavaliers

8^th Christine Patton…Rice University

9^th Jerry Dunaway…Clear Lake Fencers’ Club

10^th Suman Palit…University of Houston

11^th James Medlock…Texas A & M

12^th Stephanie Weirich…Rice University

13^th David Sierra…Texas A & M

14^th Trent Bateman…University of Houston

15^th Nicole Dickson…Clear Lake Fencers’ Club

Mixed Unclassified Epee…field of 15

1^st Craig Comisky…Spindletop Cavaliers

2^nd Gann Bierner…Rice University

3rdTAlex Renwick…Rice University

3rdT David Swallow…Rice University

5^th Scott Anderson…Texas A & M

6^th M. Scott Priddy…Texas A & M

7^th Erik Deickert…Texas A & M

8^th Suman Palik…University of Houston

9^th Christine Patton…Rice University

10^th James Medlock…Texas A & M

11^th Steve Lewis…Rice University

12^th Nicole Dickson…Clear Lake Fencers’ Club

13^th Stephanie Weirich…Rice University

14^th William Elliot…South Houston High School

15^th David Sierra…Texas A & M

Mixed Unclassified Sabre…field of 8

1^st James Medlock…Texas A & M

2^nd M. Scott Priddy…Texas A & M

3^rd Craig King…University of Houston

4^th Scott Anderson…Texas A & M

5^th Erik Deickert…Texas A & M

6^th Mark Wright…Rice University

7^th Nicole Dickson…Clear Lake Fencer’s Club

8^th David Sierra…Texas A & M

Craig King was still holding the University of Houston Fencing Club together. In addition to serving as its guiding force, he also coached the beginning fencers.

Tournaments were springing up all over. Right on the heels of this competition, the U of H fencers hosted a second Unclassified tournament on February 19^th. There was some conflict with the Junior Olympics, but it was felt enough fencers from the Spindletop Cavaliers, South Houston High School and the Clear Lake Fencers’ Club would make up for it. The same day as the first U of H tournament, A&M fencer David Sierra posted Internet announcements for that university’s upcoming Russel K. Wieder Memorial Tournament on Easter weekend, April 2 and 3. Sierra listed himself, Chesley Harper and David Burns as contacts. The line up was to include the usual competitions in individual foil, epee and sabre, and add a team epee event, as well. Awards were to be handed out by Mrs. Wieder.

On April 9, 1994, Jerry Dunaway and the new South Houston High School Fencing Club hosted the Gulf Coast Division’s Division II qualifying tournament. In a way, this was an indication of changes to come. Like the 1993 Divisionals, the field was clearly dominated by the on-going, university-based clubs of Rice and Texas A&M, and Craig King was still with the University of Houston. As an echo of the past, the Westside YMCA fencers coached by Steve Farid also made an appearance.

Perhaps more noteworthy, however, was that the newer, non-university organizations were still showing up. The Clear Lake Fencers’ Club, the South Houston High School Fencing Club, and the Spindletop Cavaliers were still duelling for their spots on the final tally. The final rankings were as follows:

Men’s Foil: Qualifiers:

1^st John Fowler…Rice University

2^nd Mark Stout…Rice University

3^rd Brian Garner…Texas A & M

4^th Gann Bierner…Rice University

Alternates

1^st-Tim Miller…Rice University

2^nd-Steve Lewis…Rice University

3^rd-Craig Comisky…Spindletop Cavaliers

4^th-Craig King…University of Houston

Men’s Epee: Qualifiers:

1^st-Craig King…University of Houston

2^nd-Craig Comisky…Spindletop Cavalier

3^rd-Scott Anderson…Texas A&M University

Alternates

1^st Hunter Piper…Westside YMCA

2^nd Vernon Weber…Texas A & M

3^rd Rob Coke…Texas A & M

Men’s Sabre: Qualifiers:

1^st-David Burns…Texas A&M University

2^nd-Steve Lewis…Rice University Fencing

3^rd-Allen Gall…Rice University Fencing

Alternates

1^st Robe Coke…Texas A & M

2^nd David Sierra…Texas A & M

3^rd Scott Anderson…Texas A & M

Women’s Foil: Qualifiers:

1^st-Christine Patton…Rice University

2^nd-Orsolya E. "Orsi" Szotyory-Grove…Rice University

3^rd-Elyse Early…South Houston High School

Alternates

1^st Mary Eckelkamp…South Houston High School

2^nd Nicole Dickson…Clear Lake Fencers’ Club

Women’s Epee: Qualifiers:

1^st-Suzanne Simpson…Rice University

2^nd-Julia Hulbert…Rice University

3^rd-Chesley Harper…Texas A&M University

Alternates

1^st Nicole Dickson…Clear Lake Fencers’ Club

2^nd Orsi Szotyory-Grove…Rice University

3^rd Stephanie Weirich…Rice University

Some members of these newer clubs, like Nicole Dickson, had previously been affiliated with the university clubs. She had moved her affiliation with Michael Mergens and helped found the Clear Lake Fencers’ Club. Others, like Elyse Early and Mary Eckelkamp, were high schoolers, and part of Jerry Dunaway’s grass roots project to build a fencing organization from the public school level. In fact, both the South Houston and Clear Lake clubs would maintain a symbiotic relationship into the next century.

For now, however, the collegiate clubs remained the core of the Gulf Coast Division’s fencing strength. Texas A&M, for instance had maintained an average of at least 35 members each semester and had held the Russell Wieder Memorial Tournament. Chesley Harper led the A & M club as its president. Burk Garner was treasurer. David Burns served as sergeant-at-arms. John Battey was the club’s armorer while Rob Coke was the assistant armorer. Other members at this time were Erin Rerichia, James Medlock, Brad Turner, Josh Bailey, Allison Williams, Bill Ashe, Russell Alexander and David Sierra.

By May of 1994, as the semester wound down and finals loomed, the college clubs’ attendance levels often slumped. In the course of an on-line exchange between Suman Palit of the University of Houston and Gann Bierner at Rice University, Palit remarked, "Gann, are you guys fencing over at Rice during the summer. [?] Attendance at UH has crashed (as it always does at the fag end of every semester) and we’re down to 4-5 active members…Is Patrice Coe [Caux] still coaching at Rice? How much does he charge for lessons?"

As Suzanne Simpson noted, "I don't remember exactly, but Patrice may have taken over Al's classes at Rice. I seem to recall he taught his father's class at UH for a while."

The search for instructors continued. David Sierra at Texas A & M University was expressing hopes about the future of his university’s club in May in a response to one person’s inquiries about fencing at the University of Texas. "However, why don't you tell your friend that Texas A&M, just a couple of hours to the east also has a club, and a fine upcoming one at that. Also, they have no lack of good, female fencers, so she may want to consider coming to Texas A&M where, well we are not exactly hurting for women, women who fence really well are in rather short shift. We don't have a varsity team either, but that is going to change in the next couple of years. I don't see them getting one anytime in the near future. Also, we are a lot nicer, and much less, shall we say, stuck up then the fencers there."

This elicited a question from Suman Palit, "What's the deal with the A&M varsity team, have you guys made any progress regarding hiring a coach?" Palit signed off as, "Ex-Cougar-currently-freelance fencer." He added, "Well, I do agree with the ‘much nicer’ bit... I heard the grapevine say it was the Eric Mallet Effect."

The eternal questions for the college fencing clubs (all were clubs, none were teams or programs) in the Gulf Coast Division revolved around acquiring and retaining coaches; the pursuit, now fruitless, of varsity status; and, continuing their existence. At Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, the fencing club was in its last months of existence by 1994.

While it may not have interested Suman Palit’s "foil and epee only" club at the University of Houston, David Sierra and the fencers at Texas A & M University mounted a sabre-only tournament, the First Annual Sabre Cave Open on September 11^th. Sierra explained it. "Many good sabre fencers in the Southwest Section have given up sabre in the last few years because of the lack of good sabre tournaments and switched to other weapons or quit fencing period."

