1901: Fencing at the YMCA  

On the national scene, the Amateur Fencers League of America held its national championships in New York City, April 26-27 at the Fencers' Club. The regional preliminaries had been held at the beginning of the month.

By August of 1901, the Galveston YMCA could claim its own fencing master in residence, in the person of  Primo, or Peter, Tiboldi, a local merchant living at 1313 Post Office Street.

To be truthful, Tiboldi was more than just a local merchant. He had been born in November 1837, in Novi Ligure, of a prominent Genoese family and a French-born mother. He was educated at a Jesuit College and later graduated from the Royal Academy in Livorno. In 1869 he was appointed secretary to the Duke of Galiani in Paris. After that, he plied the merchant's trade in England.

In 1868 he immigrated to the US and was appointed assistant to the Italian Ambassador in Washington D.C. Around 1876 he moved to Galveston and opened a wholesale business dealing in fish and oysters. In addition to his activities with the YMCA, he also organized the first Italian society in Galveston.

Like his mother, his wife, Mary, had also been born in France.

In August of 1901, Frank E. Miller, the Physical Director of the Dallas YMCA, announced the planning of an athletic exhibition to be given in a month. Among the sports to be demonstrated was to be fencing. That September the Dallas YMCA held its "athletic carnival" in Trinity park with over 225 participants. Virtually every familiar form of exercise was demonstrated, including fencing.

W. A. Rodgers and Douglas Bronston gave a demonstration with broadswords. W. Douglass and Jack Derrett gave a bayonet demonstration. Frank E. Miller and Benjamin J. Robert gave an exhibition with foils. Claude R. Hamilton and Jack Derrett demonstration bayonet versus broadsword. 

1902:  

1903: The Fencing Uniform 

International rules passed this year required male fencers to wear white cotton jackets and trousers and ordinary shoes rather than light-colored leather jackets, breeches, and boots. Female fencers wore similar attire until 1938, when the breeches were replaced with pleated skirts. The change is probably indicative of fencing becoming more popular with women's gym instructors in colleges, as aristocratic fencers such as the English champion Toupie Lowther dressed as they pleased, not as fashion designers said they should.

1904: Lucien Arthur and Professor Bernau  

By 1904 Waco's "Lady Sabreur" had relocated.  John and Lillian Hart had moved to Dallas.

Victoria, Texas was the scene in March of a well-attended Greco-Roman wrestling match between one Lucien Arthur (affectionately dubbed "Frenchy") and Herman Bernau of Galveston. The larger Bernau was the victor and the men parted friends.

Just a few months later, on June 27, 1904 the Business Men's Athletic Club in Houston announced they had secured the services of the above mentioned Lucien Arthur, "for many years fencing master in the French Navy."  A number of Houston area fencers promptly took advantage of the opportunity to fence a few bouts with him. As a local newspaper noted, "His reputation had preceded him and he took a foil against and promptly took a fall out of the best fencers in Houston, among others the cousin of President Roosevelt."

That same June one could find advertisements in the Galveston press for Professor H. Bernau, whose notices offered instruction in physical therapy, including massage, fencing, wrestling, boxing and gymnastics.

In August the friends and members of the Business Men's Athletic Club in Houston gathered at Bryan Hall to enjoy one of the organization's regular monthly entertainments. The evening included a fencing exhibition given by Lucien Arthur and Mrs. M. Beach.  Another event, held at the end of the evening's fare was billed as a "Duel" with "Professor L. Arthur, using French and Italian methods; A. Roosevelt, using French rapier style."

To the north, Dr. Richard Lynn Weston arrived to take charge of the physical department of the Dallas YMCA on September 23, 1904. Weston had most recently spent six years as the physical director at the Minneapolis YMCA and was a graduate of the Boston Physical Training School. Before Minneapolis, he had served in the same position at YMCAs in Rochester, Scranton and Boston. Weston was also among that vanguard of this era promoting physical fitness and exercise for women.

Among other activities he organized by November were fencing classes at the Dallas YMCA. The program included classes for women's fencing, with the first class numbering fifteen. Weston, in fact, was particularly in favor of fencing as an exercise. He stated to the local press his belief that everyone should learn the art of fencing.

