Istvan John Danosi

Istvan J. Danosi

Wayne State Fencing Coach (1957 – 1982)

Istvan Danosi was born in Hungary. After Danosi received his degree from the Royal Hungarian Sport and Fencing Institute in 1935, he coached Fencing in his native Hungary, leading his country’s Olympic team to a Gold Medal in the 1952 Helsinki Games. In 1956 he moved his family to New York then accepted a position to coach Fencing at Wayne State in 1957, where he would stay for the next 25 years. While the program was good when he arrived, he made it even better as he would go on to win five NCAA championships and compile a record of 283 victories against only 59 losses. Nicknamed the “Maestro”, Danosi has not only been a power in collegiate Fencing but has been the Fencing head coach at the World University Games in 1972 and the World Junior Fencing teams in 1972. Istvan Danosi was inducted into the National Fencing Hall of Fame, the Wayne State Athletic Hall of Fame in 1983 and was inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 1985. He passed away on April 8, 2005 at 93 years of age.