For those who looked beyond the standard use of sabres, foils and epees, there was of course the SCA. In addition to fencing with foils and epees in a different manner from the sport fencers, they also had heavy combat, using rattan swords in a style closer to the medieval arms of an armored knight. For this they, too, wore armor. In the SCA Barony of Bordermarch (Beaumont) they also had a little something extra. As one SCA member described it, "In the Barony of Bordermarch in Ansteorra, they have a castle (well, how about the front of a castle with very short walls . . . but it does have a real door . . . anyway) During their melee tournaments, the stick jocks have it on Saturday, and we get to play in it on Sunday. (I haven't been in a couple o years, so it may have changed) but we used crossbows, the occasional arbalast, spears and rapiers in assaulting this thing and loving every minute of it."

The larger cities like Houston, there were yet more alternatives to Olympic style sport fencing. For those whose interests ran toward Japanese sword arts, Paul Goodman taught kendo at the Houston Token Kai.

In the summer of 1994, the Clear Lake Fencers’ Club founder Micheal Mergens returned to the USFA Coaches’ College and completed his Intermediate Foil I curriculum. His club was meeting at regular times in Seabrook and classes were held regularly enough to begin to maintain an ongoing membership. At the same time, Jerry Dunaway’s South Houston fencers were being seen regularly at the Seabrook facility. September 17-18, 1994 saw the Clear Lake Fencers’ Club host the Trojan Open at South Houston High School on behalf of the SHHS Fencing Club. (The high school’s sports teams were called the Trojans). Both organizations were steadily building up to stability.

Mergens also kept busy with the business of the Gulf Coast Division. He was now the Vice Chair, while the Chair of the Division was Mike Perry from the Rice University Club. Steve Lewis, also affiliated with Rice University club served as Treasurer. Texas A & M’s David Burns was Secretary.

Against this backdrop, a singular catalyst was added.

The September 15, 1994 issue of the Houston Chronicle ran a brief notice, stating that one "Mauro" Hamza of Cairo had moved to Houston and become involved in the city’s fencing community. Ostensibly a competitor in the 1988 and 1992 Olympics, several subsequent articles in the press would describe Hamza a having finished in the top 32 out of 143 fencers at the Seoul games in 1988. They also wrote that he finished at 12^th out of 128 in the 1992 games in Barcelona. This initial article reported Hamza’s intent to establish his own club and develop a world-class program for junior and senior fencers.

One local fencer recalled, years later, "How did Hamza show up in Houston? He came in 1994 from Dallas where he had been brought from Egypt by Abdel Salem, a refined (he is an MD) and competent Egyptian fencer and coach who now is the coach at the Air Force Academy."

"One version is that Salem fired him and that this why he was waiting tables, where apparently he was also fired. Another version is that he was unhappy to work as an assistant coach and Mike Perry from the Rice Fencing Club and August Skopic [sic] brought him here as a favor to Salem with a deal to coach at Rice, UH, and A&M."

Hamza began by splitting his instructional time between the fencing clubs at Rice University, the University of Houston and Texas A&M University in College Station. Suzanne Simpson recalled, "I know that Mike Perry (originally from the Duchesne group [who] stayed at Rice until he moved from Houston) engineered getting Mauro down here for the 3 universities to share."

"He came to Houston to develop a program, which we were sorely lacking. [And] we were all excited about it. Until he could get settled, he was to go between the 3 universities & develop their programs. He stopped going to UH pretty quickly (I think due to no fencers for a while). He traveled from A&M to Rice [and] developed our programs. It really was a great time - for a while."

The University of Houston Fencing Club, started by Michael Mergens in the days of Claude Caux and held together in its later years by Craig King, had finally dissipated. Hamza began to concentrate on Rice University as his base, while also tending to duties at Texas A & M.

Hamza, whose full name was actually Maher Hamza Eissa, had previously turned up in a Dallas fencing club being coached by noted fencing instructor Abdel Salem. There was some friction and a falling out developed. The upshot was that Hamza was looking around for new options when he encountered Mike Perry from the Rice Fencing Club.

Perry brought Hamza to Houston and rallied much of the local fencing community around him.

For Suzanne Simpson, this meant a new coach. A protégé of Steve Farid, she had followed the merged Houston Fencer's Club and Bayou City Blades to Rice University after they had been asked to leave the Duschene Academy following the Claude Caux incidents. The commute for Farid was too much, however. "Steve came for a while to give lessons, but the drive to that part of town (at that time of day)
proved more than he could handle. He stopped coming [and] resumed giving lessons at the Y. I stayed at Rice [and] eventually was coached by Mauro when he came to town."

As to Steve Farid’s departure, Simpson expanded, "It didn't take very long after we moved to Rice for Steve to stop coming. On the way home from Rice one night, he had a little fender bender on 610 [and] decided it wasn't a good idea to travel too much to Rice. He talked to me about it [and] we agreed it would be best for him not to travel. We parted on the best of terms."

August Skopik later recalled the years from Claude Caux to the arrival of Mauro Hamza. "After graduating from college I worked with Claude Caux for about 6 years, and with Patrice after that for about 1 year. I also picked up a lesson or two from [Abdel] Salem [in Dallas], Al Peters. There was a void in coaching in Houston from 1990 to about 1993, when Mauro came to town. I didn't have a knee to take lessons, but I worked with him and wished he was here when I had two knees."

Out of this meeting of forces and fortunes spun off what would become the Bayou City Fencing Academy.

On the weekend of October 17-18, 1994, the Clear Lake Fencers’ Club hosted, on behalf of South Houston High School, a "beginners and unclassified" tournament, the Trojan Open. Shalyn Shourds of the Texas A&M Fencing Club took first place and earned an "E" rating after he defeated Aaron Hill of the Clear Lake Fencers’ Club 15-3. Hill would not be so easy to defeat in future events. Orsolya "Orsi" Szotyory-Grove of Steve Farid’s Houston Fencing Club and Yale Cohen of the Rice University Fencing Club tied for third.

Both third placed fencers would go on to successful collegiate fencing in Ivy League schools. Yale Cohen and his brother David, originally members of the Rice Fencing Club, were encouraged by their mother, Louise Lepie. They became some of the most active fencers in the Gulf Coast Division, before moving on to collegiate fencing..

In the beginners event another new club appeared on stage as Scott Simpson took first place and Daryl Dixon took second. Both were members of the Blade Runners Fencing Club from the Brazosport College area in Brazoria County. Clear Lake Fencing Club member Pete Wells and Blade Runner Michael Linane tied for third.

A little to the east in Beaumont, a very different sort of tournament was held. The SCA’s "Bordermarch Annual Melees" were held the weekend of November 18-20. As they described it, "Come out, enjoy the fine autumn weather and melee to your heart's content on the castle. What a wonderful way to end the tourney season. This year we are welcoming, nay, strongly encouraging siege weapons and combat archers. Armored combat scenarios will be held on Saturday. Rapier melees will be on Sunday." As one combatant later remarked, "If you have never tried holding a fort with rapier and buckler, you are missing something."

Autumn also brought the return of the Texas Renaissance Festival in Plantersville. In addition to shops, food, music and jousting, it also regularly provided a venue for historical, theatrical and comic fencing, often in combination with each other. With six stages, five music gazebos and a number of "path shows" the TRF had become one of the top venues in the country for Renaissance-based performances of all types. Among the new acts added for this fall were the Duelists, who specialized in comic-historic fencing routines. TRF also provided a regular, annual site for the Society for Creative Anachronisms.

The same month, Richard Alvarez made his return to Houston’s fencing community. Sometime earlier he and his wife, Linda had set up housekeeping in Seabrook, a small town along the western edge of Galveston Bay, near Clear Lake.

