Gaugler, William

William Gaugler, (born August 5, 1931, Highland Park, Michigan, U.S.—died December 10, 2011, Sunnyvale, California), American fencing master. He was one of the most prominent and respected students of the great Italian fencer Aldo Nadi. In 1979 Gaugler established a fencing master’s training program at San José State University in California, where he also taught as a member of the archaeology department. By 1988 the fencing program had become the first internationally recognized master developmental course in the United States. The instruction was based on the classical system established in Italy in the latter half of the 19th century.

Gaugler’s own training was extensive, classical, and purely Italian in nature, beginning with his work under Nadi in Los Angeles. Gaugler then went to Europe, studying with the faculty of the French Military Fencing Master’s School; with Edmond Durrieu in Monaco; with Ettore Spezza, Giorgio Pessina, and Umberto Di Paola in Italy; and, finally, with Amilcare Angelini in Germany. He passed his fencing master’s examination in Italy in 1976, which qualified him as a fencing instructor.

Gaugler produced many articles on fencing methodology and history, which appeared in the leading fencing magazines worldwide. His fencing books include Fencing Everyone (1987), which details the methodology of the Italian school of fencing; The Science of Fencing (1997); and The History of Fencing (1997).