In Houston plans were drawn up for another fencing exhibition to be given by Lucien Arthur and one of his female pupils on November 19, with a dance to follow the fencing. The event was under the auspices of the Grand Fraternity.

In December the Dallas YMCA put on an athletic exhibition to benefit the women of Patton Seminary. The evening included a fencing demonstration between Dr. Weston and one of his female pupils. That the idea of a woman fencing pushed the envelope on approved behavior may be gleaned from a local newspaper account, which attempted to assure its reading public.

"The feature of the exhibition which attracted the most attention, perhaps because of its novelty, was a fencing match between Dr. R. L. Weston and one of his lady pupils. Dr. Weston's opponent exhibited very fair skill with the foils, and while the exercise seemed strenuous, she did not appear to be fatigued after a contest of several minutes' duration."

1905: Fencing Comes to Texas A&M  

While the northeastern United States remained the center of America's fencing universe, little by little, the boundaries were expanding outward. A news item from New York on April 19 noted, "Three entries from Chicago have been received and for the first time in the history of the Amateur Fencer's League of America the West will be represented in the National fencing championship tournament, which will be held next week on Friday and Saturday nights [April 28-29] at the New York Athletic Club. The Chicago representatives will all compete in the foils and perhaps with the sabers"

By May, the local media in Texas made an assessment of R. L. Weston's YMCA fencing program for women. Commenting on the previous state of fencing, the Dallas Morning News wrote, "Fencing was forced from the pre-eminence it occupied in the seventeenth century by the ban against dueling, and the art of the rapier and the foil came to be a thing of the past, preserved only on the stage, in the German universities and in the romantic novel."

The same newspaper article stated, "The women of Dallas are responsible for its popularity here. The class which at first numbered fifteen has grown until there are an unusual number of expert fencers to the credit of the teacher, and a large class of graduates."

The article also noted, "The girls appear in natty costumes of dark cloth made loose so as not to bind any part of the body. They wear accordion pleated skirts to give the fullness required for the agile movements in parrying a thrust or making a lunge." A photograph depicted five young women in Gibson girl hairdos, with long, dark skirts, billowy-sleeved blouses, and flat shoes. 

Perhaps some of the younger fencers from Weston's Dallas classes or Arthur's Houston lessons had begun to go off to college. The 1905-1906 scholastic season at the all-male Texas A&M College saw the formation of their first fencing club. W. O. Gresham was the team's captain. The club boasted 14 members: R. E. Adams, Beauregard, Casey, Cuny, Decher, Dorsett, Dunks (most likely a student with the improbable name of Prince Albert Dunks), Gresham, Geiger, Harvin, Lipstate, Paterson, Schiller (possibly R. E. Schiller) and Young. 

1905 was also the year that the AFLA formally patched up its differences with the AAU. On October 6, 1905, Dr. Graemme M. Hammond, the AFLA President, signed the "Articles of Alliance between the Amateur Fencers League of America and the Amateur Athletic Union of the United States."

That December, back in Dallas, Robert Weston could note for the local press, "There seems to be a good deal of interest in fencing this year. There are two fencing teams in Dallas, one at the YMCA and the other at St. Matthew's School. A regular fencing class will be organized out of the class that has been started at the YMCA. Many of these in the beginning class are good fencers, and we will hold free monthly entertainments to popularize the art. At the close of the season we will have a contest to decide the local championship.

"In connection with the class in fencing, we will teach broad sword play and jiu-jitsu. One of the most thrilling and sensational sights is a broad sword combat. From the point of view of a spectator it seems as if the combatants are going to cut each other's heads off, but there is really no danger if a person is used to handling the swords.

"The art of fencing is quite different from any other form of exercise. Fencing is an ideal sport because there isn't any danger of getting hurt. Fencing is a gentleman's game and is very popular now because of the simplicity with which it is taught. Every large school now has its fencing professor and many of the preparatory schools in the East have taken it up.

