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.Day by Day in Jewish Sports History – Bob Wechsler She graduated New York University with a BS in education in 1930.New York University and the City: An Illustrated History – Thomas J. Frusciano, Marilyn H. Pettit
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; he died in 1953."Julia Jones-Pugliese, Fencer, Dead at 84" – The New York Times"Maria Cerra Tishman at NIWFA 75th ANNIVERSARY" 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 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 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 in Los Angeles, but did not compete.NYU Athletics Hall of Fame 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 in the United States Fencing Association national championship. She was still competing in 1992 at age 84, a year before she died.Encyclopedia of Women and Sports – Victoria Sherrow
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 IWFA, and later, NIWFA).Julia Jones Pugliese, NIWFA web site (retrieved February 6, 2016)The Woman Fencer – Nick Evangelista, Anita Evangelista 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.NIWFA Organization
Coaching career Jones-Pugliese had a 60-year career as a fencing coach.
From 1932 to 1938 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, part of the City University of New York 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 Hunter College'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 and 1981 Maccabiah Games.
She died of a heart attack in Manhattan in 1993 at age 84.This Day in New York Sports – Jordan Sprechman, Bill Shannon
Hall of Fame and Awards
1976: NYU Athletics Hall of FameNew York University - Hall of Fame 1992: NIFWA Coach of the Year. 2002: International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame "Pillar of Achievement" United States Fencing Association Hall of Honor Helms Athletic Foundation 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.
See also List of USFA Hall of Fame members
References
External links Julia Jones -- NY Times Obit Pillar Achievement Bio NIWFA page on their founder, Julia Jones NYU Hall of Fame NIWFA Awards Page Julia Jones's page from the USFA Hall of Honor