Peter Westbrook was a pioneering Olympic fencer whose legacy wasn’t just the accolades he won, but also the lives he touched through his nonprofit work.
- Died: November 29, 2024 (Who else died on November 29?)
- Details of death: Died in New York City of liver cancer at the age of 72.
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Peter Westbrook’s legacy
Westbrook’s six Olympic appearances, 13 national championships, and Olympic bronze medal, all as the first Black fencer to medal in the United States, would alone be enough to put him in the history books. But for many, his lasting legacy will be the many young people he helped through his nonprofit organization.
Westbrook first got into fencing at age 13, then excelled at it while attending Essex Catholic High School in New Jersey. Skeptical at first but urged by his mother to give it a try, he quickly came to love the sport. His talents earned him a full scholarship to New York University, when, as a senior, he won the Amateur Fencers League of America national championship in 1974, setting the stage for bigger things to come.
Just two years later, Westbrook broke ground when he became the United States’ first-ever Black Olympic fencer, sitting with the team but not competing due to a ligament tear just prior to the games. He represented his country for the next five Olympic Games in a row, six total from 1976 to 1996, highlighted by his 1984 bronze medal win. He was the first American to medal in fencing since 1960.
Westbrook also medaled repeatedly at the Pan American Games, including earning golds in 1983 and 1995. In the U.S., from 1974 to 1995, he was an annual force to be reckoned with, winning 13 National Men’s Sabre Championships, eight of them back-to-back.
His work outside of sports was just as impactful. Through the Peter Westbrook Foundation, he created the PWF Academic Enrichment Program and PWF Elite Athlete Program. Both are aimed at providing opportunities to underserved young people in New York, including tutoring, assistance with SATs and other testing, and other academic support. The foundation has also helped develop the next generation of fencing talent, with four of its students – Kamara James, Ivan Lee, and siblings Keeth Smart and Erinn Smart – going on to the Olympics. Each of them has been national successes, and at one juncture, Keeth Smart and James were ranked number one in the world.
Westbrook’s 1997 memoir, “Harnessing Anger: The Way of an American Fencer,” chronicles his story, detailing how his impoverished upbringing impacted his career. In 1985, he became an inductee into the New York University Athletics Hall of Fame, and is also in the USFA Hall of Fame, the Sports Hall of Fame of New Jersey, and the International Sports Hall of Fame.
Notable quote
“I just thought African-Americans could take advantage of the sport, maybe get some scholarships, turn their lives around being around a lot of other positive African-Americans. That was pretty much it. I didn’t think people would gravitate this much to what we do. I didn’t dream that literally we’d have the best team in the country.” — interview with the New York Times, 2004
Tributes to Peter Westbrook
Full obituary: The New York Times