After a decade of touring and performing Medieval and Renaissance combat, Alvarez had decided on a change. "I was traveling six months out of the year and then decided I just can’t fall on my head anymore." The toll such a regimen produced was the kernel of truth in a joke Alvarez once made upon seeing a fencer going for a bottle of Advil. On seeing the painkiller, Alvarez remarked, "jouster candy."

Alvarez’ battles with his old partners from International Action Theatre/Hanlon-Lees Action Theatre had been fought and the contest was over. The times had also changed. "By 1994, with fewer shows, and less money. (And more people after smaller slices) I could see the writing on the wall, and retired from the jousting business."

"I focused on my screenwriting career, and returned to coaching fencing at a local club. The rest, as they say... is history."

With both theatrical and martial arts in his background, Alvarez was looking around the Houston area and discovered the Clear Lake Fencers’ Club practically in his backyard. He was immediately welcomed as a guest instructor for the intermediate and advanced students. Over a decade after Salle Sebastiani folded, Prevot Alvarez had found a home in another salle d’armes.

With the addition of Alvarez, the Clear Lake Fencers’ Club took on the shape it would hold for the next few years. Michael Mergens, always a builder, taught beginning foil, bringing young people and new "veterans" into the club. Alvarez taught intermediate level foil with occasional classes in epee, sabre and rapier. South Houston High School Fencing Coach Jerry Dunaway brought in a steady stream of his students, creating a symbiotic relationship among the two organizations, which would continue for the next several years.

A number of Houston’s younger fencers were moving into higher competitions. On the weekend of December 3-4, 1994, 10-year-old Jason Perry, Mike Perry’s son, competed in the North American Circuit Youth Tournament in Atlanta. Perry, fencing as a member of the Rice University Fencing Club, placed 12^th out of 25 in men’s under-11 foil competitions. Orsi Szotyory-Grove, now a junior at the same Duschene Academy where Katie Kowalski had fenced, was also in Atlanta. Szotyory-Grove, competing under the auspices of the Rice University Fencing Club, took 34^th place in women’s under-17 foil out of a field of 55. Mauro Hamza, who was at Rice University, was now coaching both Perry and Szotyory-Grove.

Suzanne Simpson recalled Szotyory-Grove as, like herself, beginning her fencing life as one of Steve Farid’s students. "Orsi started fencing [with] Steve at the Dad's Club [YMCA]. He encouraged most of his beginner's to also come to Rice to get good practice. Once Mauro came down, they met him [and] he wooed them away from Steve. Steve gave them a good start [with] grounding in the basics. They were already doing well by the time Mauro came down."

The Clear Lake Fencers’ Club, from their niche in Seabrook, continued to mount tournaments. On December 10, 1994, they played host to Gulf Coast Division’s Junior Olympics Qualifying tournament. Szotyory-Grove captured first in both the women’s under-20 and under-17 foil competitions. Men’s under-20 foil went to the Clear Lake Fencers’ Club’s William Elliott. The host club’s own Aaron Hill captured men’s under-17 foil. The Perry Family made its presence felt. Jason Perry from the Rice club took men’s under-15 foil, while women’s under-15 foil went to Rice’s Jennifer Perry. The under-20 epee went to Anna Gardberg in the women’s competition and Texas A & M’s Robert Thornton in the men’s. Robert Wilson from the South Houston High School Fencing Club, won the under-17 epee event. Robert Thornton also took first place in men’s under-20 sabre.

While hardly local, the 1995 Sooner State Games in Oklahoma in January did attract a few fencers from the Gulf Coast Division, members of the Rice University and Texas A & M University clubs. The games were part of the Southwest Section of the USFA, the Gulf Coast Division being part of that section. Competitors included fencers from the Egyptian Olympic team and Hungary. The results for the Gulf Coast fencers were:

Mixed Under-11 Foil…field of 15

Jason Perry…Rice University Fencing Club… 5^th.

Mixed Under-13 Foil…field of 17

Jason Perry…Rice University Fencing Club…9^th.

William Hill…Rice University Fencing Club…15^th.

Mixed Under-15 Foil…field of 15

William Hill…Rice University Fencing Club…10^th

Yale Cohen…Rice University Fencing Club…12^th

Jennifer Perry…Rice University Fencing Club…15^th.

Novice Foil…field of 19

Yale Cohen…Rice University Fencing Club…tied for 3^rd and earned an E

David Cohen…Rice University Fencing Club…7^th

Alison Frary…Texas A & M University Fencing Club…11^th

Lev Kaminsky…Rice University Fencing Club…15^th

Jennifer Perry…Rice University Fencing Club…17^th.

Women’s Foil…field of 15

Alison Frary…Texas A & M University Fencing Club…10^th.

Open Sabre…field of 10

David Burns…Texas A & M University Fencing Club…2^nd.

Open Foil…field of 39

Mauro Hamza…Rice University Fencing Club…1^st

Michael Perry…Rice University Fencing Club…5^th

John Monahan…Texas A & M University Fencing Club…6^th

Lev Kaminsky…Rice University Fencing Club…22^nd

David Burns…Texas A & M University Fencing Club…27^th

Alison Frary…Texas A & M University Fencing Club…32^nd

David Cohen…Rice University Fencing Club…39^th.

Open Epee…field of 26

Mauro Hamza…Rice University Fencing Club…tied for 3^rd

John Monahan…Texas A & M University Fencing Club…12^th

Lev Kaminsky…Rice University Fencing Club…21^st

Suzanne Simpson…Rice University Fencing Club…22^nd.

Women’s Epee…field of 4

Suzanne Simpson…Rice University Fencing Club…tied for 3^rd.

For competitive fencers more locally inclined than Oklahoma events, on Saturday, February 11, 1995, a "Semester Open" fencing tournament was hosted by Jerry Dunaway and South Houston High School. Texas A&M fencer Scott Anderson took first in mixed open epee. Charles Hargrove from the University of Texas in Austin took second. The third place tie was between Rice University’s Stephanie Weirich and Ray Sexton from the University of Texas Fencing Club. Aaron Hill from the Clear Lake Fencers’ Club took first in under-17 foil with second place taken by David Cohen from the Rice University club. A second day of fencing on Sunday was cancelled due to a power failure.

The February 16, 1995 issue of the Houston Chronicle noted the fencers from the Gulf Coast Division who were be sent to the Junior Olympics. It mentioned William Elliot (Clear Lake FC) in under-20 men’s foil; Allison Williams in under-20 women’s epee; Elyse Early (South Houston High School FC) in under-17 women’s foil; Yale Cohen (Rice University FC) in under-15 men’s foil; Jennifer Perry (Rice University FC) in under-15 women’s foil; and, William Hill (Rice University FC) in under-13 men’s foil. The article also stated that they youngsters would be lead by, "Mauro Hamza, the Division’s representative coach."

March 11 and 12 saw a complete two-day event, Rice University’s annual Van Buskirk Memorial Tournament.

A few Gulf Coast fencers journeyed to New Orleans for the third annual Crescent City Open tournament, March 25-26, 1995. Among the contacts there this year was Christian Aaron Darce, who would later become involved in a different type of swordplay in Houston. At this time Darce was the main contact for the LSU Fencing Club in Baton Rouge.

Spring also brought the Masters Tournament at the University of Texas in Austin. A handful of Gulf Coast fencers, primarily from Texas A & M University, attended. The mixed foil event drew 34 competitors. John Monahan, the Texas A & M University Fencing Club’s president fought his way to 7^th place. A recent arrival, Steve Gerberman, took 16^th place. The women’s foil event featured 14 fencers. One foilist from the Gulf Coast, Texas A & M’s Alison Frary captured 6^th place.

In the mixed epee event, Scott Anderson from A & M captured 12 place from a field of 41 epeeistes. Craig King, now claiming affiliation with Rice, took 25^th place. Steve Gerberman took 28^th place. There were no Gulf Coast competitors in the women’s epee event.

No fencers from the Gulf Coast Division appear to have competed in either the mixed or women’s sabre events.

