Coach of Fencers Sword Champion Since His Youth

Master swordsman Rene Peroy is still willing to cross foils with all challengers, despite the fact that he has been winning amateur and professional fencing laurels for almost half a century.

Peroy, French-born University fencing coach, came to America in 1909 at the age of 23, already the holder of a Parisian foils title. While working in New York City, he took all honors from novice to senior, at the New York Amateur Fencing Club, in less than a year.

By 1928, Peroy was one of America's ranking non-professionals. Invited to participate in the Olympics that year, he defeated the French foils champion, considered the world's finest, and returned to the U.S. to join the University coaching staff.

Many outstanding swordsmen have learned their "on garde" and "parry" from the wiry mentor who still speaks with a race of his native tongue. Joe Levis, of his 1935 team, represented the U.S. in three Olympics, and Joe G. Hurd '34, who handled a foil for the first time after entering college, mastered the art so thoroughly that he was selected for the 1936 Olympics.