Csaba Elthes in the 1970's

With overlapping time frames, we decided to do this page by contributors/students names, alphabetically, then some notes by year.
Contributors are:

Blum, Robert
Bukantz, Jeffery
Pinkus, Larry
Randall, Charles
Westbrook, Peter
Wilson, Russell

Apostol, Paul: 1973, Csaba's student, 3x member of U.S. Olympic Team, in 1973 wins title U.S. National Saber Champion. We would like to get in touch with Mr. Apostol. If you have any contact with him please forward his contact information to us, or ask him to get in touch with us - thanks.

Bukantz, Jeffrey: currently chairman of the FOC (Fencing Officials Commission) and an active

foil/epee fencer and referee. See his FOC resume here. Mr. Jeff Bukantz is the son of Dr. Daniel Bukantz, famed 4x Olympic foil fencer and 8x Olympic referee.

Jeff Bukantz starting fencing foil and epee in 1972 at the NY Fencers Club, and continued his life-long relationship with Maestro Csaba until his passing. "I think I may have been the only student that Csaba didn't hit. I always thought it might have been because my father was his dentist". More to come.

Morales, Alphonso: Mr. Morales, Csaba's student from the late 1950's and 60's makes the U.S. Olympic team once again - the 4th Olympics he attends. (Information contributed by Robert Blum).

Pinkus, Larry is President and a fencing coach (at this writing 3/2003) at the NIH R&W Fencing Club in Bethesda, MD and an active Veterans saber fencer. See his fencing resume here http://www.recgov.org/r&w/nihfence/coach.html

Mr. Pinkus was 32-38 yrs. old during this time period: " From 1973-76 I left NYC and fenced at the Washington Fencers Club in D.C. When I returned I rejoined the NYFC and started taking lessons with Csaba intermitently between 1977-83 while fencing in more tournaments. He had more students than ever and a lesson could be as short as 10 min if the student wasn't doing well. The club was now located on W 71st street near Broadway. This was an exciting time to be a sabre fencer in NYC. The fencers club had Mormondo, Westbrook, Kaplan, then Lofton and Cottingham and Gerry Rodriguez, and was dominant in US sabre fencing. The NYAC had the Friedbergs, George Gonzalas-Rivas, Orban (who was semi-retired) and others. Csaba, who coached at both clubs, was the coach of all of the top sabre fencers in the US. I had improved, and no longer felt embarassed in lessons, but didn't have chance to make the NYFC team. A group of us joined another club meeting at NYU (named the University Club), where Westbrook and Mormondo would occasionally fence and take lessons with Steve Kaplan, who was coaching. In 1983 the University Club Team (Kaplan, Don Anthony, Joe Marrotta, Miklos Benedek, and myself) finished third behind the NYFC and NYAC in the national sabre team championships.

On Saturdays I would occassionally walk over to the NYFC from my parents apartment on W 70th Street and watch Csaba giving lessons to whomever was there. If you wanted a lesson you wrote your name in his book. He had little kids (less than age 10, e.g. Walsh), national competitors (Rodriguez, Westbrook), and retired national competitors who just enjoyed taking lessons with him, e.g. Bob Dow and Albie Axelrod (in foil). I took some video tape of the club and of Csaba giving lessons.

In 1983 I moved to Richmond, VA where I fortuitously hooked up with Wieslaw Glon (from Poland) and started the Richmond Fencing Club. Wes transformed my style and was responsible for me moving from a C to an A fencer. In retrospect, Csaba tried to fit all of his students into his method of teaching, which required a lot of "open eyes" decision making. This was not optimal for me. I developed a more pre-planned , second intention type of game under Wes, which led to my improvement. However, even today as a Veteran competitor, I still use some of the actions that I learned from Csaba. This includes using the point in line, which is rarely seen in modern sabre fencing.