The area colleges and universities remained stronghold for fencing. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays the Rice University club offered instructions. Mauro Hamza was the instructor and faculty advisor there. Gann Bierner was the club president. Stephanie Weirich was the Treasurer. Christine Patton was the Rice club’s Secretary. Chip Jarred had recently joined the club.

Sadly, as already noted, the University of Houston Fencing Club was gone now.

Just a couple of hours from Houston there were lessons to be had at the Texas A & M University club on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, where Mauro Hamza also coached. The A & M club was now led by John Monahan as its president. Scott Anderson served as Vice President, with David Sierra and Alison Williams serving as secretary and treasurer, respectively. Clayton Scales was the club armorer.

Other members of the A & M club at this time were William Ashe, Rob Coke, Erik Dieckert, Roger Soden, Koby Brown, Douglas Allen, Shalyn Shourds and David Burns. In their yearbook photograph for the 1994-1995 scholastic year, they appear with their new coach. Even here there are signs of future decisions. Most of the club members appear in matching warm-up suits. The jackets’ lower two-thirds appears a dark color with a white yoke that points lowest in the center. It was a look Hamza would duplicate often in the future.

One could also still take lessons from clubs outside the university system. Steve Farid with the Houston Fencers Club at the Westside YMCA still offered lessons and the Clear Lake Fencers’ Club offered Thursday lessons under Mike Mergens.

One local fencing instructor who was no longer available, however, was Patrice Caux, who had left the University of Houston. He had taken a position with the Foreign Language Department of Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro. Even there, however, he would continue to give some fencing lessons and became an influence.

One of his Tennessee students was Michael Jones, who became an enthusiastic devotee of fencing in many forms. After taking lessons from Caux, he began to study historical European and Japanese sword styles. He founded the MTSU Fencing Club; became a regular performer at the Drachenburg Renaissance Festival; and Dragon’s Guard School of Sword Fighting (also in the Murfreesboro region). Interestingly, Jones maintained an interest in competitive fencing even as he explored other systems.

Despite the loss of Patrice Caux and the passing of the University of Houston Fencing Club, the U of H was still a viable source of instruction in theatrical fencing. Indeed, Mark Olson, of the U of H School of Theatre was not only a fully qualified fight director and a member of the Society of American Fight Directors (SAFD), but was also the organization’s Secretary at this time.

Around this time one fencer posted an extensive list of USFA member fencing clubs. Only three clubs and contacts were listed that fell within the Gulf Coast Division. The list also dated itself by listing the University of Houston Club with Suman Palit as contact. It also listed the Spindletop Cavaliers and Hazel Power, and the Clear Lake Fencers’ Club and Michael Mergens. There was no mention of the Houston Fencers Club, the South Houston High School club nor the Rice or Texas A & M University clubs.

Regardless of inclusion, or lack thereof, on lists, local fencers had the opportunities to cross blades with each other at any number of venues. They could also, however, find themselves sought after by the least expected of groups. On March 14^th, Houston’s prodigal prevot, Richard Alvarez, found himself speaking to the West Houston chapter of the Romance Writers of America. On the other hand, given Alvarez’ prior experience as, literally, a knight in shining armor, the connection is not so unusual.

Still, it was less the coaches than their young charges who were making themselves noticed. The swelling of high school aged fencers in the Houston area became noticeable even to the east, in New Orleans, on March 24-25, 1995, at the annual Crescent City tournament. It also marked a debut of sorts for fencers from LaPorte, an industrial suburb off Houston’s southeast side. While none took top spots, seven male fencers and two females made a showing.

The final foil results ran: Michael San Miguel (South Houston) in at 14^th place; Aaron Hill (LaPorte) 23^rd; Robert Wilson (South Houston) 32^nd; Ryan Richmond (South Houston) 35^th; William Elliot (Clear Lake) 37^th; Olean Tyssen (LaPorte) 43^rd; and Scott Brown (South Houston) 45^th. Among the women, Elyse Early (South Houston) placed 14^th, while Mary Eckelkamp (South Houston) and Amber Garza tied for 30^th. Over the next several years, Scott Brown would join the ranks of South Houston, LaPorte and Clear Lake clubs as a fencing coach himself. With Elyse Early, he would help start a club at the University of St. Thomas.

If the were abundant opportunities to fence from New Orleans to Houston, the same was clearly not the case further south along the shore line. There, the pickings were harder to find. A couple, Steve and Christine Alexander, who had moved to Corpus Christi two years earlier from Atlanta, illustrated this. In Georgia they had both been, by their own description, "moderately active fencers." In the two years they had lived in Corpus Christi, however, they had been unable to locate any sign of fencing life in their area. In late March and early April of 1995, they expanded their search by going to the newsgroups on-line.

They asked on Suman Palit’s rec.sport.fencing but only got two replies. Chip Jarred advised that he had, "heard rumors of club down there…" but had no specific knowledge. He did tell them of the clubs in the Houston, Austin and San Antonio areas. Another correspondent added information about the club in San Marcos, a little closer to them than Austin. Sadly, the truth was, there were no sport or classical fencing clubs in the Corpus Christi area.

They had much better luck on another tack, by posting a similar inquiry on rec.org.sca. They told of being unable to locate a salle, but that they would be interested in period fencing if there was an SCA group in the area. There was. Five responses were generated in fairly quick order. One message announced, "You are in the kingdom (Ansteorra) where rapier fighting originated!" The correspondents told them how to contact the regional Rapier Marshall for the Coastal Region, Darlene Fox (Dona Leah la Malchanceause) in Vidor, Texas. They were also told how to reach the Seneschal for the Shire of the Seawinds (Corpus Christi), Eli A. Sanchez (Eli Snacho del Mar). The group had been around for about ten years and engaged in both heavy and rapier fighting, with populace meetings at the Corpus Christi Public Library.

If Corpus Christi had a healthy SCA presence, Houston saw the forming of an Amtgard chapter. Amtgard’s records noted that on May 6, 1995, a signed contract was received from Granyte Spyre (Houston), no doubt for the incorporation of the chapter.

June 10-18, 1995 saw the attention of the fencing community turn toward the summer National championships in Louisville, Kentucky. Michael Perry tied for 81^st place in a field of 85 competitors in men’s Division I foil. In Division II men’s foil, Rice fencer Timothy Miller placed 25^th in a field of 120 fencers. Gann Bierner, also from Rice, captured 37^th place and David Cohen took 90^th. In the veteran men’s foil, Michael Perry placed 19^th out of 44.

In women’s Division II foil, Texas A & M’s Alison Frary placed 65^th in a field of 108. Orsolya "Orsi" Szotyory-Grove came in at 69^th place. Szotyory-Grove also came in 45^th out of 50 in women’s under-19 foil.

In Division I women’s epee, Rice’s Suzanne Simpson came in 75^th in a field of 89. She placed 12^th in Division II women’s epee out of 87 competitors. Rice University’s Stephanie Weirich took 46^th in the same competition.

In men’s Division II epee, Scott Anderson came in 92^nd from a field of 130.

In men’s Division I sabre, David Burns from Texas A & M tied for 73^rd place among 87 competitors. He also placed 71^st out of 106 fencers in the men’s Division II sabre competition.

This also marked the debut of women’s Division II sabre competitions (There was no women’s Division I sabre as yet), with first place going to Sara Solomon from a field of 82 competitors. Solomon was fencing out of Massachusetts at the time, but would later be an influence in fencing in Texas, as well as nationally.

Certainly Mauro Hamza’s pupils made a respectable showing. Now they needed a home of their own. About this time, the Bayou City Fencing Academy officially spun off from the Rice University group. Suzanne Simpson recalled it this way, "While at Rice, Mauro started advertising to get kids started fencing (I'm talking the young ones). Parents would drop their kids (we didn't have too many - just a few) off at Rice [and] they would pretty much run around unattended."