"A few years ago the art of fencing was taught only by Italian and French masters and few people learned the art in this country, because by the old style of teaching it took so long to become skilled. Now nearly anyone can learn in twelve lessons.

"The hardest part of fencing is the first and second lessons, requiring a great amount of patience to get the fundamental positions correct. After this is mastered, however, the rest is very simple. When a pupil learns to guard and lunge correctly and quickly he will make a good fencer, as these are the most necessary prerequisites.

"Fencing is entirely different from boxing or wrestling. In boxing a person has to be naturally quick and in wrestling he must be naturally strong, but in fencing anyone can become an adept. The sport makes the eye bright and the step elastic. It gives strength and muscle and teaches one how to defend himself.

"Anyone who understands the handling of a foil can use a single stick or a broad sword. Although the foil is used in a form of pointing and sticking exercise, when a person gets a good knowledge of fencing he soon learns how to use the single stick and the broad sword. The same may be said of the rapier.

"The Amateur Athletic Union holds its tournament every year for the championship in fencing in the United States and all the representative schools have men present."

1906: Foil Expands    

On April 1, 1906, new regulations were recommended for all AFLA competitions. "Judges are requested to give points for the general bearing, for form shown in defense and attack, and for the value of the touch itself. A good parry, even if not followed by a touch, should be credited with some value. Touches made in poor style should not receive the consideration of a well-executed touch, which should be worth at least two points in comparison. Rushing, pounding, failing to cross foils, or to make the parry, dragging the feet, throwing forward the body, dodging, coming on guard poorly, failing to use the left hand correctly, or offending against form in any way, should be counted against such offenders; and should the opponent have better form or fewer faults, it should be counted in his favor and so expressed in points in the judge's score."

The AFLA also expanded foil's target to include the entire torso, front and back, minus the groin. 

The Texas A&M Fencing Club posed for their spring 1906 yearbook photograph. The photograph depicts thirteen young men wearing light turtleneck sweaters displaying the classic 19^th Century heart symbols over their left breast.

1907: A. W. Fisher   

Physical Director Alexander Wadden Fisher of the Galveston YMCA organized a "grand event" to be held at the gymnasium on Thursday and Friday evenings, April 25-26, 1907. All of the usual gymnastic events of the day would be exhibited, including fencing. The first night was largely given over to the more practiced "seniors" with the juniors performing on Friday evening. 

That first night began with, "German horse, leaders assisted by some of the advanced members." It was followed by, "School of fencing, High School class." A little later on the program that same evening, following horizontal bar, mat work, pyramids, parallel bars, swinging fire clubs and the first half of a basketball game came, "Fencing match, A. W. Fisher and C. H. Johnson of Palestine."  It seems Mr. Johnson was affiliated with the YMCA in Palestine, Texas. 

Then the basketball game continued. 

The local Galveston press noted, "There are several excellent features on the program as announced, the bout of fencing between Physical Directors Fisher and Johnson being regarded by the boys as an especial attraction."  

1908: The Senior Fencing Club   

By the 1908-1909 scholastic year, the Texas A&M College Fencing Club was now designated the Senior Fencing Club. W. O. Gresham remained captain. M. H. Wienert was the manager and A. F. Cole the Secretary-Treasurer. Other members included R. E. Aldwell, R. O. Bass, C. P. Brannin, R. R. Eddings, C. K. Horton, R. F. Miller, A. J. Rife, C. C. Schley and H. R. Voelckner.

1909: Fencing's Finale at A&M 

In what would appear to be the end of the last semester of fencing at Texas A&M for decades, the Senior Fencing Club posed for their spring 1909 photograph. They wore their traditional sweaters with the heart symbol over their left breast. Subsequent volumes of the Texas A&M yearbook would not indicate this club survived.

The antebellum variant of the knightly tournament, however, survived sporadically in the Old South. Such a tourney was held in 1909 in Crosby County in west Texas. The tournament was one of a number of attractions at a barbeque and land sale held when one of the great ranches was being broken up into farms.

