Team History – William & Mary Fencing Club

1924 – Tucker Jones establishes the first William and Mary Fencing Team at the College
1942 – In 10 years, the William and Mary fencing team had lost only seven meets, was among the first five teams in the nation, and were reigning South Atlantic Fencing champions.
1944 – The varsity team was comprised entirely of women
1958 – There was both a women’s varsity fencing team and an intramural fencing team
1960s – John H. Willis reinstates the men’s varsity fencing team
“Back in the 1930s William and Mary had an intercollegiate fencing team of
some renown, but it had lapsed for all the war years. So when I came to
William in 1959, or in the 60s actually, I picked up and started the William
and Mary men’s fencing club and eventually turned it into a varsity sport and
was coaching it as a varsity sport for a couple of years until it got (laughing)
too much for me to do.” – John H. Willis
1992 – W&M fencing won at the MACFA championships
1996 – Varsity status is lost, but Coach Pete Conomikes continues to volunteer
2001 – The team becomes Virginia Cup Champions, a title still held eleven consecutive years later
2007 – Coach Pete Conomikes and Benjamin Gutenberg die from a car crash on the way to a fencing tournament. Spencer Butts (Foil ’11) and Matthew Peppe (Epee ’11) survive the crash and eventually become captains for the 2009-2010 & 2010-2011 seasons.