"One of them ran around Autry Court [and] got hit by a basketball. Rice staff started complaining
about the kids that were not being watched [and] managed. Mauro got mad at Rice [and] started stirring up the fencers to want their own salle, where we wouldn't have to put up [with] university rules. Needless to say, we were all pretty much ready to leave Rice at the time…"

"We all got together [and] decided to create a non-profit group (Julia Hurlbut helped set up the structure). We had meetings to decide the name (Bayou City Fencing Academy - so we would
sound like teaching [and] not just another club), the colors (I wanted forest green [and] that stuck - hence BCFA green), fee structure (it started [with] a fee to join [and] $25 / month dues) [and] places to fence."

"Louise [Lepie] decided that $25 wouldn't cut it [and] raised it to $50 [with]out approval from anybody. After that, some of us had to pull out because we couldn't afford it. Once that happened, Louise pretty much took over the club formation. Augie [Skopik]was on the Board… The club was supposed to be set up similar to Clear Lake [and] Mauro would just happen to be the coach. I think BCFA really got started after Nationals of 1995."

"David [and] Yale [Cohen, Louise Lepie’s sons] fenced at Rice. I'm not sure if Mauro started them
fencing or took over their training."

"Once she had BCFA [and] Mauro (since Mauro used BCFA as an excuse to not be able to give me lessons anymore), I heard she would fly Mauro up to U Penn for the weekend to train David…"

Another member of the fencing community remembered it this way. "He [Hamza] was using the Rice U facilities to teach Rice U. students of the Rice Fencing Club. He was a PE instructor in the LPAP fencing class (a PE class), and he coached a group of private students (kids) not connected with the university. While his 'non-Rice students' were growing, the actual Rice U. students were dwindling. Rice authorities at the gym became very unhappy with this situation and threatened to kick everybody out if more than half of the students were not RU students.

"To get out of this restriction, he and a group of parents of non Rice U students decided to start a new private club. This is when Bayou City Fencing Academy was formed by a group of parents and they hired Hamza as the coach. Louise Lepie took over the club and was the employer of Hamza. Once he became the coach of BCFA, Hamza said that the Board of BCFA did not want for him to give lessons at Rice to other than Rice students. Over time he stopped coming to the Rice Club to oversee its practice. He continued to be a PE instructor in the LPAP program, teaching beginners fencing if/when he had some students of the university."

August Skopik recalled, "Mike Perry, myself, Mauro and several others attended the meeting and set up Bayou City Fencing Academy. Since Mike was at the Bayou City Blades while I ran it, we slightly changed the name to BCFA."

David Burns noted, "Mauro moved to Houston, not sure by who or why but he did and there was no stand alone club in Houston at the time. The division, of which Mike was chair, created the BCFA. Mauro was the head coach and worked with Louise and together they grew it. The first classes where in the basement of the JCC then they moved to the table tennis center."

June of 1995, also saw the Clear Lake Citizen, a weekly suburban newspaper, ran a feature on the Clear Lake Fencers’ Club. The article mentioned the three coaches, Michael Mergens, Jerry Dunaway and Richard Alvarez. Alvarez mentioned he had been approached to coach fencing at LaPorte High School. The article also noted not only the age diversity of the club’s members but their occupational diversity, naming John Trojanowski, a shopping mall security guard, and Debbie Moran, a violinist in the Houston Symphony. Nicole Dickson, who had been with Mergens and Dunaway in the University of Houston Fencing Club and was in on the beginning of the Clear Lake club, was also interviewed.

In addition to his work with the Clear Lake club, Michael Mergens was still active in Gulf Coast Division business. In point of fact, he found himself at the center of one of the Gulf Coast Division’s frequent political donnybrooks. Division officers were generally elected in the spring during the division’s qualifying competitions for the summer national championships, but they did not take office until August 1^st. A lot can happen in the months between those two events.

Chip Jarred recalled, "Mike Perry was elected chairman for the 1995-1996 season, however, during the summer of '95 he had to move to the Dallas to take a new job. Mike Mergens was Vice-Chairman but the Gulf Coast by-laws had no explicit provision for the Vice-Chair to permanently take over if the Chairman left, and there were a number of people who were unhappy with his de facto ascension. I wasn't actually one of them, since I wasn't that familiar with the divisional politics. There were grassroots calls for a special election, and at least 12 separate people from various parts of the division asked me to run. I was taking fencing rather seriously, and was practicing at Rice, at BCFA, and driving up to College Station once a week to fence with the TAMU club. It seems I was viewed as someone who would represent the division as a whole rather than playing politics for my club - and that's what I tried to do. You'll have to ask others if I was successful. Interestingly the special election was held during the North Texas Grand Prix in which I competed. I had sent my written acceptance of my nomination, and was elected in absentia. Mike [Mergens] remained Vice-Chair. So I served as Chairman for the majority of the 1995-1996 since the special election was held in either late August or early September.

"My purpose in mentioning it at all was that I found it somehow amusing that I was elected as Chairman at an election I didn't even attend because I was competing in a tournament in another division."

Mergens was not the only member of the local fencing community who would know controversy. David Burns from Texas A & M University, previously the Secretary for the Gulf Coast Division was now Secretary for the Southwest Section of the USFA.

If people like Michael Mergens and David Burns increased their fencing responsibilities, others were just looking to get back into the game. Greg Sackett, a 1993 graduate of Texas A &M, had drifted out of fencing and into Houston. He had more luck with his newsgroup queries, in part because he was looking to fence in Houston as opposed to Corpus Christi. Michael Perry responded, recommending the Bayou City Fencing Academy or the Rice University Fencing Club. Both were now using Mauro Hamza as their coach. He gave Sackett telephone numbers for Hamza and Louise Lepie and, for good measure, the number for Steve Farid, operator of International Sporting Goods and still the sole source of fencing equipment in Houston.

In August, the Clear Lake Fencers’ Club made things official by sending a press release to the Houston Chronicle, announcing that Richard Alvarez had been added to their instructional staff and that he had taken a post teaching fencing at LaPorte High School.

The next month, the Bayou City Fencing Academy sent out a press release advising that it was holding classes at the Jewish Community Center and the Southwest YMCA.

Clearly the area was producing more and more young people ready to enter collegiate level fencing with some background already established. In the northeastern universities, there would be old colleagues waiting for them. Rice University’s former fencing instructor, Albert W. Peters, was branching off from Michel Sebastiani’s program at Princeton and joined the Cornell athletic staff in September 1995. Both men would continue to encounter Houston’s college-bound fencers. At the announcement of Peters taking the position at Cornell, Athletic Director Charles Moore said, "Al brings with him more than 20 years of intercollegiate experience to our program. He was an outstanding collegiate competitor and has proven his ability to pass on these talents as a teacher and coach. We look forward to developing one of the pre-eminent women's fencing programs in the country under his leadership."

September 30 and October 1, 1995 saw the NAC Open #1 competitions in Kansas City, for men’s and women’s sabre and men’s epee. Texas A & M’s David Burns made the trip, tying for 58^th place out of 91 in the open men’s sabre competition.

October 6-8, 1995 saw the NAC Open #1 competitions for men’s and women’s foil in Palo Alto, California. Mauro Hamza captured 13^th out of 104 competitors in the men’s competition.

October 1995 also brought the Longhorn Open at the University of Texas, in Austin. While a South Texas Division event, it also was an important fencing competition and generally drew more than a few Gulf Coast fencers. The mixed foil event drew 45 competitors. Rice University fencer John Fowler captured 6^th place. John Monahan, who fenced with the Texas A & M club and would move to the Bayou City Fencing Academy, placed 10^th. David Cohen was a highly active foilist from the Rice Club and soon to move to BCFA. Now studying under Mauro Hamza, he fell into 11^th place. Rice University’s Tim Miller took 16^th place. His colleague, Gann Bierner, came in 22^nd. Roger Soden, from A & M, was in 25^th place, followed by his club mate Shalyn Shrouds in 26^th. Another A & M foilist, Alison Frary, came in 28^th. 32^nd place went to Rice foilist Christine Patton.

