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Ivy@50 - 4/24
Created: 4/24/2007 8:04:03 AM
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The Lajos Csiszar women's fencing trophy, awarded to the Ivy League's women's champion team, is modeled on Penn Athletic Hall of Famer and two-time Olympian Mary Jane O'Neill. "The trophy was donated by a Penn alum," O'Neill modestly recalls, "and I was picked as the most notorious Penn fencer."
She was at Harvard Medical School at the time and the sculptor, Timothy Maslin, went to her in Boston. "He did two or three sessions," she says, "and made me stay in a lunge position for 10 minutes at a time, which is as long as I could stand."
Initiated into fencing as a junior at Concord-Carlisle High School in Massachusetts, O'Neill joined an illustrious program. Though she took to the sport right away she fenced in the shadow of younger teammate Caitlin Bilodeau, who won two junior national championships before moving on to Columbia University.
The two met again in college — with O'Neill winning the NCAA individual title in 1984 while Bilodeau took it in 1985 and 1987. Incredibly, the two fencers followed another Concord-Carlisle grad, Columbia Hall of Famer Lisa Piazza.
Bilodeau and O'Neill were reunited at the 1988 and 1992 Olympics, when they fenced on the foil squad. "Our teams did well," remembers O'Neill. "I like team competition even though mine is an individual sport."
The 1992 Games were the first to have NBA players compete, and O'Neill's memories of them endure. "I loved competing for my country," she says. "I especially remember the opening ceremonies, the pro basketball players were mixed in with the amateurs. What an experience."
For Suzanne Eschenbach's full story, please visit ivy50.com. Note, there are Ivy postcards of Mary Jane O'Neill and all of the other athletes who have been profiled available by clicking here.
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Related Schools: Pennsylvania
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Related Sports: Fencing
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