Daniel Bukantz (December 4, 1917 – July 26, 2008) was an American four-time individual United States national foil

fencing Fencing is a group of three related combat sports. The three disciplines in modern fencing are the foil, the épée, and the sabre (also ''saber''); winning points are made through the weapon's contact with an opponent. A fourth discipline ...

champion, Maccabiah Games individual foil champion, four-time Olympic fencer, fencing referee, and a dentist. He has been inducted into the United States Fencing Hall of Fame, the

National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and Museum, in Commack, New York, is dedicated to honoring American Jewish figures who have distinguished themselves in sports. Its objective is to foster Jewish identity through athletics, and to commem ...

, and the

International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame ( he, יד לאיש הספורט היהודי, translit=Yad Le'ish HaSport HaYehudi) was opened July 7, 1981 in Netanya, Israel. It honors Jewish athletes and their accomplishments from anywhere around ...

Early life

Bukantz was born in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

in New York City in the United States, to Barnett Bukantz (born in 1885 in Ukmerge,

Kaunas Kaunas (; ; also see #Etymology, other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duch ...

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

, to Pinkhas Bukantz and Fradel Bukantz) and Bertha B. Bukantz (born in 1891 in Russia; née Stalson). He grew up in

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Yor ...

, on the Grand Concourse, and attended the New York children's summer camp Camp Scatico in the 1930s. He was Jewish. He attended

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

('38). Bukantz then earned a D.D.S. dental degree in 1943 from the

New York University College of Dentistry The New York University College of Dentistry is the dentistry school of New York University. As the 3rd oldest dentistry school in the United States, it offers both graduate programs and clinical training in oral healthcare. History The College ...

. Bukantz was a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in the Army Dental Corps during World War II. He served in the 87th Infantry Division during the

Battle of the Bulge The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, was the last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during World War II. The battle lasted from 16 December 1944 to 28 January 1945, towards the end of the war in ...

in 1944-45.

Fencing career

Bukantz was Captain of the City College Beavers fencing team his senior year, and won the 1938 Intercollegiate Fencing Association individual championship in foil as a senior. He won the US national Amateur Fencers League of America individual championship in foil four times -- in 1949, 1952, 1953, and 1957; since then, only Michael Marx has won as many as four US national foil championships. Bukantz was also part of nine national championship teams for the Fencers Club of New York, in the years 1949-62. Bukantz competed in foil in the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

four consecutive times -- in 1948 in London at 30 years of age, 1952 in Helsinki, 1956 in Melbourne, and 1960 in Rome. He fenced in team foil in each of the four Olympics, and in individual foil as well in 1952 (reaching the quarter-finals). He placed 4th in team foil at the 1948 and 1956 Olympic Games, and 5th in team foil at the 1960 Olympic Games. The entire USA Foil Fencing Team at the 1956 Olympics was Jewish, with the other Jewish fencers being Al Axelrod, Harold Goldsmith, Nathaniel Lubell, and Byron Krieger; at the time, the only fencing clubs in New York that accepted Jewish members were the Fencers Club and Salle Santelli. He won the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

in foil at the 1950 Maccabiah Games in Israel, defeating teammate Allan Kwartler for the title. Bukantz also became a fencing official, judging at eight Olympics (from 1952 to 1984, except the U.S.-boycotted 1980 Games) and three

World Fencing Championships The World Fencing Championships is an annual competition in fencing organized by the Fédération Internationale d'Escrime (FIE; ''International Fencing Federation'' in English). Contestants may participate in foil, épée, and sabre events. H ...

(1958, 1967, and 1983). In the Olympic Games in 1952, 1956, and 1960 he was both a competitor and a referee. He was a head referee at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games.

Halls of Fame

In 1978 Bukantz was inducted into the United States Fencing Hall of Fame in

Shreveport Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population of 393,406 in 2020, is th ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

. In 1967 he was inducted into the City College of New York Athletics Hall of Fame. In 1975 he was inducted into the

, and in 2008 he was inducted into the

. In 2000 he received the Pillar of Achievement Award from the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

Family and personal life

On April 29, 1956, Bukantz married Alice Ellenbogen Bukantz (1924-2019), a

Holocaust survivor Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and its allies before and during World War II in Europe and North Africa. There is no universally acce ...

from

Nové Zámky Nové Zámky (; hu, Érsekújvár; german: Neuhäus ; la, Novum Castrum; tr, Uyvar) is a town in Nové Zámky District in the Nitra Region of southwestern Slovakia. Geography The town is located on the Danubian Lowland, on the Nitra River, ...

, a town in a part of

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croa ...

that is now

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to th ...

, who had survived the

Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It ...

while her parents and 87 other relatives were killed in

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

. They lived in

Forest Hills, Queens Forest Hills is a mostly residential neighborhood in the central portion of the borough of Queens in New York City. It is adjacent to Corona to the north, Rego Park and Glendale to the west, Forest Park to the south, Kew Gardens to the southe ...

, New York, and

Sarasota, Florida Sarasota () is a city in Sarasota County on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The area is renowned for its cultural and environmental amenities, beaches, resorts, and the Sarasota School of Architecture. The city is located in the sou ...

. Their son Jeff Bukantz was captain of the 2004 and 2008 United States Olympic fencing teams, has won 13 medals (including three gold medals) at the Maccabiah Games, and is the President of the Maccabi USA organization. Jeff was third alternate on the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Fencing teams, and earned a

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives ...

in foil with

Team USA The United States national team or Team USA may refer to any of a number of sports team representing the United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country ...

in the

1987 Pan American Games The 1987 Pan American Games, officially known as the X Pan American Games, was a major international multi-sport event held in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, on August 7–23, 1987. Over 4,300 athletes from 38 countries in the America ...

.Richard Kagan (February 2007)
"Have You Thought of Fencing?; An Interview with Bronze Medalist Bukantz,"
''Education Update'', Volume XII, No. 6, p. 21. Jeff also wrote a memoir entitled ''Closing the Distance: Chasing a father’s Olympic Fencing Legacy'' (Acanthus Publishing, 2006). Bukantz operated a dental practice in

, New York, for about 40 years. He provided free dental care to members of the fencing community who could not afford it. Bukantz died in 2008 from

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, malign ...

References

External links

"Daniel Bukantz; Olympic results
" Sports-Reference. *Shannon Campbell
"The Clash of Foils: A look into the Fencers Club of 1962,"
''New York: A Portrait in Sound'', NYPR Archives & Preservation (audio). *Daniel Bukantz (July 20, 1997)

''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. *George Vecsey (December 2, 2007)
"A Righteous Recipe for Longevity,"
''The New York Times''. *Richard Goldstein (July 31, 2008)

''The New York Times''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bukantz, Daniel 1917 births 2008 deaths Sportspeople from Queens, New York Sportspeople from Sarasota, Florida American dentists American male foil fencers American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent American people of Russian-Jewish descent United States Army personnel of World War II United States Army Medical Corps officers Deaths from lung cancer City College of New York alumni CCNY Beavers fencers Jewish American sportspeople Jewish male foil fencers International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame inductees New York University College of Dentistry alumni Fencers at the 1948 Summer Olympics Maccabiah Games medalists in fencing Maccabiah Games gold medalists for the United States Competitors at the 1950 Maccabiah Games Fencers at the 1952 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 1956 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 1960 Summer Olympics Olympic fencers of the United States People from Forest Hills, Queens Sportspeople from the Bronx Sportspeople from Manhattan United States Army officers 20th-century dentists 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews