Huntington Fencing’s Rich History Dates to 1935

Huntington High School’s girls’ fencing team is 7-0 in league matches and 7-1 overall. The Blue Devils have high hopes for success in the playoffs this winter. Huntington’s boys’ team has a pair of victories under its belt, but it hasn’t given up just yet. The Blue Devils are the host team for a combined program with Harborfields.

The story behind the Huntington High School varsity fencing program is a one that played out over many decades. Several attempts were needed to get the sport off the ground. It wasn’t until the 1935/36 school year that the effort finally succeeded.

The fencing club completed its first year of “organization” in the spring of 1936, according to that year’s edition of the high school yearbook. “Although fencing was introduced in the school several times in the past few years, there was never a permanent club,” states the yearbook.

Enter John Sage. While just who this man was has been lost to history, the yearbook notes that in fall of 1935, he stepped forward. He “was well instructed in the art and made a successful attempt to organize the club.”

Junior Lois Aboff served as the fencing club’s first president. Teacher Marvin Carter, a graduate of New York University, was the faculty advisor and Mr. Sage was the instructor, offering technical expertise and running practice sessions.

“Thrilling exhibition duels were held in the auditorium during lunch periods,” the yearbook stated. “In this way, many new members were added to the club. Members of the club also fenced during the halves of the varsity basketball games. This club is rapidly becoming very popular and is still showing progress.”

The program would disappear and reappear again several more times over the years before becoming a Blue Devil constant. Huntington alum and eventual head coach Alan Kuver played an outsized role in the history of the program for several decades.

Since then, the Blue Devil boys’ fencing squad has won league titles in 1985, 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2002 and county crowns in 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1976, 1985, 1990, 1992, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2002. The girls’ fencing team won league championships in 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001.

Several fencers from Harborfields High School have come aboard the boys’ and girls’ teams two years ago, further strengthening the lineup. Such inter-school collaboration is common in the sport of fencing and the Blue Devil fencers and coaches have welcomed their crosstown teammates with open arms.