1924 National foil champion and Olympian, Irma Hopper.
Women’s Foil
King, Harriet
A four-time national women’s fencing champion, King was a member of the US Olympic team four times. She fenced at Hunter College from 1953 to 1957. She was also a member of the USA Pan-American team and editor of American Fencing Magazine. Elected to Hunter College Sports Hall of Fame and US Fencing Hall of Fame.
US National Women’s Foil Champions
1912-2007
1912 Dr. Adelaide Baylis
1913 Mrs. Wm. H. Dewar
1914 Margaret Stimson
1915 Jessie Pyle
1916 Alice Voorhees
1917 Florence S. Walton
1918 WAR- NO CONTEST
1919 NO CONTEST FOR WOMEN
1920 Adeline Gehrig
Women’s Foil Olympians
Best Non-Medaling Olympic Performances
4th Place WF 1948
Maria Cerra (Tishman) (3-way tie for 2nd)
4th Place WF 1952
Janice Lee York (Romary)
4th Place WF 1956
Janice Lee York (Romary)
4th Place WFT 2000
Ann Marsh, Felicia Zimmermann, Iris Zimmermann
Women’s Foil World Champions
Gold Medalists
1995, Iris Zimmermann, CWF
1997, Iris Zimmermann, CWF
2000, Iris Zimmermann, JWF
2003, Emily Cross, CWF
2005, Emily Cross, JWF
2006, Emily Cross, JWF
Silver Medalists
1997, Iris Zimmermann, JWF
Women’s Foil Record Holders
10 Titles
Janice Lee York Romary: 1950, 1951, 1956, 1957, 1960, 1961, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1968
This record tops all men and women in United States foil history.
9 Titles
Helene Mayer: 1933 (out), 1934, 1935, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1941, 1942, 1946
4 Titles
Adeline Gehrig: 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923
Helena Mroczskowska Dow: 1940, 1943, 1947, 1948
Maxine Mitchell: 1952, 1954, 1955, 1958
Harriet King: 1963, 1967, 1970, 1971
Caitlin Bilodeaux: 1986, 1987, 1989, 1992
Felicia Zimmermann: 1993, 1996, 1999, 2000
Erinn Smart : 1998, 2007, 2004, 2007
Goodrich, Judy
2-time Olympians Judy Goodrich and Byron Krieger, both Michigan legends, on the cover of Detroit News Magazine in 1956
Locke, Dorothy
Dorothy Locke, born in Brooklyn in 1912, her father one day popped the question out of nowhere, “How’d you like to fence?”
1939 Eddy, Mayer and Helm
SF Examiner photo of (l to r)
Jane Eddy, Helene Mayer, Harriet Helm all of San Francisco at the Commercial Club getting ready to compete in the Fencers’ Carnival to help raise money for the 1939 US Nationals to be held in San Francisco . This would be the first time the Nationals were held outside the east coast.
Acel, Grace
Grace Acel was 3 times the National Intercollegiate Womens Fencing Association Champion, was 2nd to Maxine Mitchell in the U.S. Nationals in 1954 and was a member of the U.S. Team for the Pan American Games in 1955. Her Coach was Giorgio Santelli
Zimmermann, Iris
“I learned discipline from my own life experiences. I didn’t learn it from sport.” “My fencing has benefited from that discipline. It brings me to fencing practice everyday.”
VIDEO: Iris Zimmermann interviewed by Andy Shaw
Jones, Julia
NIWFA co-founder and first champion (1929) for NYU. Coach of the NIWFA championship team at NYU (1933, ’38) and Hunter (1970). NIWFA coach of the year (1970, ’92). Devoted to the development of women’s collegiate fencing; bringing the NIWFA from four teams in 1929 to 79 teams in 1980.
Johnson, Stacey
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* Member of the 1980 Olympic Fencing Team
* 1982 Olympic Sports Festival Individual Champion and Gold Medal Team Champion
* Four-time All American 1976-79
* Two-time National Collegiate Champion 1976 & 1979
* Four-time National Collegiate Team Champion 1976-79
* Held Collegiate individual record for team win/loss (305-1)
* Member of two World University Games Teams, 1977&1979
• Three-time U.S. National Team Champions – 1974, 1976-77/
• Five-times U.S. National
Championships individual finalist 1974, 1977-79, 1982
* Member of three Junior World Teams (1973-75 Buenos Aires, Argentina; Istanbul, Turkey; and Mexico City, Mexico)
1931 Amazons of the foil
1931 Amazons of the Foil” American’s Champion swordswomen meet brittan’s best in ‘clash of steel’ for international honours. Features footage of three female American foilists: Ms. Marion Lloyd (later Mrs. Joseph Vince), the current US Women’s Foil Champion; Miss Locke, and Miss Burnside. Also three female British foilists: Miss Peggy Butler, Miss Nelligan, and Miss Pollock-Smith. Video courtesy of schlager7
Jacobsen (D’Asaro), Gay
Gay was the 1974 and 1978 US Foil Champion, a member of two Pan Am teams (1975 and 1979) and two Olympic teams (1976 and 1980). She was also a 1-rated Referee. Known for her beautiful technique, Gay is a member of the US Fencing Hall of Fame.
O’Connor, Denise
A two-time Olympian, (1964, 1976), she fenced in five World Championships (1965, ’66, ’69, ’70, ’75), as well as the Pan American Games of 1975 (Bronze Medal). She was the winner of the 1971 Terre des Hommes in Montreal. For nearly two decades, she was a nationally ranked women’s foilist (1959-1976). She captained the Salle Santelli Women’s Foil Team to five national titles. She was also a 3-time chair of the New Jersey Division, coach of Brooklyn College for over a decade at Brooklyn College before becoming Assistant Director of Athletics.. In 1975 and ’76, she was NIWFA College Coach of the Year.. Her students have become champions and successful coaches in their own right.
VIDEO: Denise O’Connor interviewed by Andy Shaw 2012
Fish, Mrs. Stuyvesant
(1884 – 1971) – generous patron of fencing, advocate of women’s fencing, member of first championship women’s foil team.
1996 Olympic Fencing Team Opening Ceremony
’96 Olympians, photo taken in the holding area prior to Opening Ceremonies in Atlanta
Photo By Carl Borack
White, Ruth
AFLA Women’s Foil Champion [1969, ’71]; AFLA U-19 Women’s Foil Champion (1968, ’70). The first African-American to win a US fencing championship, she won her first senior national championship in 1969 while still in high school in. NIWFA Champion in (1970, ’71).
Cerra Tishman, Maria
AFLA national foil champion (1945). Member, U.S. Olympic team (1948). Finalist, Olympic foil individual (1948) – tied for second place, finished fourth. This is the highest Olympic attainment by a US woman. NIWFA champion for Hunter (1938, ’40). First woman to officiate at a national final (1949); first woman member of the Olympic fencing committee (1965).
Zimmermann, Felicia
4 US titles. The first woman to win both the foil (1998) and epee (1999) at the NCAA championships.
Marsh, Ann
2 US titles. Ann Marsh made a legendary comeback against the German foil team.
VIDEO: Ann Marsh interviewed by Andy Shaw at Summer Nationals 2011