Daniel Bukantz, right, shared the spotlight when his son, Jeffrey, was inducted into the JCC MetroWest Sports Hall of Fame in 2004.
July 31, 2008
Dr. Daniel Bukantz, a fixture of the international fencing community, died July 26 at the age of 90.
Bukantz was national champion in the 1940s and ’50s and a member of four Olympic squads. He was also a judge at eight Olympiads beginning in 1952 and for three World Championships.
Among Bukantz’s athletic accomplishments:
- Four-time U.S. national foil champion
- Nine-time U.S. National Champion Team (foil)
- Four-time U.S. Olympic team member
- Intercollegiate foil champion (CCNY, 1938)
- Gold Medal, 1950 World Maccabiah Games (individual foil)
- First American to officiate Olympic finals; officiated at eight Olympiads
- Official at three World Championships
- First American to receive AAA International refereeing rating
- Referee emeritus, U.S. Fencing Association
- Inducted into City College of NY Sports Hall of Fame, 1967
- Inducted into Fencing Hall of Fame, 1978
- Received the Pillar of Achievement Award from the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, 2000
Bukantz’s son, Jeffrey, with many fencing titles of his own, was chosen to serve as captain of the U.S. Fencing Team in the 2008 Olympic Games.
Jeffrey Bukantz, a resident of Livingston and inductee of the JCC MetroWest Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, discussed his father’s legacy with NJJN.
“My dad had all sorts of tangible accomplishments. He had the hardware. But he was known for his gentlemanly attitude, his integrity, his class. Danny was known for the software inside. People loved him. The touching e-mails I received were incredible, as they followed that theme.
“He was a giver. He gave as a referee; he gave as a mentor. He gave to CCNY after graduation for 25 years, both to the fencing team, and the school’s hall of fame.”
Bukantz also said that his father, who was a dentist, “gave free dental work to those in the fencing community who didn’t have the means.”
“He had an ever-present smile. He never criticized a soul. He treated everyone as equals, never using his lofty status as a competitor or referee.”
Bukantz wrote about his dad in his 2006 autobiography, Closing the Distance.
All the awards and accolades bestowed on Daniel Bukantz were, of course, most satisfying, but the author picked out one particular event over all others as his father’s proudest moment.
“At the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, the men’s saber semifinal was between Poland and the Soviet Union. In addition to being a match between the two best teams, with only one getting a chance at the gold, the match was destined to be a bloodbath for reasons that obviously had nothing to do with sport. In addition, the Soviets were afraid that an unfriendly referee would favor the underdog Poles.
“The Soviets told the bout committee that they would accept only one referee to officiate the match. Amazingly, it was a referee from the country which was in the midst of a Cold War with the Soviet Union. The Soviets requested, and said they would only accept, Danny Bukantz.
“As Mark Rakita — who won Olympic gold in the saber team in ’64 and ’68 and was a member of this particular team — said to me at my father’s induction into the International Jewish Sports Hall in Israel…, ‘Your father was the only referee in the world we could trust.’”
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