In the women’s foil event, A & M’s Alison Frary captured 5^th place out of a field of 16 competitors. Rice’s Christine Patton took 9^th place.

The mixed epee competition drew 43 duellists. Scott Anderson and Robert Thornton from Texas A & M captured 13^th and 14^th places, respectively. Chip Jarred, from the Rice club, came in 17^th. Rice University’s Stephanie Weirich, who, with Suzanne Simpson, was one of the Gulf Coast’s most active women epeeistes, took 25^th place. Simpson, herself, placed 32^nd. C. Brooks Proffitt, another A & M epeeiste, took 33^rd place.

Suzanne Simpson captured first place in the women’s epee event out of a field of 18 fencers. Her Rice teammate Stephanie Weirich, in turn, came in 10^th. C. Brook Proffitt placed 12^th.

The mixed sabre event drew 18 competitors. Three Texas A &M sabreurs, Greg Dilworth, Oliver Diaz, and David Burns, placed 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th, respectively. Another A & M fencer, David Sierra took 9^th place, while still another, Daniel Gorman, came in 11^th.

The Longhorn Open also carried a women’s sabre event. C. Brooks Proffitt captured first place in a field of six.

October also heralded the start of the annual Texas Renaissance Festival, with the accompanying fencing for theatrical and comic effect, along with the SCA fencers and some historical demonstrations. One of the performers this year, Jeff Baldwin, who lived on the near north side of Houston, got some welcomed publicity in the form a feature in the Houston Chronicle.

Baldwin and his character, Generalissimo Pico de Gallo, made up one-third of the comic-historical troupe known as "The Duellists." The troupe performed "duels" as regulated by the "World Dueling Federation," using any of six different weapons, depending on audience selection. As Baldwin described it, "We might use daggers, court swords, rapiers and daggers, quarter staffs, cross swords, swords and bucklers or we might be commanded to fight unarmed." Baldwin admitted to the reporter that he did incur "the occasional injury." Earlier this very season he had managed to hit himself over the head with his own weapon. "We had real blood, right there on stage, but the show went on."

In truth, Baldwin had more expertise than the occasional accident of comic routine might indicate to the layman. Baldwin also served as fight director for all of the other Texas Renaissance Festival shows and directed the human chess match at the Falconer’s stage.

Back in Gulf Coast Division territory, Texas A & M University hosted the Russ Wieder Memorial Fencing Tournament on November 11-12.

The NAC Cadet/Youth #2 competitions were held in Harvey, Illinois December 1^st to 3^rd. Hamza’s student David Cohen captured 25^th out of 71 in Cadet men’s foil. Yale Cohen took 50^th place in the same event. In the under-15 men’s foil event, Yale Cohen placed 22^nd out of 52.

On December 15-17, 1995, the NAC Open #2 competitions were held in Tucson, Arizona. Hamza pupil Orsi Szotyory-Grove placed 41^st out of 59 in the women’s open foil competition. Hamza, himself, captured 17^th out of 105 in men’s open foil. Sara Solomon tied for 3rd out of 23 in women’s open sabre. David Burns placed 45^th out of 64 in the men’s open sabre tournament.

Houston was still far from the center of the sport-fencing world, but within the realm of historical fencing, the city was about to find itself at ground zero for one of that field’s most controversial figures and organizations.

Back in 1991, a man named Hank Reinhardt had created the Historical Armed Combat Association, or HACA. Reinhardt had come to this by a somewhat circuitous route. He had tried fencing for a time, but encountered problems with his instructor over Reinhardt’s tendency of, "grabbing his opponent or thrusting to the knee." (Presumably he was not fencing epee, in which a thrust to the knee is perfectly valid.) Reinhardt had been present for the birth of the Society for Creative Anachronisms in the late 1960s, but left after becoming dissatisfied with their system. On their side, some accused Reinhardt of using unfair techniques or cheating by being "un-chivalrous," which Reinhardt countered was being "realistic." He was a founder of Museum Replicas Ltd., a company that sold "battle-ready swords" and period clothing and accessories. Much of Museum Replicas market was among the Renaissance Faire, theatre, SCA and historical fencing milieus.

Reinhardt’s idea for HACA was to create an umbrella organization for those seeking a group to share their common interest in Western swords and historical weaponry. He cared less how people organized or what they called themselves. Reinhardt was interested in the rules they "sparred under and the historical and physiological basis for them." He also hoped to develop a means to provide instruction in historical weaponry. To this end, Hank made mention of it in the Museum Replicas Ltd., catalog. For a small fee interested persons could obtain a membership that included sparring guidelines, networking, and information on future events for certifying weapon proficiencies. However, due to various reasons, Reinhardt was unable to follow through on his plan.

Someone else would have to take up the quest.

Someone else would.

As the official HACA WebPages would report it in 1998, "John had been mentoring with Hank since 1990 and was growing increasingly distressed at the emphasis on role-play and fantasy in virtually all practice of medieval & renaissance fighting arts. Determined to bring greater legitimacy and credibility and a serious martial approach to historical Western fighting arts he developed a small HACA Study Group."

Clements had grown up in Florida the 1970s watching gladiator films, reading Ivanhoe and playing at sword fighting with the other kids in a local park. At age 13, he later related, he took up fencing, but found that particular discipline disappointing. Fencing with foils was not at all the fencing he had seen in films about The Three Musketeers. He wanted fencing with rapiers and daggers and medieval two-handed swords. He wanted to know what had become of those earlier styles of fencing. He approached his fencing coaches. He talked to fantasy role-playing enthusiasts. He asked theatrical combat instructors. None gave him an answer he could be satisfied with.

Clements continued to "sword-fight" with friends in the park. He "saw other people in the park doing the same thing and fought against them, too." On the face of it, this appears to be a reference to the SCA, but Clements never overtly admitted much association with that group. In fact, over the ensuing years, disparaging remarks about too few swords and too many sorcerers in SCA have been attributed to him. In all fairness to the SCA, the group engaged in medieval and renaissance historical re-enactment. While they, by their own admission, tend to show the Middle Ages "as it should have been" and not necessarily "as it was," they never employed wizards and dragons in their activities. Perhaps the people he encountered were from Amtgard or Dragohir. Regardless, Clements’ later remarks addressed to the SCA did not make him a lot of friends among the creative anachronists.

Clements had also moved through Asian martial arts disciplines, but had begun to wonder about Western martial arts. Told there was no such creature, Clements determined to prove that claim wrong. When Clements saw Reinhardt’s ad for HACA in the Museum Replicas catalog, he signed up immediately.

By 1993, in Nevada, John Clements found Reinhardt’s HACA had become stagnant. He obtained Reinhardt’s permission to take over HACA and try to make something out of it. Two years later, in 1995, Clements and HACA were settling into their new home in Houston.

On the other hand, Chris Zakes, alias Tivar Moondragon, who had begun his study of Renaissance sword systems back in the 1970s, had reached the position of Deputy Society Marshal for Rapier Combat

Meanwhile, the Gulf Coast Division was holding plenty of the competitive fencing that Clements held in small regard. October 14^th saw the Clear Lake Fencers’ Club host an open foil competition at the Ed White Youth Center. A meeting of the Gulf Coast Division membership to hold elections for chair and secretary followed the tournament.

On December 16, South Houston High School fencing Coach Jerry Dunaway married Charlotte Eads, a music teacher in the same school.

The SCA was active and started up 1996’s events in the Gulf Coast with a January 12-14 competition called the "Siege of the Abbey" which was held in Seawinds (Corpus Christi). February 9-11 saw the "Tourney by the Loch" in Loch Soilleir (Clear Lake). Around this same time, Christian Darce, formerly a competitive fencer from Louisiana State University moved to Houston and began making inquiries, looking for the local SCA group. He encountered a number of people, including John Clements.

