Nikki Franke

Fencing

Temple's legendary Fencing coach

Dr. Nikki Franke put the finishing touches on an amazing 50-year career with her recent retirement as Temple University's head fencing coach.

Franke brought national attention to the Owls' fencing program, and now receives well-deserved recognition for her longevity and coaching prowess with her induction into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame.

Franke is Temple University's all-time winningest women's athletics coach. She put together 898 victories in her coaching career, which included the 1992 NCAA title. The Owls were consistently rated among the top fencing teams in the country as Franke directed the program to 26 consecutive National Intercollegiate Women's Fencing Association Championships. In addition, 37 of her fencers were selected for 66 NCAA competitions, and 25 of those 37 athletes picked up All- America recognition.

A pioneer in her own right as an Olympic athlete, Franke saw the game change for female fencing on Temple's campus 50 years ago (1972) with the passing of Title IX, the landmark US gender equity law banning sex discrimination in federally funded education programs.

Title IX is most famous for its impact on expanding opportunities for women and girls in sports. "Title IX has made such a difference in the opportunities that women have," Franke explained. "When I first came, the funding and the facilities were not equitable to what the men had."

Franke had a sensational 48 winning seasons during her five-decade coaching career. She was named the United States Fencing Coaches Association Women's Fencing Coach of the Year in 1983, 1987, 1988 and 1991. The sport has made a huge impact on her life.

"It changed my life," Franke said in an interview with ESPN.com in 2011. "I got to travel the world. I've been places I never even dreamed about. My very first international trip was to Russia. My very last international trip was to China and a lot of places in between. I've been very fortunate to be involved with fencing for a long time as a person who competed for years and as a coach."

Franke was not only a magnificent coach but a tremendous fencer, too. She grew up in Harlem and took up fencing because she wanted to try something new before she graduated from high school. "I did pretty well. I was told that Brooklyn College had a good fencing coach and program.

"They think of Zorro and people fighting up and down stairways, but fencing's not like that. It's much more refined. You're not out to kill the other person. You're out to outsmart them," she told the Philadelphia Daily News in a May 1976 article.

During her four years at Brooklyn College (1968 through 1972), Franke's fencing skills grew by leaps and bounds. She was an All-American, and in her senior year she took third at the NIWFA collegiate championship. She was a member of the 1976 and 1980 United States Olympic teams. In 1975 and 1980, she captured the United States Fencing Association's National Foil Championship. Franke was runnerup in the 1978 national finals and placed third in 1976, 1977 and 1979.

Franke was a member of the U.S. team that finished in fifth place at the 1973 World University Games in Moscow, and the American team that participated in the 1977 World University Games in Bulgaria. She was also a member of two U.S. delegations that were a part of the 1975 and 1979 Pan American Games, winning the silver medal in the 1975 individual field competition and the bronze in 1979, and helping to lead the team to third place finishes in both Games.

In 1975, Franke earned a Master of Science in Health Education at Temple University, followed by a doctorate degree in 1988.

Nikki Franke is one of the co-founders of the Black Women in Sport Foundation, along with Alpha Alexander, Linda Greene, and Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame (Class of 2013) inductee Tina Sloan Green. Based in Philadelphia, the Foundation encourages black girls and women to participate in ALL areas of sport, such as coaching and administration.

Prior to her induction into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame, Nikki Franke has been enshrined in the International Sports Hall of Fame, Temple Athletics Hall of Fame, the US Fencing Association Hall of Fame, and the Brooklyn College Hall of Fame.

By Donald Hunt - Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame inductee