Coach sparks fencers to prominence
Photo by Bob Baker
Norm Campbell, who learned fencing from the most respected
coach in the nation — Mistro Csiszar, will represent Oregon at
the Northwest Collegiate championships.
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By Paul Danzer
Of tte Emerald
Like many other Club Sports teams, the
University of Oregon fencing team lives in the
shadows of the so called major sports. But the
past couple of years, they have moved into the
limelight of the Northwest fencing scene.
Last weekend at the Oregon Amateur
Athletic Union (AAU) championships in
Portland, the Oregon fencing club qualified
three individuals and its men’s foil team for the
AAU nationals at the Oregon AAU
championships.
Prior to the latest success the Oregon
squad claimed its second straight overall
regional collegiate championship at Clark Col
lege in Vancouver, Wash.
Leading the Oregon crew into the national
competition June 4-12 in San Francisco is
coach Norm Campbell. In addition to his duties
as mentor for the group, Campbell managed to
qualify for nationals with a first-place finish in
the men’s foil event at the state
championships.
Also going to nationals will be Tom
Cassidy, Don Freed, Rod Ray and David
Wichner, Peter Harmer, and Lynne Botehlo
qualified in the women’s foil event.
Fencing success is nothing new to Camp
bell, but he has spread the wealth to Oregon by
leading the program to two straight overall
crowns at the Northwest Collegiate
championships.
Campbell learned his fencing prowess
from the most respected fencing coach in the
nation — Mistro Csiszar. That was in
Philadelphia in 1969 after Csiszar had coached
a pair of European fencers to gold medals in
the Olympics.
The experienced guidance of Csiszar paid
off for Campbell, who fenced at Temple Univer
sity, then went on to earn the 1969 national
gold medal championship, and competed with
the U.S. Olympic squad.
"We often think of the weapon a fencer
chooses as being reflective of his or her per
sonality,” says Campbell. “A successful foil
fencer has to be subtle and indirect. There’s
lots of deception involved in foil fencing," he
says of the national sport of France, which is
also the most popular form of the sport in
Oregon, according to Campbell.
There are three different types of fencing,
and three different weapons: the foil, the epee
and the saber. The foil and epee are both
thrusting weapons, which means that points
are scored by touching the opponent with the
point of the weapon only.
Saber fencing is the event most people
would associate with sword fighting. It is a
slashing weapon that is used to hit anywhere
above the waist with either the point or the cut
ting edge. For that reason, Campbell calls the
saber fencers “the most aggressive."
“People were congratulating me for
hostility that had been getting me in trouble
elsewhere,” says Campbell of his beginnings in
the sport as a high school student. “It was nice
to have the illusion of aggresiveness without
violence.”
The highlight of Campbell's fencing career
came as a finalist of the Martini and Rossi Foil
Challenge in New York City in 1971. Campbell
was one of two Americans in a field that includ
ed two former world champions, a former Olym
pic champion, the man who became Olympic
champion in 1972, and one holder of the World
Cup.
Olympic champion-to-be Woyda of Poland
was Campbell’s opponent and although he
came out on the short end, Campbell enjoyed
his moment in the spotlight and the support of
the American audience. “It was nice to be in
the bout and to give him a fight. Ultimately he
defeated me, but he didn’t do it easily, and that
was why I was most proud of that result.”
More recently, Campbell says he is proud
of this year’s team.
“Last year we won and I didn’t expect it. I
had no idea what the competition would be like.
I really have to give more credit to the talent of
my fencers last year,” he says of the first Nor
thwest collegiate crown.
The big difference this year, according to
Campbell, is the cohesiveness of the team.
“This year we trained together real, real hard,
with lots of spirit. I was proud of our team even
before the event started, because they had pro
fessionally, athletically and seriously prepared
to give it their shot,” he says of their collegiate
success.
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