The year 1996 started, from a sport fencing perspective, with the NAC Open #3/Junior #2 competitions in Harvey, Illinois. In the men’s open foil competition, Mauro Hamza captured 16^th place from a field of 146 foilists. Hamza’s prize pupils, the Cohens, were there, as well. David Cohen came in at 118, with Yale taking 143^rd place. In the junior men’s foil tournament, Yale Cohen placed 43^rd out of 50. In women’s open foil, Hamza alumni Orsi Szotyory-Grove placed 48^th out of a field of 76. In the junior women’s foil competition, she placed 57^th out of 68. Former Houstonian Leslie McFarland Marx was on hand to claim first place in women’s open epee from a field of 107.

Texas A & M University hosted the Southwest Section’s annual tournament January 26-28, 1996 with approximately 130 fencers arriving to compete. Ryan Sanders was serving as the club’s contact person. The Texas A & M fencing club was enjoying considerable success as a fencing organization at this time. The previous year they defeated the University of Texas club to win the 1995 Texas State Collegiate Fencing Championship in San Marcos. As Scott Anderson said, "Right now, we are doing pretty well. We have a lot of respect within the [Southwest] section. Everybody knows A & M."

Anderson was the current president of the Texas A & M University fencing club. Allison Williams served as treasurer. Other members during the 1995-1996 season included Travis Collavo, Stephan Mazzucco, Robert Thornton, Oliver Diaz, Jayne Goble, Allyson Breech, Daniel Gorman, Elizabeth "Liz" Brown (later Liz Gorman), Brooks Proffitt, Charles Schreier, Jeremy Faber, Richard DeVaul, and Bob Carr. One thing they did not have in the 1995-1996 season was a coach.

As Oliver Diaz recalled years later, "I started… in Texas A & M's College Fencing class - working under Tom Cross, the university appointed teacher for any number of things... from fencing to squash. My very first saber coach was David Burns - he nabbed me over from beginner foil class and stuck a saber in my hands. For a few weeks, he taught me saber like a hammer teaches a nail how to make noise.
Dan Gorman and Allison Frary began teaching me soon after. From them I learned how to do: stop cuts, beat attacks, parries, and how to seriously injure someone who repeatedly hits you too hard. To supplement my instruction in college, I began driving to Houston to take lessons from Mauro - who taught me strong fundamentals and tactics. John Monahan and Greg Dilworth coached me to my first local tournament victory with pearls of saber wisdom like ‘just keep attacking’ and ‘make him cry.’ "

As for Dan Gorman, he detailed his pre-A & M instruction this way, "Well, I started fencing at Purdue University in 1990 being instructed by the other students (most memorably Al Daniel) for part of the first semester in foil. Next semester I fenced sabre and the instruction amounted to yell and run at each other. The real instruction for the next 4 years was from one night at Escrime du Lac with their coach at the time (Ed Korfanty) and referees at tournaments (most memorably Waldec Czaja)."

The 1996 Junior Olympics were held February 16-19 in Louisville, Kentucky. In a noticeable change from recent years, fifteen fencers from the Gulf Coast Division competed. David and Yale Cohen, from the Rice University Fencing Club, were particularly noteworthy. In the junior (under-20) men’s foil competition, with a field of 161 competitors, David Cohen placed 15^th, Aaron Hill, from the Clear Lake club tied for 117^th. In the cadet (under-17) men’s foil event David Cohen came in 13^th out of 152, with Yale Cohen placing 68^th. Yale Cohen also took 13^th out of 144 in men’s under-15 foil.

Another significant change was the presence of Gulf Coast competitors in the women’s events. Elyse Early from South Houston High School took 46^th place in women’s junior foil from a field of 120. Orsi Szotyory-Grove placed 59^th in the same competition and Mary Eckelkamp, also from South Houston, took 118^th. Eckelkamp also placed 96^th out of 109 in the women’s cadet foil category. Elyse Early’s sister, Elizabeth Early, placed 70^th out of 81 in women’s under-15 foil.

March 9-10, 1996 saw the annual Harold Van Buskirk competition at Rice University.

Several Gulf Coast fencers also traveled into the South Texas Division for the annual spring Masters Tournament at the University of Texas in Austin.

The mixed foil event drew fifty competitors, many of them were particularly accomplished and formidable, including Ray Sexton and Gerald Poujardieu. Mauro Hamza captured first place from this field. John Monahan took 7^th place. Rice’s David Cohen, one of Hamza’s students, was close behind in 9^th place. Another of Hamza’s pupils, Orsolya Szotyory-Grove, formerly from the old Houston Fencers Club and the Duchesne Academy, took 17^th. University of Houston fencer Steve Vern placed a respectable 19^th. David Cohen’s brother, Yale, was in 21^st place. Texas A & M fencer and Southwest Section Secretary David Burns, who usually fenced sabre, took 50^th place.

The women’s foil event drew 10 competitors, from which Orsi Szotyory-Grove took 6^th place.

The mixed epee competition drew a field of 21. Chip Jarred from the Rice University Fencing Club captured 2^nd place. Suzanne Simpson took 16^th place.

In the women’s epee event Simpson took 5^th place. The field was small but formidable in talent, including such South Texas Division adversaries as Diane Kallus, Karen Johnson and B. J. Smiley Goins.

The mixed sabre event drew 10 competitors. Here David Burns took third place, just ahead of the South Texas Division’s Ray Sexton. Sara Solomon captured fifth place.

On March 22-24, the SCA held a major event for both their rapier and their heavy combat (rattan weapons and armor) enthusiasts. This was the "1996 Squire's & Cadet's Invitational IX" in Grimes County, east of Navasota, Texas, and practically next door to the grounds of the Texas Renaissance Festival. The Barony of Stargate (Houston) served as host of the event.

Naturally, with all of these folks fencing "rapier" (foil/epee/schlager) in a manner different from competitive fencing and with very different protective gear, except for the fencing masks used by both sides, some people expressed concerns for the safety of SCA fencing. Chris Zakes responded to such a concern, "The worst injury I've seen in rapier is a badly scratched forearm from a broken blade."

Around this same time, Richard Alvarez began considering offering a six-week course in jousting, which would culminate in an armed joust, circa 1350. This initial plan did not take off, but he would later return to something like it. One of his former squires, Bryan Beard, had gone on to form his own jousting company, Noble Cause Productions. Beard was owner and director. Michael Beaman, one of Beard’s knights was another Alvarez protégé.

In time, Alvarez passed on the material inheritance to his spiritual heirs and began, "selling off assets to two sub-units. "New Edge Adventure Theatre" and "Noble Cause Productions" - made up of the younger knights I had trained. Those companies continue to joust. And the original partners, formed a new company Jousting Knights and Steeds, that continues to d.b.a. as The Hanlon-Lees [Action Theatre]."

Bryan Beard was interviewed a few years later by an on-line publication of "chivalric sports." Beard attributed his success to training he received from mentors Richard Alvarez (Pierrot Productions), Kent Shelton (Hanlon-Lees Action Theatre), and Tino Brana (joust double for Charlton Heston in El Cid and trainer/choreographer for Medieval Times restaurants).

"I owe so much to my trainers, especially Ric Alvarez," said Beard. "He taught me a lot about performing and has become a great friend over the years."

On a more modern note, the most prestigious fencing competitions of all in 1996 were soon to be held in Atlanta, Georgia at the summer Olympic Games. The media in America would not be giving the fencing part of the Olympics any attention, however. A little before the games began, NBC Sports Chief Dick Ebersol had just finished hyping his pending Olympics broadcast when a man from the International Fencing Federation (FIE) approached. The fencing official asked why NBC's Olympics broadcast would ignore his sport, and Ebersol grimaced. "We won't do fencing , because aside from you and a few dozen other people, nobody will watch," Ebersol said.

