Temple University Athletics
Temple Open Renamed Coach Nikki Franke Classic
10.6.23 | Women's Fencing
PHILADELPHIA - Temple fencing head coach Jennie Salmon has announced that the team's annual Temple Open will be renamed to the "Coach Nikki Franke Classic."
The Coach Nikki Franke Classic is an individual tournament for collegiate fencers that draws an estimated 500 student-athletes from over 30 schools and is considered to be the largest of its kind in the nation. In addition, it is used as the starting point to the season for many schools on the East Coast. This will be the 43rd year that Temple has hosted the event, but the first under its new name.
"The Coach Nikki Franke Classic means so much to us," Salmon said. "Not just to the university but to the decades of women who have come through the program and the fencing community at large. This is one way to honor the great legacy that Nikki has brought not only to the women at Temple University but also to all of fencing. She's very humble and is always going to give credit to the athletes and the people who do the work around her, but she is the inspiration for so much of what has been accomplished through Temple fencing and what the athletes who have come through the program have gone on to accomplish. We're all shaped by our experiences here, and her legacy lives on through the program that continues to aspire to the same standard of excellence that she always expected. Her legacy is one of empowerment, accomplishment, and pride."
Dr. Nikki Franke, who retired as head coach of the program in August of 2022, founded the program in 1972, turning the club team to a varsity sport. 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.Â
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.Â
A five-time Hall of Fame member, Franke is a member of the International Sports Hall of Fame, the Temple Athletics Hall of Fame with the 1992 National Champion Fencing Team and 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.
The Coach Nikki Franke Classic is an individual tournament for collegiate fencers that draws an estimated 500 student-athletes from over 30 schools and is considered to be the largest of its kind in the nation. In addition, it is used as the starting point to the season for many schools on the East Coast. This will be the 43rd year that Temple has hosted the event, but the first under its new name.
"The Coach Nikki Franke Classic means so much to us," Salmon said. "Not just to the university but to the decades of women who have come through the program and the fencing community at large. This is one way to honor the great legacy that Nikki has brought not only to the women at Temple University but also to all of fencing. She's very humble and is always going to give credit to the athletes and the people who do the work around her, but she is the inspiration for so much of what has been accomplished through Temple fencing and what the athletes who have come through the program have gone on to accomplish. We're all shaped by our experiences here, and her legacy lives on through the program that continues to aspire to the same standard of excellence that she always expected. Her legacy is one of empowerment, accomplishment, and pride."
Dr. Nikki Franke, who retired as head coach of the program in August of 2022, founded the program in 1972, turning the club team to a varsity sport. 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.Â
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.Â
A five-time Hall of Fame member, Franke is a member of the International Sports Hall of Fame, the Temple Athletics Hall of Fame with the 1992 National Champion Fencing Team and 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.
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