A Brief History of Freelance Fencing

Freelance Fencing is the direct decendent of Letterman Fencing Club, which was founded in 1951 by Dr. William F O'Brian while stationed at Letterman Hospital on the U.S. Army base, located at the Presidio of San Francisco. Founded orginally for base personnel, LFC was open for general membership for many years.

Dr. O'Brien began fencing in his youth. "I started to fence in 1931 when fencing was still an aristocratic sport and you could not fence internationally if you used your hands to make a living," he said. Over the years, Dr. O'Brien fenced all three weapons in scores, if not hundreds, of tournaments. O'Brien has often said he always brought a medal home from the Pacific Coast Championships.

Over the years, Letterman had many fine foilists affiliated with it, including Girard Esponda, NCAA champion, Hike Hambarzumbian, National Champion, and national point holders Don Blayney, Carlos de Morelos, Leo Bello, Raul Pomares, Carlo Bello and Jon Charles. Many other fencers trained at Letterman, including two-time Pacific Coast Chapionships women's foil champion Karen Ladenheim, two-time PCCs men's foil champion Dean Hinton and National point holder Chas Vagt-Smith (sabre).

When the Presidio was closed as a military base in 1995 and was turned over to the Golden Gate Regional Park District, Letterman lost its rent-free space in Gym Number Two, so moved to its sister-club facilities at the University of San Francisco. Shortly thereafter club members were asked to fence for USF, as the school was contributing free space and funding for the clubs, thus Letterman was absorbed by USF Fencing Club and LFC club operations were suspended. USF club members earned national points, and divisional and sectional team championships between 1995-1999. In 1999, following graduation of several of the leading club members, USF FC ceased to operate as a competitive club. At that point, William Cracraft and Leo Bello began teaching the For Credit fencing class at USF and began giving lessons to individuals and groups. We have trained fencers in Half Moon Bay, at Stuart Hall High School in San Francisco and in many private venues. Cracraft continues to compete and took second place in both sabre and foil at the 2002 Northern California Divisional Championships held in March. Bello continues to teach teach fencing at USF.

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