Temple University Athletics
Dr. Nikki Franke to Receive WeCOACH Lifetime Achievement Award
12.14.22 | Women's Fencing
PHILADELPHIA – Former Temple fencing head coach Dr. Nikki Franke will recieve the WeCOACH Lifetime Achievement Award, as announced by the organization Tuesday.
WeCOACH, along with partners Hudl and Jostens, presents this prestigious award is presented to women in sports who succeed at the highest levels in their respective careers, while also displaying an unwavering commitment, pioneering spirit, and trailblazing leadership to empower and pave the way for girls and women in all sports and levels to breakthrough for many generations to come.
In celebration of the 50th anniversary of Title IX this year, Franke, Coach Carol Hutchins, recently retired University of Michigan Softball Head Coach, and Coach Jodi Manore, Bedford High School (Michigan) Varsity Girls Volleyball Head Coach, have been recognized by the organization.
All three recipients of this year's award will be formally recognized during the 2022 BreakThrough Summit on Friday, December 16 in Omaha, Nebraska. Registration details for this year's BreakThrough Summit can be found here.
This honor is the latest in a long list of accolades Franke has collected in her tenure on North Broad, and most recently was announced as the David P. Montgomery Lifetime Achievement Award winner from PHL Sports, a division of the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau (PHLCVB).
The all-time winningest women's athletics coach at Temple, Franke amassed 898 wins, including the 1992 NCAA Championship, during her Hall of Fame career. Perennially ranked in the Top 10 in the nation, the iconic coach has guided the program to an active streak of 26 straight National Intercollegiate Women's Fencing Association Championships.
During the half-century of her leadership, 37 Temple fencers have earned 66 NCAA selections with 25 of those Owls garnering 35 All-America honors. Temple Fencing has had a winning record in 48 of Franke's 50 years at the helm, including 18 20-plus win campaigns.
Franke is in four Hall of Fames and will be inducted into her fifth when she enters the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame this Nov. 3. She is a member of the International Sports Hall of Fame and the Temple Athletics Hall of Fame with the 1992 National Champion Fencing Team. Franke has also been inducted into the Temple Athletics Hall of Fame as an individual, the US Fencing Association Hall of Fame, and the Brooklyn College Hall of Fame. She also received the United States Fencing Coaches Association Women's Fencing Coach of the Year honors in 1983, 1987, 1988, and 1991.
A member of the 1976 and 1980 U.S. Olympic teams, Franke was the United States Fencing Association's (USFA) National Foil Champion in both 1975 and 1980. She was the runner-up in the national finals in 1978 and finished third in 1976, 1977, and 1979. Franke was a member of the U.S. Team which placed fifth in the 1973 World University Games in Moscow, as well as the American squad that competed in the World University Games in Bulgaria in 1977. A member of two U.S. delegations that competed in the 1975 and 1979 Pan American Games, she captured a silver medal in the 1975 individual foil competition and a bronze in the 1979 competition. On both occasions, she helped the United States team to a third-place finish.
Franke announced her retirement as the head coach of Temple fencing in August, turning the program over to Temple alum Jennie Salmon.
