Nikki Tomlinson Franke, Associate Professor of Public Health

I was national champion twice. I was medalist at the Pan-American Games, silver medalist and a bronze medalist, and I was on the ’76 and on the ’80 Olympic teams. It’s interesting how a sport can change your life, and for me fencing really changed my life in a lot of ways. Having grown up in Harlem, we grew up on the West Side a couple of blocks from City College and that’s where my brother went, that’s where I was going to go, and my senior year of high school is when I started fencing. I started going to tournaments and met some people who all said, “No no no, you can’t go to City College. You have to go to Brooklyn College because there’s a great coach there.” And so there’s been a long line of graduates from Brooklyn College who had come to Temple to get their masters and then, you know, go on.

When I came here, I was teaching the classes, I was coaching the team, I was going to school and I was training myself; I was still competing. There wasn’t much to do on campus. I really didn’t… there weren’t... it’s nothing like today. There weren’t a lot of students that lived on campus; it was very much a commuter college. You know, people came and went to class and then they left and went to work, or did what they had to do.

When I came there was a fencing club. I said to Barbara, “Why do we have a club? Why don’t we have a team?” She goes, “Why don’t we have a team? Should we have a team?” And I go, “Yes!” because that’s all I knew. I didn’t know anything about clubs. I have been part of a team and that’s all I knew. And I was like “Well, why don’t we have one?” and she goes, “Then… we have one.” And we started a fencing team. Just like that.

It’s interesting, as you probably know, the further away you get from Temple, the better the reputation. And this campus… I tell them, if someone hasn’t been here in the last three years, that they would not recognize this campus. What we say to kids is “All we ask you to do is come and see it for yourself. You can make a judgment. You’ll know whether you feel comfortable or not because if you’re not comfortable then it’s not the right place for you. But don’t take someone else’s word for it. Find out for yourself.” And we’ve been very successful in the kids; we have kids on our team from all over the country. And I think Temple provides a very good growth experience for young people.