Uriah Jones: Opening the Door
Uriah Jones’s path to the fencing strip began with barriers. As a young Black athlete, he was turned away twice because of his race—first when he sought an early opportunity to fence, and later when he approached established clubs for serious training. Accounts of his journey recall the blunt message: “We don’t teach your kind.” Rather than abandon the sport, Jones drew on the discipline he had developed as a heavyweight boxer and kept searching for a place to learn. He finally found that welcome at Salle Santelli in New York, where coach Giorgio Santelli recognized his determination and ability. That opening gave Jones the chance to develop into an Olympian and national champion.
Jones’s story belongs alongside that of Peter Westbrook, who came of age a generation later. Jones faced direct racial exclusion while seeking a path into fencing and found opportunity at Salle Santelli; Westbrook discovered the sport as a Black and Japanese-American teenager growing up in Newark’s Hayes Homes, where his mother used fencing lessons to help keep him focused and safe. Both entered a sport often seen as the preserve of white privilege, then turned discipline and talent into historic achievement. Jones became the first Black U.S. Olympic fencer in 1968 and won Pan American medals in 1971. Westbrook became the first African American to win an Olympic fencing medal, taking individual sabre bronze in Los Angeles in 1984. Their careers show both change and continuity: Jones opened doors at the top of American fencing, while Westbrook carried that breakthrough onto the Olympic podium and later built new pathways for young people through the Peter Westbrook Foundation.
The “Master of the Sword” tradition connects Uriah Jones’s competitive excellence with his role as a teacher and mentor. In Hartford-area fencing, the title is used to honor outstanding achievement while keeping the names and stories of past champions in view. It reflects a deeper standard: mastery is not only about winning bouts, but also about discipline, sportsmanship, leadership, and opening the sport to the next generation. By carrying Jones’s name forward, the tradition remembers a fencer who broke barriers and then helped others find their place on the strip.
Sources: USA Fencing Hall of Fame records; Olympic fencing records for Mexico City 1968; Hartford Fencers Club historical materials and social posts.
Olympic & National Success
Jones’s competitive record reached the highest levels of American and international fencing. He helped Salle Santelli win U.S. national team titles in 1964, 1968, and 1972, establishing himself as one of the country’s leading foil fencers. In 1968, at age 43, he represented the United States in men’s team foil at the Mexico City Olympics—the first Black American fencer to make a U.S. Olympic team. His Olympic place was the result of years of persistence, late-career development, and success against the nation’s strongest competitors.
Jones continued that run at the 1971 Pan American Games in Cali, Colombia, winning gold with the U.S. men’s foil team and bronze in individual foil. That same year, at age 47, he won the Amateur Fencers League of America’s individual men’s foil championship. The title made him the first Black fencer to win a U.S. senior individual fencing championship and one of the oldest athletes to reach that national pinnacle. His achievements also included repeated national, world, and Pan American team appearances, followed by induction into the USA Fencing Hall of Fame. Together, these results show that Jones was not recognized only because he broke a racial barrier—he earned his place through sustained excellence on the strip.
Connecticut Coaching Legacy
After competing internationally, Jones focused on teaching in Connecticut. He founded Salle Du Lion in New Haven and coached at programs including Guilford High School. His students remembered a demanding but generous teacher who built confidence as well as technique. Among those he coached was Elaine Cheris, who became a two-time Olympian. His Connecticut legacy is distinct from his competitive record: he carried his experience into the salle and helped prepare the next generation.
Hartford Fencers Club connection: Available HFC social-history posts directly connect Jones’s name to Connecticut fencing through the “Uriah Jones Master of the Sword ” trophy and the club’s effort to recover missing names from past state championship plaques. The evidence supports HFC’s role as a steward of this tradition; it does not by itself establish that Jones coached at HFC. His documented coaching base was Salle Du Lion and Connecticut school programs.