USA Fencing Announces Hall of Fame Class of 2027

Published June 2, 2026 · Updated September 21, 2026

USA Fencing announced its Hall of Fame Class of 2027: eight inductees across the Olympic, Paralympic, Veteran, Coach, Contributor and Legacy categories, selected through member voting combined with objective scoring in the athlete categories.

The inductees

Olympic Athlete — Ibtihaj Muhammad OLY (Saber). The first American woman to compete at the Olympics in a hijab and the first Muslim-American woman to win an Olympic medal, taking team saber bronze in 2016. Per USA Fencing, she is a five-time Senior World medalist and a World Champion.

Paralympic Athlete — Carol Hickey PLY (Epee/Foil). A two-time Paralympian who won bronze in women's epee at the 2002 IWAS World Championships.

Veteran Athlete — Anne-Marie Walters (Foil). Eighteen selections to USA Veteran World Championship teams, three Veteran World titles, and U.S. No. 1 rankings in three veteran age categories.

Coach — Gary Copeland. Founded Northern Colorado Fencers in 1979, coached 46 individual national champions, was named USOC Fencing Coach of the Year in 1999, and served as a U.S. National Team coach more than 20 times.

Contributor — Gerrie Baumgart. The first U.S. woman to earn an FIE A rating and the first woman to officiate at the Olympics, refereeing the gold medal epee team final at Atlanta 1996.

Contributor — Sean Shumate PLY. A 2004 Paralympian who has worked four consecutive Paralympic Games, serves as Vice Chair of the USA Fencing Referees' Commission, and chairs the IWAS Rules Commission.

Legacy — Sally Pechinsky OLY (Foil). The first NYU woman named to a U.S. Olympic team, competing in women's team foil at the 1968 Mexico City Games, and inducted into the NYU Athletics Hall of Fame in 1996.

Legacy — Steve Kaplan OLY (Saber). A 1976 Olympian and the 1971 NCAA Individual Saber Champion, with six U.S. National Saber titles. He founded Cobra Fencing Club and is a USFCA Fencing Master.

How the class was selected

The Hall of Fame Committee, chaired by Kamilla Gafurzianova OLY, worked from a field of 47 qualified nominees. Member voting ran from May 13 through May 31, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. ET.

The Olympic and Veteran categories combine member votes with objective scoring, so a résumé of results carries measurable weight rather than resting on popularity alone. The remaining categories are decided by member vote.

Two saber names worth noting

For a saber-only club, two inductees stand out.

Ibtihaj Muhammad is the rare fencer known far outside the sport, and the reason is not only the medal. A generation of young fencers learned that the sport had room for them by watching her compete. That is a recruiting effect no marketing budget produces.

Steve Kaplan's résumé traces the other classic saber path: Olympian, NCAA individual champion, six national titles, then decades of building a club and coaching credentials as a USFCA Fencing Master. Competitive results open the door; coaching keeps the sport alive after the competitive years end.

What a Hall of Fame class tells newer families

Read the eight entries together and the shape of a fencing life becomes visible. Some inductees are honored for medals. Others are honored for refereeing, for governance, for building clubs, for opening doors that had been closed.

That matters if you are a parent deciding whether a sport is worth the commitment. Fencing does not ask a child to be an Olympian or leave. There are places in it for referees, coaches, organizers and lifelong veteran competitors — and this class recognizes all of them.

Train with us in Bethesda

Saber Nation is a saber-only club at 4701 Sangamore Road, Suite LL2, Bethesda, MD 20816. See our saber fencing classes in Bethesda or contact us to visit.

Official USA Fencing source: USA Fencing Announces Hall of Fame Class of 2027 — published June 2, 2026.

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