Randall, Charles R. was a saber student of Csaba Elthes in the early 1970's. He is currently saber coach at Club Esgrima Vallarta in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Club website: http://www.oocities.org/esgrimavta

" I first met Csaba Elthes at the New York Athletic Club in the early 70's. I had been fortunate to be invited by a fellow fencer that I had met at Salle Santelli. Maestro Csaba was in the middle of giving a lesson to one of the top nationally ranked fencer's at the time, and had several other top fencer's warming up and sparring while waiting for their turn. Watching his style and demeanor his first class style shone through. In those days you could stop by (if a member or accompanied by a member) and watch him - so I took advantage and observed him as closely and frequently as possible. I was a poor college student at the time, and had to save up to take lessons with Maestro Elthes. I took my hard-earned money and invested it to take private lessons with Csaba. He was demanding, strict and carried a little baton. He would correct me with a slight tap of the baton - once "tapped" you would strive not to repeat the same error. The lesson lasted from 20 - 30 minutes, he never watched the clock so if he was in the middle of something we just kept going. Many times we would stop for a moment and he would explain the strategy. My intermittent training with him lasted about 4 years. I trained with him as often as I could afford. Many times when I could not afford a class I was able to observe him and watch lessons closely, a practice he encouraged. I learned a tremendous amount just by watching. " What did he look like? " He was tall and had the face of an eagle, with sharp darting eyes that took in every little detail." What did you learn from him? "to attack, attack, attack - that was his forte, and he was fast". "He was very occupied after 1973 by rising star Peter Westbrook, and his time with Peter was well-spent as Peter went on to become 13 time national champion, a 6 time Olympian and the first men's saberist in the USA to win a medal at the Olympic Games (Bronze - Los Angeles Games 1984)." "My style of teaching today incorporates many of the elements of both Maestro Csaba Elthes and Maestro Giorgio Santelli."

Westbrook, Peter: 1972 and Peter is in his Jr. year of college at New York University. His coaches there, seeing his potential, highly suggest he take classes with Maestro Csaba Elthes at the NY Athletic Club. After 3 months with Csaba, Peter quit, not willing to take the Maestro unique method teaching which included verbal abuse and striking students - actually drawing blood in some cases. Peter continued training at NYU but did notice a difference after the 3 months with the great maestro. After many heartfelt talks with fellow athletes and coaches at NYU it became apparent to Peter that he had to train with the Maestro if he wanted to get onto the U.S. Olympic Team. 1973 and Peter goes back to train with Elthes, however Elthes never strikes Westbrook again. In 1974, now a college Sr. Westbrook begins his record breaking streak taking for the first time the title National Champion - Men's Saber (Westbrook won the title 13 times). Csaba said " You can be a killer on the fencing strip but never let yourself become arrogant". Csaba believed in me and worked me like a dog, goading me, inspiring me, always pushing me beyond what I thought I could or would do. I was lucky to have had 8 years with Csaba in his prime before his stroke in 1980. The stroke paralyzed his right hand so he taught w/his left until he recovered some use in his right. Csaba came to love New York and his life here in the U.S., he went back to Hungary every year on vacation to visit his daughter from his first wife and family, but New York was his home. He never lost that formality between us, just the one time (May 1977) when he punctured my throat by accident, the only time I have ever seen him cry or drop his formality with me.

Wilson, Russell - in 1978 at age 14 Wilson starts lesson with the Maestro at the NY Athletic Club. Wilson makes the Jr. World Team three times, JO U-20 Champion, Maccabiah Games Bronze medallist. At age 18 (1982) Wilson becomes the youngest person in history to pass the International "B" exam, the youngest AAA rated official in the world. Wilson enters Columbia University and continues his fencing career. At age 22 Wilson stops competitive fencing and dedicates his fencing time to officiating, becoming a World Class and Olympic referee.

1975: Peter Westbrook is inducted into the New York University Sports Hall of fame.

1977: During routine training, Maestro Csaba's blade punctures Peter Westbrook's throat giving him a perfect tracheotomy in a freak accident.

If you were a student or knew Csaba Elthes at this time and you are not listed here, please email your information to: fencing_masters@yahoo.com and we will contact you to include your information.