1910: The Knight No-Tsu-Oh 

On January 22, a fencing class was organized at the Dallas YMCA by G. W. Saam, the Physical Instructor. Strangely, everyone appeared to have forgotten the efforts of Robert Lynn Weston and Frank Miller only five years past (when, in 1905, Weston noted considerable interest in fencing). A local news item stated, "This will be the first class in fencing conducted at this YMCA. Considerable interest in the sport has been manifested by the members of the various gymnastic classes and it is believed a considerable number will avail themselves of this opportunity to become proficient in this art." 

The same item recorded, "The class will commence at 8:45 PM, in the gymnasium, and will be conducted, commencing at that hour, each Saturday night. Mr. Saam will use the Italian style in his instruction, which is said to be more scientific, and probably as graceful as any of the various schools into which fencing is divided." Ultimately the class would number eight students. 

On March 31, the Dallas YMCA mounted a "circusette" in lieu of the usual ladies' night program. A number of "spasms," as the acts were dubbed were arranged. Among the "spasms," would be a selection of fencing bouts. 

On May 17, the same Dallas YMCA mounted a gymnastic exhibition, including fencing by Messrs. Pitcher and Monroe.

On Saturday, August 13, the Houston YMCA under the guidance of Physical Director L. T. Belmont sent a team of their athletes to Galveston, "for the purpose of taking a prominent place on the athletic day program," of the Cotton Carnival.

As the Galveston Daily News observed, "The saber and fencing bouts were also demonstrations of excellent training." A bit later it continued, "The fencing bout was perhaps the most enjoyable feature. The bout was pulled off in one minute halves. The principals were Director L. T. Belmont and H. L. Keith. They went through all the preliminary maneuvers and began rushing each other in a fancy fashion. Belmont, after knocking the sword from Keith's hands, did most of the work until the second half ended. Judging from the fine points governing the art of fencing, Keith got the best of the bout, for he made three points on Belmont."

In 1910, those Houstonians looking for more swashbuckling and romantic fencing fare could go to the theatre. Harry Leighton, a celebrated actor of that era arrived with the touring company production of The Prisoner of Zenda, based on the Anthony Hope novel of the same name. With a rousing sword fight and rescue of a kidnapped king followed by a bittersweet ending, it was an extremely popular production in its day. 

It was nothing, however, compared to the swashbuckling extravaganza planned for the Texas State Fair in Dallas on October 24. Fair organizers had decided to arrange a joust. To attract entries, the state fair leaders issued a 12-page brochure.

It read, in part, "The age of chivalry may have passed, and with it may have passed the tournament instituted by Henry the Fowler, or Geoffrey de Preuilly, the ancestor of the Counts of Tours, but that chivalry in the modern man is dead is to be disputed flatly and emphatically during the State Fair of Texas.

"It is not planned that armored knights will lay lance in rest and collide in the middle of the jousting yard with a sound of locomotive collision. It is not planned that stalwart men in these gentler days will maul each other with maces; hack each other limb after limb with battle-axes, or viciously prod about for the joints of a man's armor to find a place a sword will go through.

"But it is planned that the gentlemen of Texas, riders almost to a man, shall have opportunity of showing their horsemanship and their skill at arms at the more modern form of tournament, once a favorite sport in the Southern States, but now almost obsolete.

"As showing how far-reaching was once this modern tournament - the word modern being used as differentiating the tournament of later years from that of the knights of the Middle Ages - diligent inquiry among the older gentlemen of the South as to the formal rules for such a tournament brought answer from Big Stone Gap, Va., and also information, freely and enthusiastically given from not only Texas, but New Mexico and states as far distant as Kentucky, where former participants in the tournaments may be found."

The events planned were described thus, "The knights will be mounted on their best horses, and each will be masked and accoutered in suitable style. Each will carry a light 10-foot lance, on which he will endeavor to impale, while at full speed, rings suspended from posts set along the course.

"There will be all the pomp of the tournament or the jousting field of old. The flutter of ladies' favors on lances will be seen, colored ribbons being the favorites.

"The blare of bugles will announce the events, and there will be little suggesting modern days about the contests.

