John Szent-Kiraly
John Szent Kiraly
Head coach Fencing
1960-86
"My greatest stisfaction comes not from creating Olympic champions," said John Szent Kiraly in 1979, "but from watching protégés develop from inexperienced students to successful in performers."
These words epitomize Kiraly's tenure as fencing coach at CSU, a 26-year span during which he took a program that had known little success and developed it into one of the school's most successful.
Born in Hungary, Kiraly began fencing at the age of 12. He came to the United States in 1950 and built a reputation as one of the nation's finest amateur fencers. Between 1950-58 he was a six-time Division champion, winner of the Woodland Trophy (city championship) and won the Gilman International trophy in 1954. He won his first American championship in 19553 when he became the first man ever to win the All-Ohio Championship in both the sabre and foil. In all, he won five All-Ohio Championships.
In 1960, Kiraly was named the fencing coach at Fenn College, predecessor to CSU, beginning his quarter century stay. Upon being named coach, Kiraly took over a program that had four winning season in 14 years competition and promptly won a record ten matches in his first year.
The team struggled in the years between that first year and 1972, however. Like all fencing coaches at the school, Kiraly faced the problem of inexperienced fencers, his teams often consisting of students who had never previously picked up a fencing weapon.
Fortunately, John Szent Kiraly was blessed with patience. He encouraged all his students and complimented them with a "very good" or "that's right" when they did something well. For those struggled, he would repeat a move until it was perfected or moved on to something else if it could not be mastered.
In 1972, patience began a string of 14 straight winning seasons that ended with Kiraly's retirement in 1986. In winning 71% if their matches, the team outperformed all other CSU teams during that time. And only soccer (18) and wrestling (17) have had longer such streaks in the annals of Fenn-CSU athletics.
During his tenure, Kiraly's men's teams produced 16 winning seasons. His record of 230-168 and .578 winning percentage was the fourth best of all CSU men's teams between 1960-86. This included at 5th Place finish in the 1978 NCAA Championships and a 4th Place finish in the 1978 NCAA Championships as well as a record 17 wins in 1983-84.
In 1977, Kiraly began a women's varsity program. Success came immediately as the team went 12-4 that first year. The 1983-84 squad won a record 15 matches. In eight seasons as the women's coach, Kiraly's teams had six winning seasons, compiling a 94-47 record with a .667 winning percentage, best of any CSU women's team in that span.
In Kiraly's 26 seasons, CSU participated in 15 NCAA Championships, 20 Great Lakes Fencing Tournaments and had six All-American titles. His combined record of 324-215 and .601 winning percentage bettered the combined performance of all of the school's other sports. And only wrestling and soccer fared better.
Kiraly was rewarded for his patience with winning teams and outstanding fencers. The greatest of them all was Carlo Songini who is CSU's only four-time All-American and only NCAA Division I Champion. He is also the only male fencer to be named "Most Outstanding" four times and in 1979 he was named CSU "Athlete of the Year". In 1993 he became Kiraly's second fencer to be inducted into the Cleveland State Hall of Fame, joining Guy Pinter. Other standouts include William Reith, a two-time All-American and Paula Capele, the only four-time "Most Outstanding" woman fencer at CSU.
Kiraly has received the U.S. Fencing Masters Certification, the "Acade'mie d'Armes Internationale" masters diploma and was inducted into the Greater Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame in 1978.
While at CSU he also worked in the Controllers Office at the Ford Motor Company's Engine Plants. He retired in 1987 as a senior accountant after 35 years of service.
Since his retirement, Kiraly has helped to found the "Fencing Alumni Network," a chapter of the CSU Alumni Association. He currently serves as a director on the board of the Nationalities Service Center and is the chairman of the board of trustees of the Hungarian Veterans Association. He is also the chairman of the Finance Committee of the West Side Hungarian Lutheran Church.
John Szent Kiraly and his wife Susan live in North Olmsted and have three children.
