Sport: First Fencer

In the U. S. last week arrived Nedo Nadi, the greatest fencer alive. Dressed in his fencing whites, his torso looking extraordinarily long because, in the traditional postures of correct fencing, his back was always stiff, his knees usually bent, he gave an exhibition at the New York Athletic Club. His opponents were Clovis Deladrier, onetime military champion of Belgium, now instructor at Annapolis, and George Santelli, onetime amateur champion of Hungary. As Nadi touched Deladrier’s breast with the point of his foil or slashed at Santelli with his sabre, his own mastery seemed to excite him. He talked -rapidly in French, Spanish, Italian, punctuating each touch with the words “et la!” Sometimes “et la!” was a celebration of his own passes, sometimes of Deladrier’s or Santelli’s; it was a threat, a joke, a warning, a boast, a congratulation. In his pale face, under a streak of hair, like shiny black paint, his eyes flashed; his mouth tipped up at one corner as though in sympathy with the outstretched left arm. Nedo Nadi is the son of Beppe Nadi, who coached every great Italian fencer since Italy became a united kingdom (1868) until recent years. At Beppe Nadi’s Fencing Academy at Leghorn before the War gathered many adolescent noblemen later killed on battlefields where a steel blade was not of much use. Nedo Nadi began to fence when he was 7. When he was 13 he won the fencing tournament held in Vienna as part of the Emperor Franz Joseph’s Jubilee. When he was 17, he was unbeatable. He has won five Olympic championships. During the War he served as captain in the Italian cavalry. The king gave him the Blue Ribbon of the valor medal and made him a Knight. He was an amateur until 1920 when the Jockey Club of Buenos Aires offered him more than $1,000 a month to teach fencing to its members and their sons. After three years he left Buenos Aires because he was bored there. For exhibitions in Europe he gets a guarantee, usually under 25%, of the gate. As he travels around the Continent he reports sporting events for various South American newspapers. He is an associate editor of the Littoriale, Roman news-review. Professor Reue Haussy, professional champion of France, is his most dangerous rival; recently he beat Philippe Cattiau, former world’s greatest amateur, 14 touches to 5 with the foils. Most critics believe he would have had an easy time with famed fencers of the past: Kirchhoefer, Greco, Pini, Rue. They rate him with the great Marignac, notable for his ferocity. Marignac was bigger than Nadi who, though stocky (approx. 160 Ibs.) is not tall (5 ft. 10½ in.) for a fencer. One of his most famous strokes is the “advance thrust”—a lunge made on the offensive which few fencers dare attempt. He is good with all weapons, but best with the foils. This week he sails, for Bordeaux to fence in France and Italy.