"Judges, heralds and officials, suitably garbed and mounted, will officiate, and the skillful rider and the equally skillful handler of the lance will have his record made known as he completes his dash through the line of poles.

"Last, but no manner of means least, the ladies will take part in this tournament, a passive, but nevertheless important, part. They will be seated in boxes overlooking the field, and below them their champions will contest, each seeking the honor of conferring upon the lady of his choice the title of Queen of Love and Beauty, or failing in this to name his lady as one of the maids of honor.

"A grand ball will follow the chivalric contest, in which the crowned queen, her maids and knights, who have distinguished themselves, will take part.

"It is believed by those familiar with this form of tournament that the bare suggestion will bring ready responses from thousands of gentlemen all over the Southwest, many of whom have in the past participated in these chivalric contests, and from others who have not, but in whom romance is not dead.

"It is believed that as the proposition becomes better known the cities and towns of Texas will enter into rivalry in the matter of champions, selecting their ablest knights to take part in the great State Fair event and, as a preliminary, holding minor tournaments of their own to enable this choice to be made."

There was one more touch to the event. "From the old rules of these tournaments it appears that no knight may take part under his own name. He may wear what colors he chooses, but his identity must be kept secret." 

The original deadline for the aspiring knights to sign up was October 2. By that date fair organizers had received entries from Houston, Denton, Thurber, Cuero, Marlin and several other communities. The response was so great that the organizers re-opened the entries until October 20. For the event, itself, 9-foot poles were set in the ground about 40 years apart. A 4-foot arm extended at a right angle to the pole, with a ring dangling off the end of the arm by a wire. Each contestant would be timed and judged on speed and success in catching the rings. 

On the first two days of the event, October 24-25, the contestant titled, "Knight No-Tsu-Oh" (Houston spelled backwards) was the clear victor each day. His rivals were dubbed Silver Dagger, Knight of Trinity, Lone Star, Knight of Dallas, Knight of Denton, Knight of San Saba, Southern Boy, Knight of Alvarado, Knight of Marlin, Knight of the Trinity, Knight of Kentucky, Knight of Texas, and Knight of the Southern Cross.

[It should also be noted that No-tsu-oh would have been an especially recognizable reference in this era. It was also the name of a carnival patterned after the Mardi Gras of New Orleans, which was held annually in Houston from 1899 until World War I. The No-tsu-oh festival generally ran for a week in November. It featured parades, balls, a football game between the University of Texas and Texas A&M, and much use of words spelled backwards. Eventually the carnival was suspended with the coming of the First World War. It was never revived.]

1911: The Holy Ghost of Sport  

By January of 1911, the Dallas YMCA announced that they would soon organize a fencing class in both "foils and broadswords." It noted the 1910 class had eight members and anticipated a larger turnout for the new class. 

As then described, the class, "will take up both the Italian and French styles of foil fencing, and it is expected that later in the season a class in broad sword will be picked from the members. This instruction will be given free to members furnishing their own outfits and will be taught by Mr. Saam." 

A somewhat more light-hearted class description appeared in a January 23 notice that classes would resume. "The method is to be that known as Italio-French or Franco-Italian, according to the selection of the student, one said to mean run forward, jab and run back, the other run back, jab and run forward. Both are intended to be practices with side-stepping adaptations, with foil, mask and breast-pad." 

By May of 1911 this class participated in the annual YMCA gymnastic exhibition. A news item of the day stated, "There will be a fancy foil exhibition with all the thrusts, parries, cartes, tierces, counters, disarms, returns, salutes and other features known to the finished swordsman. Following the exhibition of the different elementary principles of the fencing science there will be a series of three-minute bouts." It should be noted the fencing exhibition was accompanied by music. The item noted, "The accompaniest for the class and the fencing numbers will be Mrs. P. H. Le Notry."

The founder of the Modern Olympics, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, held great admiration for the ancient Pentathlon. From 1909, he tried to have the event re-introduced into the Olympic program and after two failed attempts; Pentathlon's moment came at the 14^th session of the International Olympic Committee in Budapest in 1911. As the Baron stated, "the Holy Ghost of sport illuminated my colleagues and they accepted a competition to which I attach great importance." 

