Julia Jones-Pugliese (May 9, 1909 – March 6, 1993) was an American national champion foil and épée fencer and fencing coach.

Early and personal life

She was born Julia Jones, in New York, New York, and was Jewish. She graduated

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

with a BS in Education in 1930.''New York University and the City: An Illustrated History'' – Thomas J. Frusciano, Marilyn H. Pettit
/ref> Jones married Anthony Pugliese, a sculptor and painter who designed the NIWFA competition medal awards (depicting a silhouette of her lunging), which are presented in her name and which serve as the NIWFA logo, and who also designed the logo for

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus. Being New York City's first publ ...

; he died in 1953."Julia Jones-Pugliese, Fencer, Dead at 84" – ''The New York Times''
/ref>
/ref> After her marriage, she moved to Alabama during World War II, returning to New York in 1945."Fencing Archives" , Page 2 of 2 , ''New-York Historical Society's Bill Shannon Dictionary of New York Sports''
/ref> She had a daughter, Penelope Shaw, an instructor in modern dance and yoga at Hunter College; and two sons, Patri, who taught physics at Harvard University, and Paul, a cartographer for ''Time'' magazine.

Fencing career

Jones started fencing in 1927 as a New York University student, after deciding that she was too short to play basketball. In 1928 in foil she won the first women's US National Intercollegiate championship, the IWFA Individual Championship, and was a member of the first IWFA Team Championship with the NYU fencing team.''The Miracle on Washington Square: New York University'' – Joan Marans Dim, Nancy Murphy Cricco
/ref> In 1931, Jones was the US national junior women's foil champion. She qualified for and was a member of the US Olympic Women's Foil Fencing Team for the

1932 Summer Olympics The 1932 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the X Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1932) were an international multi-sport event held from July 30 to August 14, 1932 in Los Angeles, California, United States. The Games were held duri ...

in Los Angeles, but did not compete. Jones was deemed ineligible to compete in the Olympics because she had accepted an offer to be a fencing coach at NYU, and therefore was considered a professional athlete for being paid to teach others about fencing."EVEN AFTER ALL THESE YEARS, THEY CAN'T FENCE THIS 82-YEAR-OLD IN,"
''Deseret News''. In 1990 at the age of 82 Jones-Pugliese won a silver medal for finishing second in the round-robin tournament of senior women ages 40 or older competing in senior

épée The ( or , ), sometimes spelled epee in English, is the largest and heaviest of the three weapons used in the sport of fencing. The modern derives from the 19th-century , a weapon which itself derives from the French small sword. This contains ...

in the

United States Fencing Association The United States Fencing Association (USFA) is the national governing body for the sport of fencing in the United States. The USFA was founded on April 22, 1891, as the Amateur Fencers League of America (AFLA) by a group of 20 New York City fen ...

national championship. She was still competing in 1992 at age 84.

National Intercollegiate Women's Fencing Association

In 1928 Jones co-founded, with Dorothy Hafner and Elizabeth Ross, the (United States) Intercollegiate Women's Fencing Association—later known as the

National Intercollegiate Women's Fencing Association The National Intercollegiate Women's Fencing Association (NIWFA) is a women's collegiate fencing organization in the United States. The organization was founded as the IWFA in 1929 by two New York University students, Julia Jones and Dorothy Hafne ...

(the IWFA, and later, NIWFA).''The Woman Fencer'' – Nick Evangelista, Anita Evangelista
/ref> The association, whose membership grew from 4 to 79 colleges, conducts America’s oldest continuous intercollegiate championship competition for women in any sport. The annual NIWFA Foil Champion is awarded the Julia Jones Trophy, and the finalists in each weapon are awarded Julia Jones Medals.

Coaching career

Jones-Pugliese had a 60-year career as a fencing coach. From 1932-38 she was coach of the NYU women's fencing team—the first woman to coach a collegiate fencing team. The team won IWFA national championships in 1932, 1933, and 1938. Jones-Pugliese retired for close to two decades to raise a family. She returned to coaching in 1956. She was the fencing team's coach from 1956 until her death in 1993 at

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also admi ...

, part of the

City University of New York The City University of New York ( CUNY; , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven Upper divis ...

system. Jones-Pugliese coached the Hunter team to a NIWFA national championship in 1970, and was named NIFWA Coach of the Year. She was also an assistant professor in

's Department of Health and Physical Education. In 1992, she was again awarded Coach of the Year honors. At the 1970 World University Games in Turin, Italy, Jones-Pugliese was the first woman appointed to coach an international US fencing team. She also became the first woman coach of a US Olympic fencing team. She was named assistant coach to both the men's and women's US fencing teams in 1977, and head coach in 1981. Jones-Pugliese was United States women’s and men’s fencing coach at the

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

and

1981 Maccabiah Games The 11th Maccabiah Games brought 3,450 athletes to Israel from 35 nations. The Opening Ceremony was held on July 7, 1981, before a crowd of 53,000 and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin in Ramat Gan Stadium, with 3,500 Jewish athletes parading ...

. She died of a heart attack in Manhattan in 1993 at age 84.

Hall of Fame and Awards

* 1976: NYU Athletics Hall of FameNew York University - Hall of Fame
/ref> *1992: NIFWA Coach of the Year. *2002:

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 ...

"Pillar of Achievement" *

Hall of Honor *

Helms Athletic Foundation The Helms Athletic Foundation, founded in 1936, was a Los Angeles-based organization dedicated to the promotion of athletics and sportsmanship. Paul H. Helms was the organization's founder and benefactor, funding the foundation via his ownership ...

Hall of Fame *New York Sports Hall of Fame *Hunter College Hall of Fame *The Team Medals and Individual Foil Champion trophy for the NIWFA are named after Julia Jones (under her maiden name), and fashioned in her likeness.

References

External links

Julia Jones -- ''NY Times'' Obit

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones-Pugliese, Julia 1909 births 1993 deaths NYU Violets fencers NYU Violets fencing coaches American female foil fencers Jewish female épée fencers Jewish female foil fencers Jewish American sportspeople Jewish sportswomen Sportspeople from New York City National Intercollegiate Women's Fencing Association 1932 Summer Olympics Hunter College faculty 1977 Maccabiah Games 1981 Maccabiah Games 20th-century American women 20th-century American people 20th-century American Jews