Ferenc Marki (7 November 1912 – 26 May 2008) was an internationally known fencing master and fencing coach.
Biography
Ferenc Marki was an internationally known fencing master and fencing coach at San Francisco State University, City College of San Francisco, Mills College, and Pannonia Athletic Club who created champion fencers at every level. He died at the age of 95 on May 26, 2008 in Boulder, Colorado.
Early life in Hungary
Ferenc Marki was born on November 7, 1912 to Ferenc Marki and Etelka Pinter in Szeged, southern Hungary. After his father died as a hero in World War I, he enrolled in military school at the age 14. He did so well in his studies and excelled so quickly at learning the art of fencing foil, épée, and saber that he was selected to attend at the prestigious Toldi Miklos Royal Hungarian Sports Institute to become a fencing master.
Training to be a fencing master at the Toldi Miklos Institute
His teacher was the legendary Maestro László Borsody, who is acknowledged in Hungary as being one of the greatest fencing masters of all time and the creator of the modern Hungarian style of saber fencing. Julius Palffy-Alpar, in his book Sword and Masque states his "ability to build an artistic compromise from the simplest movements, his personal philosophy, and his natural psychological approach caused him to admired by his students." Maestro Borsody taught Olympic Saber Champions George György Piller, Pál Kovács, and most of the best Hungarian fencing masters. All of the great Hungarian fencers of those times were trained either by Italo Santelli or László Borsody. At Toldi Miklos, Ferenc Marki was also taught by the famous Maestro Alfred Geller (spelled Gellert in Hungarian). Palffy-Alpar identifies Borsody and Geller as being among the top fencing masters in the world during the post World War I era. (Palffy-Alpar 1967:21). He states "Geller, the master of the thrusting weapon at the same institute and a follower of the Italian school, was the author of a book with Tomanoczy in 1942 titled Vivas Kezikonyve [Fencing Handbook]." (Palffy-Alpar 1967:22).
In 1935, Ferenc Marki achieved the rank of fencing master or "maestro" when he graduated among the very best of his class and received the diploma of Maître d'Armes and Fencing Instructor.
Teaching as a fencing master in Hungary
After teaching at Toldi Miklos alongside of Maestros Borsody and Gellert until 1938, Maestro Marki entered the military and taught fencing at the Hungarian Military Academy.
By 1938, the threat of Germany's expansionist politics caused many Hungarians to join the military. When Germany's seizure of lands in neighboring Austria and Czechoslovakia was unopposed by cowering Allied nations, it became clear that resistance was futile. As a result of the German persecution of Jews in Hungary, in 1941 Maestro László Borsody (who had changed his name from Blum on converting to Catholicism) shot himself rather than be coerced into submission (Cohen 2002:339). Hungarian soldiers had to fight against Russia on its eastern border and Ferenc Marki was taken as a prisoner of war in one of the major battles there. With the defeat of Germany at the end of World War II, Hungary came under the covert political control of its eastern neighbor, the Soviet Union.
In 1945, Ferenc Marki returned to Szeged after his mother died to manage the family paprika business, and to resume his passion of teaching fencing.
Early success in Hungary as a fencing master
From 1948 to 1956, Maestro Marki became a very successful fencing master. He joined the SZTK Fencing Club, and began teaching at other leading sports and military fencing clubs, and at the University of Szeged. The value of his skills in teaching championship fencers was quickly recognized by those in power. In 1953, he was invited to teach East German and Czechoslovakian fencers at the Tata Olympic Training Camp. In 1954-1955, when the Soviets launched their program to become the most dominant fencers in the world, he was asked to teach Soviet fencers at Budapest. His Soviet students in saber included Yevgeni Cherepovsky, Yakov Rylsky, and David Tyshler, who thereafter were among the first Soviet fencers to win medals at the World Championship in 1955 and in the Olympics a year later.