- cornellbrsn
Throwback Thursday: The Jinx of Cornell Fencing
This week in 1952, the Big Red fencing team fell to Navy for the 17th consecutive year. In fact, there was a “jinx” over Cornell for never being able to emerge victorious against the Midshipmen. The score was a 19-8 defeat. Captain John Noonan, Bob Littlewood, and Tom Arnold in the epee were the only Big Red fencers to walk away with a winning percentage, each winning twice and losing once.
The only two other Cornell wins came in the sabre event when Dwight Robinson outlasted Tom Berry in the most exciting match of the day and when Bob Bell trounced John Allen of Navy 5-1 during one of his matches.
Head Coach George Cointe felt that the Big Red kept losing due to a lack of experience. He was looking forward to hopefully avenging the squad’s losing streak when they faced the Midshipmen again in the intercollegiate championships during the postseason.