Albie Axelrod

Albert Axelrod, known as Albie, (February 12, 1921, in The Bronx, New York – February 24, 2004, of a heart attack in The Bronx), was an American foil fencer. He is America’s most enduring fencing champion.

He was the only American men's foil fencer to reach the world championship individual finals until Gerek Meinhardt won the bronze medal in the 2010 World Fencing Championships.

Fencing career

High School

Axelrod is Jewish, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants who had fled the pogroms, grew up in the Bronx. A micro-heart murmur kept Axelrod from participating in most sports, so his mother encouraged him to learn fencing at Stuyvesant High School in New York. After graduation in 1938, he studied at the Salle Santelli under the 1920 Olympic champion, Giorgio Santelli, and won amateur titles as a member of the Salle Santelli club.

College

Axelrod served with the Navy in the Pacific during World War II, and then attended the City College of New York (CCNY), which had one of the best fencing teams in the nation.

In 1948, he was U.S. Intercollegiate Fencing Association and NCAA Champion, and led City College to the National Team Foil Championship.

US Championships & # 1 US ranking

Axelrod was ranked # 1 in the United States in 1955, 1958, 1960, and 1970, and # 2 nine times.

Axelrod was ranked in the U.S. Top 10 for 22 years, 1942–70, missing three of those years in military service.

Five times his team won the National Foil Team Championship (1940, 1950, 1952, 1954, and 1958), and 5 times his team captured the National Three-Weapon team crown (1949, 1952, 1954, 1962, and 1963).

World Championships

He was also a member of 4 United States World Championship teams — best finish 5th in 1958.

Olympics

Axelrod was a member of 5 consecutive U.S. Olympic Teams (1952–68). His bronze medal in Individual Foil competition at the 1960 Summer Olympics was only the 4th Olympic fencing medal ever won by an American.

Pan American Games

He was also a member of 4 U.S. Pan American Games teams, winning 3 team gold medals (in '51(?), '59, and '63), and 2 silver medals (in '55 and '67), and 4 silver medals in Individual Foil (in '55, '59, '63, and '67).

Maccabiah Games

Axelrod, who was Jewish, competed in 6 World Maccabiah Games beginning in 1957, winning numerous gold and silver medals in both foil and sabre competition.

Approach to Fencing

Axelrod had an aggressive, straight-ahead attacking style. As Axelrod told The New York Times in 1966, "I have no purely defensive moves." It was his credo. Opponents had to contend not only with a never-give-up mentality, but a technique that had little relation to the classical schools.

“Everyone attributes my skill to a physical freak, saying that I have tremendously fast reflexes,” he once said. “But I am not a natural athlete. When it comes to fencing, I’m completely synthetic. I’ve had to practise arduously and break down into tiny components every move I make.”

Editor

Axelrod was the Editor of "American Fencing" magazine (1986–90).

Hall of Fame inductions

Axelrod was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1973.

He was inducted into the USFA Hall of Fame in 1974.

Miscellaneous

He was an electrical engineer for the Grumman Corporation for most of his life, fencing only in his spare time.