Herbert Cohen (fencer)

Herbert Morris Cohen (born June 7, 1940) is an American Olympic fencer.[1]

Herbert Cohen
Personal information
Full nameHerbert Morris Cohen
NationalityAmerican
Born (1940-06-07) June 7, 1940
New York, New York, United States
Sport
CountryUnited States
SportFencing
Event(s)Foil
College teamNew York University
ClubFencers Club

Early and personal life

Cohen is Jewish, was born in New York City, grew up in Brooklyn and has lived in Holmdel, New Jersey.[1][2][3][4][5] His older brother was the Olympic fencer Abe Cohen, who competed for the United States in the 1956 Summer Olympics.[1]

Fencing career

Cohen started fencing at the age of 15, and fenced at Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, New York.[5][6][7] He was captain of the fencing team, which included his best friend, future singer Neil Diamond.[8][9]

He then fenced at New York University (Class of 1962), alongside, among others, Neil Diamond and future Olympian Eugene Glazer.[10][11][12][3] In 1961, he went undefeated during the year and won both the NCAA foil championship and the NCAA saber championship.[13][14] Fencing for NYU in 1962 he won his second straight NCAA Championship in foil, while being named national Fencer of the Year.[15] He was a three-time All-American.[11]

He fenced for the Fencers Club in New York.[1] Cohen won a gold medal in team foil and a bronze medal in individual foil at the 1963 Pan American Games. In 1964, Cohen won the US National Fencing Championship in foil, while Albie Axelrod took the silver medal and Eugene Glazer took the bronze medal.[4][16]

Cohen competed in both the individual and team foil events at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo at the age of 24, and the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico at the age of 28.[1][17]

As to his philosophy of fencing, Cohen said: "I always fought as if my life depended on it."[18]

He was the head fencing coach at NYU from 1975 to 1977, and led the team to the 1976 NCAA Championship.[11] In 1977 he coached the fencing team at Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, New York.[18] In 2016, he coached Teaneck High School.[19] In 1995, Cohen was inducted into the NYU Hall of Fame.[11]

References
  1. "Herbert Cohen Olympic Results". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on September 4, 2011. Retrieved December 22, 2010.
  2. "Famous Jewish Fencers" | Maccabi USA
  3. David Wild. He Is . . . I Say: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Neil Diamond
  4. Martin Harry Greenberg. The Jewish lists: physicists and generals, actors and writers, and hundreds of other lists of accomplished Jews
  6. Elizabeth Cross. Fencers Club: Past, Present and Future, issuu.com; accessed February 8, 2018.
  7. "'But what else do you do?'", Sports Illustrated.
  8. Rich Wiseman. Neil Diamond: Solitary Star
  9. "What I’ve learnt: Neil Diamond", The Times; accessed February 8, 2018.
  10. Joan Marans Dim, Nancy Murphy Cricco. The Miracle on Washington Square: New York University, books.google.com; accessed February 8, 2018.
  11. NYU Athletics Official Site - "Hall of Fame", gonyuathletics.com; accessed February 8, 2018.
  12. "Neil Diamond at 71 – in fashion and in love", Telegraph.co.uk; accessed February 8, 2018.
  13. New York University - Violet Yearbook (New York, NY), Class of 1961 (pg. 174), e-yearbook.com; accessed February 8, 2018.
  14. "Fencing"
  15. Bob Wechsler. Day by Day in Jewish Sports History, books.google.com; accessed February 8, 2018.
  16. The World almanac and book of facts, Facts on File, Inc.; accessed February 8, 2018.
  17. "Axelrod, Cohen Among 5 Picked For U.S. Olympic Foils Team", nytimes.com; accessed February 8, 2018.
  18. "Victory's Never Dull For Fencers at Taft", The New York Times; accessed February 8, 2018.
  19. "H.S. fencing: Fair Lawn's Gene Packer goes out strong", northjersey.com; accessed February 8, 2018.
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