In 1911, epee joined the ranks of foil and sabre in AFLA competitions by going to white uniforms for competition.  

1912: The Modern Pentathlon  

The Modern Pentathlon introduced at the 5^th Olympiad in Stockholm in 1912. It comprised of the contemporary sports of running, swimming, horseback riding, pistol shooting, and epee fencing. It was De Coubertin's belief that it would be the event, above all others, that "tested a man's moral qualities as much as his physical resources and skills, producing thereby the ideal, complete athlete."

The choice of the five diverse and unrelated sports that make up the Modern Pentathlon arose out of the scenario of a liaison officer whose horse is brought down in enemy territory. Having defended himself with his pistol and sword, he swims across a raging river and delivers the message on foot. Not surprisingly, it was the military that most enthusiastically adopted this new sport with its inherent demands of courage, co-ordination, physical fitness, self-discipline and flexibility in ever changing circumstances. 

Interestingly, as this was supposed to illustrate a military scenario, in the U. S. and many nations, only Army officers were allowed to compete. One of the U.S. contenders was 26-year-old 2^nd lieutenant George S. Patton, an excellent athlete and an aggressive fencer. He actually scored very well in four events, but was removed from the running by virtue of his poor marksmanship! He came in 21^st in pistol, dropping him to 5^th place overall.

For many years, the Modern Pentathlon would be used as part of the final examinations at a number of European Military Academies. The mixture of physical and mental skills demanded in the Pentathlon has also meant that athletes have been able to compete in as many as three or four Olympic Games. This is because while running and swimming times can be expected to decline with age, experience and skill in the technical disciplines often increase.

Dr. Adelaide Baylis won the very first women's national fencing championship.

This was also to be the last year in which American foil fencers earned subjective "form" points. It was American participation in Olympic fencing competitions that put an end to the practice. None of the European countries scored this way. The beginnings of homogenized fencing rules were beginning.

1913: The FIE 

The Dallas YMCA had sporadically developed fencing programs since the beginning of the 20^th century. On April 25 the Fort Worth YWCA organized seventy-five girls for a demonstration of the gymnasium class at the Summit Avenue Skating Rink in that city. In addition to various drills, class representatives also engaged in a fencing drill. The drill consisted of "five blows and five thrusts in elementary fencing."

Following a "fencing congress" in Ghent, Belgium, and the initiative of Rene LaCroix, the fencing federations of France, Germany, Italy, Bohemia, Belgium, Great Britain, Hungary, Holland and Norway met in Paris on November 29 to proclaim the founding of the Federation Internationale d'Escrime (FIE). The organization is formed for the purpose of unifying the sport's rules and to eliminate the controversies that riddled prior Olympics and international competitions the competing countries couldn't agree on rules.

1914: The Army Recognizes the AFLA   

In March the US War Department (later renamed the Department of Defense) officially recognized the Amateur Fencers' League of America with the establishment of two divisions within the army to "stimulate competitions with foil, dueling sword and saber among officers stationed at the various army posts throughout the country." One reason for such support from the army may have much to do with the fact that the Assistant Secretary of War, Henry S. Breckenridge, was himself a former intercollegiate fencing champion. 

The first such division was organized with its temporary headquarters at Galveston and the other at West Point.

In Paris, the technical rules of the FIE were unanimously adopted by the International Congress of National Olympic Committees on June 12, 1914. They were first codified this year by the Marquis de Chasseloup-Laubat and Paul Anspach. 

1915:     

C. Harold Van Buskirk was made captain of the University of Pennsylvania Fencing Team. He graduated from that school in 1915 with a BS.

1916:  A Joust in Big Wells    

The small Texas town of Big Wells hosted a joust with men on horseback, with home-made lances trying to spear rings.

1917:

1918:  

"Dueling and duelists of old Texas times" is the title of a long and interesting paper published by Mr. Ben C. Stuart in the Galveston News of November 24, 1918.

1919:    

This year marked the first use of "hits received" to break ties at the national fencing championships.