Hey, that's great! Can we reprint that?

> I figure that this interview is of interest to this group -- enjoy.
>
> Sports of The Times (circa 1972)
>
> The Fencing Master, by Robert Lipsyte
>
> "Now take this country," said George Santelli. "I call you names. You
> give me a good punch in the nose. I, being 72 years old, would have
> no chance against you in a fist fight. So, I call a lawyer. I sue.
> Ah. Childish."
>
> He touched his nose, a beak of great power and majesty above a white
> moustache, and waited for the traffic noise to subside on Sixth
> Avenue, directly beneath the fourth-floor window of his famous
> salle-d'armes.
>
> "A duel would solve many problems," he continued. "We have insulted each
> other. We have common friends who cannot invite us to the same parties.
> It becomes very difficult. So, we have a duel with sabres."
>
> "It is not very dangerous. We each bring a doctor, and two seconds. The
> best fencer among them directs the duel, ready to leap in should either
> of us become angry or lose control. We have a chance to show courage,
> save face, derive satisfaction, gain new respect for each other. We shed
> a little blood, earn a few stitches, throw our arms about each other and
> drink champagne."
>
> He stretched his tall, still supple body, and raised an arm that, in its
> day, was said to have borne the strongest sabre in Europe. "Paul Lukas,
> the actor, came to my father's salle in Budapest. He had
> insulted his producer, and he had been challenged. We had a week to
> prepare him for the duel, so I concentrated on teaching him to parry the
> blow to the head and return it. Secretly, we blunted the sabers so
> Lukas's face wouldn't be disfigured. The duel went well. They
> hacked at each other and raised welts. The doctor squeezed a drop of
> blood from one of the producer's welts, and everyone was very happy."
>
> Salle Santelli
>
> Santelli's father, Italo, ran one of Europe's most famous salles
> d'armes, a training center for aristocrats and Olympic athletes in an
> age and in a country that still admired the swordsman. The Hungarian
> Government had brought Italo to Budapest in 1896 from his native Italy
> and subsidized his school. In 1924, George was brought here by the New
> York Athletic Club. He was fencing master there for 25 years.
>
> Santelli has been the dominant figure in American fencing for many
> yeaears, He coached the Olympic teams from 1928 through 1952,
> revolutionized technique, and exerted an incomparable spiritual force
> with his singleminded and selfless dedication to his sport.
>
> Through Salle Santelli, which he opened after World War II, he broke the
> racial and class restrictions of fencing by encouraging Negroes and
> holding free classes for public high school students. Tonight, in a rare
> tribute in this sport, Santelli will be honored at the Statler Hotel.
>
> Santelli admits to having fought only one duel himself, an affair of
> great complexity. During the 1924 Olympics in Paris, a dispute arose
> between an Italian fencer and an official. A witness was necessary and
> Italo Santelli's testimony led to the disqualification of the
> Italian fencer, and a scandal. The captain of the Italian team, Adolfo
> Cotronei, wrote a newspaper article denouncing Italo as a renegade and a
> liar. Italo, 61 years old, challenged Cotronei, who was about 30.
>
> On a Barge Off Abazia
>
> George, unearthing an obscure rule in the dueling code that allowed a
> son to replace his father under certain circumstances, met Cotronei on a
> barge in the waters off Abbazia, between Trieste and Fiume.
>
> "We really fenced," said Santelli, staring out his salle window at the
> Women's House of Detention. "We did not hack. It lasted perhaps
> three and one-half minutes. He came down like this, so I parried and
> riposted and struck him on the side of the head. He was temporarily
> blinded, and so the duel was stopped. He required 12 stitches.
>
> The men met again, at the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles, and Cotronei
> stood dinner and drinks, absurdly proud of his scar, the slight
> squint in his left eye, and the monocle he wore.
>
> "I do not believe," said Santelli, "that there should be dueling in this
> country at this time. Americans think who won? who lost? and this is not
> dueling, dueling is saving face and gaining satisfaction. It grows from
> the culture."
>
> His lips parted for large teeth. "But I must say that dueling was an
> educational thing. It taught many people to behave properly. You have to
> prepare for a duel, spend money on equipment, pay the fencing
> master, pay the doctor, suffer the wounds. The next time you think twice
> before you call a man an insulting name."
>
>
>
>
>
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--
Ken Mondschein
www.corporatemofo.com