Rice University fencing coach, Maher "Mauro" Hamza told in the Rice University Thresher that, as a past member of the Egyptian Olympic fencing team, he would be taking some time off from the University to rejoin his colleagues and take up the foil for the Egypt. The Thresher quoted Hamza, "The trials were back in July [1995]. Now, there are the world championships to travel to…about twice a month all over the world. But for now, training is fine. Sometimes it’s twice a day, five, six days a week." Hamza stated his training consisted of fencing practice combined with weight training. The newspaper also reported that Hamza was also competing in World Cup events around the world, to improve his seeding into the Olympics, and going to regional competitions on weekends.

Certainly Hamza was making an impressive reputation. When asked about where to fence in Houston, former Houstonian Michael Perry stated, "The Bayou City Fencing Academy has the strongest program and the most experienced coach. Contact Mauro Hamza. He also works with the Rice University Fencing Club and teaches the fencing classes at Rice." Perry did also add, "The Houston Fencing Club (Steve Farid) and the Clear Lake Fencing Club (Mike Mergens) also offer instruction, primarily at the beginner's and intermediate level."

In the spring of the previous year, 1995, Perry had won the post of Division Chair only to move out of town before taking office that August. Michael Mergens, the Vice-Chair elect had been caught in the political storm. The result had been a special election that elected Chip Jarred as Chair for the 1995-1996 season. Once again fate would engage the Gulf Coast.

Chip Jarred recalled, "I was elected to a second term (I ran unopposed), however, in the summer of 1996 my life took a twist similar to Mike Perry's before me. I ended up moving back to Baton Rouge. As I recall, Mike Mergens was elected Chairman after I left… "

While local fencers were avidly scanning for fencing news from the Olympics in Atlanta, they were also trying to arrange high level competitions of their own. David Burns and his colleagues at the Texas A & M Fencing Club scheduled an "A" sabre tournament for September 7, 1996. The A-rated sabreurs being Mike Lofton and Don Anthony.

That fall saw Hamza’s pupil David Cohen, named to the U. S. fencing team to the Pan-American Games, October 20-26 in Puerto Rico. Cohen would be on the men’s under-20 foil roster. That same autumn saw former Houstonian Lester Ko named to Vassar College’s 1996-1997 men’s fencing team.

Far from Olympic fencing, the autumn of 1996 also saw John Clements and HACA setting in their roots. As the organization’s web site later stated, "By establishing a virtual headquarters online in 1996, HACA was then able provide a haven for similar students and scholars of the sword worldwide."

Over the following months and years, a cross section of fencers and instructors from the region’s sport, classical, theatrical and historical fencing communities would encounter or seek out John Clements. He soon amassed a considerable following. If true that he possessed a dynamic and, some would say, charismatic presence, it would seem just as true, in retrospect, that he lacked certain diplomatic skills.

An early HACA statement read, "The HACA idea is to allow people to freely and seriously practice true Western martial-arts without the interference of a central authority, the concerns of stage fighting, or the distractions of role-playing and fantasy." In a sense, the statement illustrates both the early strength and initial weakness of John Clements and HACA. The statement not only expounds the HACA ideal, but also immediately draws a line in the sand with potential members who might otherwise come to him from the theatre, from re-enactment groups or organizations perceived as having the "interference of a central authority." The HACA statement would be perfect in drawing dissatisfied and rebellious individual from such groups, but was less likely to attract more satisfied fencers. During his first few years in Houston, it seemed that HACA continually issued statements that not only expounded their ideal, but also carried a slap at some faction or other. Early versions of HACA’s own history from their web site carried such statements as, "Determined to bring greater legitimacy and credibility and a serious martial approach to historical Western fighting arts..."

Some who had devoted themselves to historical and classical fencing had to wonder if Clements was inferring that their efforts had not brought legitimacy or credibility to fencing.

In all fairness, HACA did not create the divisions within the fencing community. The sport fencing community of USFA membership, rules and sanctioned tournaments had already become a rarified game that several fencers felt had strayed from the original path. While many simply enjoyed the sport for its own sake, many others had come to feel that the USFA existed solely to generate elite athletes who could produce Olympic medals and not to promote fencing in general. As well, pistol-style orthopedic grips and extremely flexible blades that gave rise to such maneuvers as the "flick" (which could cause the blade to whip over in an arc over an opponent’s parry) had already driven off leading exponents of an older school. It had become a division between those who felt that if it could not be executed with a real sword it was not "fencing," and those who felt that any movement, which generated a scoring light, was valid and desirable.

Many instructors had long since followed the same spiritual path of Russell Wieder. These groups, many beginning as early as the late 1970s, eschewed electrical scoring, orthopedic grips and "whippy" blades, preferring to return to the instruction of foils, epees, and sabres as if in preparation for a duel. These "classical" fencers taught fencing as practiced in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries. At the same time, the thousands of actors over the years, who had learned fencing for theatrical purposes, were often looked upon as not "really" fencers, since there was no competition and the outcome was pre-arranged. Additionally, some fencers scorned the sometimes slowed-down and extra-large movements executed for the benefit of an audience because they would result in a loss in a competition or death in a real duel. Some historical fencers looked down on both sport and classical fencing as artificial and too "modern," and theatrical fencing as inaccurate.

As well, some fencers derided the fencing done within the confines of SCA events as neither historically accurate (due to the use of modern fencing foils and epees) nor accurate as far as modern fencing went as they made up their own rules. In fairness to the Society for Creative Anachronisms, while their rules may have been somewhat artificial, they were no more or less so than a standard USFA sanctioned foil tournament. Additionally, many within the SCA, including Chris Zakes and Robert Lyle, made significant contributions to the study of historical fencing. In fact, for many interested in historical fencing, the SCA was the sole source within their communities where such could be explored or studied.

Sport, classical, historical and theatrical fencers, as well as large number of historical re-enactment groups and RPG (role-playing game) enthusiasts, had already embraced the rise of the Internet. HACA was no different. However, up until HACA made its presence known, the varied groups seemed to either seek common ground upon which they to hold discussions, engaged in spirited but academic arguments, or avoid each other. Certainly, HACA did not invent the divisiveness that had developed. There had frequently been distance and disagreement between, for example, classical and sport fencers or historical and theatrical fencers.

A historical fencer and proponent of classical fencing, Richard Alvarez wrote in the summer of 1996, "Most people walk into a salle to learn to ‘Swordfight’ and walk away when they see modern fencing. As one who trained with a deep history of classical masters (Caux, Sebastiani, Gillet, LeCaze, Heddle-Roboth), I prefer to teach my students the ‘true and noble art of defense’. (And yes, they manage to win a few competitions) My personal philosophy is best expressed by these two questions 1) Can an action be performed with a real sword, and more importantly 2) Should the action be performed with a real sword. By treating my classes as a martial art form, I am able to train classical fencers who enjoy and pass on the traditional values of classical fencing." Alvarez quoted one of his instructors, "It's a sword, not a light switch, treat it like one!"

In many ways Alvarez existed as a polar opposite to Clements. For all his enthusiasm, Clements and many of his fellow HACA members, especially at first, almost continually issued statements that seemed as if designed to alienate large sections of the fencing and swordplay community. In discussion, many HACA members seemed to take exception to any opinion that diverged from theirs. Alvarez, on the other hand, was a classical fencer who also instructed fencers who would compete in USFA competitions. He had studied historical fencing and produced period combat and jousting tournaments as well as creating choreographed combat for film and theatre. If Clements advocates felt there was but one true way, Alvarez’ career seemed to show that classical, sport, theatrical and period fencing were each valid within its own venue.

If Clements had a knack for choosing topics that incurred debate, all of them paled behind that which he advanced in an article he titled, "On the Edge of Knowledge: Parrying with a Cutting Sword." In this article he expounded his (later) infamous thesis sentence, "It is vital to realize that parries (the opposition blocking of attacks) with a medieval sword or with any edged cutting blade are made not with the edge of the blade but with the flat." Thus began what might be termed