The Stanford Fencing Association announced that an anonymous alumnus has stepped forward to initiate a $100,000 donation towards a permanent endowment, The Stanford Fencing Legends Fund. The anonymous alumnus donation was inspired by Jimi Jung's generous 1.25 million dollar pledge for the preservation of the 119 year old Stanford Varsity Fencing program. The Fencing Legends Fund will honor four Stanford Fencing Legends: George Domolky, Jean Perhem Helliwell, Sherry Posthumus and Zoran Tulum.

George Domolky ('59) left the University of Budapest following political unrest in the 1950s and came to Stanford where he continued to fence saber, helping the team achieve a winning season in 1958. He participated in the 1958 US National Saber Team Championship and placed fourth in the finals for the 1959 US Nationals Saber Individuals Championship. George graduated from Stanford University with both a bachelor and masters in Economics and received his MBA from the University of California at Berkeley. Currently a Senior Vice President at Fidelity, George continues his interest in and support of the Stanford Varsity Fencing Program.

Jean Perhem Helliwell ('47) , a member of the Stanford Fencing team between 1940 and 1942, joined Stanford Fencing as the Senior Cardinal Varsity fencing coach in 1964. She was the first woman to be a fencing coach at Stanford, and also the first to coach for both the men's and women's teams. Long recognized as one of the leading fencing authorities on the west coast, she was also an academic advisor for over thirteen years. Her co-ed coaching paved the way for the merging of Stanford's men's and women's athletic programs between 1974 and 1975. In 1982, she retired after 18 years of service. She passed away on May 1st, 2001.

Sherry Posthumus served Stanford Fencing for 25 years as coach and Assistant Athletic Director. A vital driving force in the fencing world, Sherry represented the United States as the team leader of three Olympic Teams (1988, 1992, 1996), not to mention being the managing senior and junior World Championship and Pan-American teams coach. She was the first woman Olympic team leader in the history of the sport and a member of the US Olympic Committee. She was names NCAA Women's Coach of the Year and chaired the NCAA National Fencing Committee. She died December 2007 and was inducted into the United States Fencing Association Hall of Fame in July 2009.

Zoran Tulum has been a fencer for over 40 years and a coach for 27 years. A winner of the Yugoslavian National Championships, he coached at Harvard University for 2 years then became head coach at Stanford University for 12 years. Zoran has coached many champions for both US National and Olympic teams and was coach for the US Olympic team in 1996. Zoran founded and is head coach at Zeta Fencing Studio (ZFS) in Massachusetts. In the last ten years, ZFS fencers have won four national titles and accumulated over thirty medals at national championship events.

Congratulations to the four honorees! Stanford Fencing coaches and the Stanford Fencing Association are grateful to the anonymous Stanford alumnus donor and hope his gift will inspire others to add to the endowment so that the 119 year old fencing program can continue for generations to come.