USA Fencing

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Long before it became a reliable launchpad for future Olympic medalists like Lee Kiefer OLY, Mariel Zagunis OLY and Courtney Hurley OLY, the USA Fencing Junior Olympic Championships were simply one man’s bold vision.

That man: the Rev. Lawrence “Larry” Calhoun, who in the early 1970s had the bright idea of hosting a national championship for the country’s best young fencers. 

That tournament, known as the Junior Olympics, began in 1972. Over three days, 98 fencers from 17 states gathered in the gym and cafeteria at Notre Dame High School in Niles, Ill., which happened to be where Calhoun worked as both a teacher and fencing coach. 

Today, Calhoun’s Junior Olympics have blossomed into one of the season’s most beloved tournaments — a four-day competition that attracts 2,000 fencers from more than three dozen states. While early renditions of the tournament were held at high schools, today’s Junior Olympics are so large they can only be held in convention centers.

It’s no wonder a USA Fencing Board member later called Calhoun’s idea “the single most important achievement in the entire history of our organization."

The FIE (International Fencing Federation) had been hosting the Junior Fencing World Championships since 1950, but the process for a U.S. fencer to qualify was convoluted and, in many ways, problematic. Back then, to compete at Junior Worlds, a fencer had to finish in the top three at the USA Fencing Summer Nationals.

The problem: Summer Nationals were in June, and the Junior Worlds weren’t until the following April. Was it a guarantee that our country’s best young fencers would be the same 10 months later?

Calhoun didn’t think so. He believed that a second national championship was needed — one specifically for under-20 fencers scheduled just before Junior Worlds.

“The overall program proposes to upgrade the level of fencing,” Calhoun wrote in a 1971 proposal printed in American Fencing magazine. “The U.S.J.O. Championships is a step to choosing the best possible teams from the greatest possible numbers. The Russians use a pyramid system, and it works. We believe that this is the start of a strong U.S. youth fencing pyramid.”

Calhoun’s idea didn’t gain traction at first. How could such a grand tournament be held during the school year?

But then Congress established the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which designated the third Monday of every February as a federal holiday (now known as Presidents Day). That means there would be a three-day weekend every February — a perfect opportunity to host a tournament involving high schoolers and college students.

With a convenient date in mind, Calhoun finally had support for his plan. He even got himself a fancy title to further bolster the idea: “National Junior Olympic Development Chairman.” 

Interestingly enough, the final approval for the Junior Olympics came after Presidents Day 1972, so the first Junior Olympics began on April 7, 1972.

At 9 a.m. on that Friday, two saber fencers stepped up to their en-garde lines, and history was made.

Everything about that inaugural tournament illustrated the collaborative, can-do spirit of fencing that persists today. The electric scoring machines were powered by car batteries purchased from Sears. Many of the competitors were housed and fed by local parents. And the busy armorers were up till 5 a.m. on the tournament’s first morning making sure everything was competition-ready.

“And at 8 a.m., they were awakened to help begin the tournament,” Calhoun later wrote.

The tournament itself ran smoothly — “there were no major injuries [and] no one suffered such fatigue that he or she could not fence,” Calhoun wrote — but a surprise six-inch snowfall meant that few spectators could show up to watch.

Even though the Junior Olympics were Calhoun’s idea, he was quick to deflect the praise to his collaborators.

“My thanks go to all who helped make the tournament a success,” he wrote in American Fencing in 1972.

Calhoun was honored in 2010 by being inducted into the USA Fencing Hall of Fame. 

He died in 2019 at age 84, but his legacy lives on every February when young people from across the country gather to compete in a tournament that does justice to Calhoun’s vision.