Fencer is perfect foil as a wrestler
Medalist Jeff Bukantz raises funds for Maccabiah Games by going to the mats
Like his late father, Dr. Daniel Bukantz, Jeff Bukantz of Montville is a medaled foil fencer.
The elder Bukantz competed in the Olympics in 1948, 1952, 1956, and 1960 and won the gold in foil at the 1950 Maccabiah Games.
His son won the United States National championship in team foil eight times, took the bronze medal in team foil at the 1987 Pan American Games, and captured 11 medals competing in the World Maccabiah Games in 1981, 1985, 1989, and 1993.
That’s a lot of winning.
As president of Maccabi USA, Mr. Bukantz has introduced Jewish athletes of all ages to the State of Israel and promoted Jewish pride through sports. As an Olympic referee and international sports commentator, he’s provided insight into what happens on the fencing strip and explains to his listeners what fencers must do to win a match. As captain of the USA Olympic fencing team in 2004 and 2008, he made an impact on his players, by lightening the mood during tense competition while ensuring that, win or lose, his fencers competed at the highest level. And as a competitive athlete, he’s learned that no matter the outcome, you should enjoy the process.
“I’ve experienced many meaningful moments as a Jewish athlete, but my single greatest achievement was winning the gold medal in men’s individual foil at the Maccabiah Games in 1989,” Mr. Bukantz said. “That’s the same medal my dad won in 1950.”
The Maccabiah Games are the world’s second largest international sporting event. They draw more than 10,000 Jewish athletes from 80 countries who participate in more than 40 sports. “As many as 1,200 athletes go to Israel to compete,” Mr. Bukantz said. “That’s twice the size of an Olympic team” sent by the largest countries.
So what is a nice Jewish guy from Forest Hills, Queens, who has spent 30 years perfecting his blade work, footwork, and tactical skills as a fencer, doing wrestling in a professional ring?
“It’s simple,” Mr. Bukantz said. “It’s a fun way to raise funds to support the 2025 United States Maccabiah Team.”
Maccabiah Mania III, scheduled at Livingston High School on March 2, is the third wrestling fundraising event Mr. Bukantz has produced to support athletes who compete in the Maccabiah Games. “Back in the day, it was the responsibility of the chairman of the fencing team not only to put together the team, but to raise the funds to send them to Israel,” he said. “That was 12 fencers plus a coach at $5,000 per athlete. At the time, a lot of chairs, like me, couldn’t get the money together — so in 1993, one of my buddies suggested a wrestling fundraiser because he knew I liked it.
“I was 35 years old, and not only did I organize and host the event, I wrestled in it.”
Mr. Bukantz picked up basic wrestling moves by watching wrestling on TV and in person, but trained twice at Iron Mike Sharpe’s wrestling school in Brick Township.
Since the mid-1990s, Mr. Bukantz has raised tens of thousands of dollars to fund the American fencing team’s travel costs.
And once again, Jeff Bukantz, Olympic fencing competitor, coach, commentator, and referee, will headline this year’s event in Livingston as the Mighty Maccabee. “Times have changed,” Mr. Bukantz said. “The first show, in 1993, was held in a tent in the cul-de-sac of our street in Livingston.
“My ex-wife was a good sport, helping manage the logistics, sell tickets, provide lodging and feeding the wrestlers in our home. We even videotaped the event — ultimately packaging and selling the Maccabiah Mania videos in dollar bins. Surprisingly, there was a following of wrestling fans who bought them.
“Sadly, a lot of the wrestlers from the first two shows, guys who were in their 50s at the time, are dead,” he said. “But in this year’s main event match, the Mighty Maccabee will defend his World Maccabiah Championship against the Timeless Crowbar, who has wrestled in WWE, WCW and every major wrestling organization for the last 30 years.”
This will be the Mighty Maccabee’s first title defense since March 1, 1997, when he defeated a former WWF champion, The Iron Sheik.
“If my opponent, Chris Ford, aka ‘Crowbar,’ a Rutherford physical therapist by trade, really destroys me, he can manage the eventual aches and pains I’m prepared to suffer,” Mr. Bukantz said.
There are many differences between fencers and wrestlers. Fencers are agile, tactical, and focused. To be successful they must think quickly and strategically on the strip. Wrestlers rely on mental drive, stamina, physical strength, and flexibility on the mat. It’s hard to imagine an athlete integrating the skills of both sports, but somehow Mr. Bukantz does. He’s a man of many talents.
So where did Mr. Bukantz get the fencing itch? “My greatest influence was my dad,” he said. “My father was born and raised in the Bronx. He tells the story of walking down Tremont Avenue and seeing a few of his buddies fencing. When he teased his friends with ‘that’s a sissy sport,’ they challenged him to a duel. He tried it, couldn’t move for four days, and knew if he wanted to improve, he’d need to go to a club and take lessons from a coach.
“My dad started his training at the Saltus Club, a club that accepted Jews, then the New York Fencers Club, to refine his skill in foil fencing. He went on to win the 1938 Intercollegiate Fencing Association’s singles championship in the foil as a senior at City College, before attending New York University’s dental school.” After graduating, Dr. Bukantz was a captain in the Army Dental Command in World War II, accompanying his unit during the Battle of the Bulge.
“While my dad exposed me to the sport of fencing from a young age, he was hands-off in his approach,” Mr. Bukantz said. “Looking back, I can see how different his tactics were from the parents today who dissect their young athlete’s every move.
“I was a late bloomer,” he continued. “I held my first blade at the age of 3, but I didn’t start fencing until my early teens.”
Mr. Bukantz says that it was hard to train with his dad. “I didn’t want to listen to him,” he said. “So I learned from good friends of my dad’s — Nat Lubell and Frank Bavuso — the first of whom competed in three Olympic games with Dr. Bukantz. Also, he was overweight, and that hampered him too. “I had a lack of faith in myself and my skills.”
In 1977, he began taking lessons at the New York Fencers Club with Csaba Elthes, a Hungarian fencer and five-time Olympic team coach. “He instilled a discipline in me that I’d not previously embraced,” he said. “I went from being a C-ranked fencer to an A-ranked fencer in about a year and a half.”
Mr. Bukantz didn’t hit his stride until 1978, when he qualified for the national championships in Hollywood, Florida. “I was 21,” he said. “As the years went on, my father and I won the National Foil Team Championship in USA Fencing 17 times — nine for him and eight for me. We represented the New York Fencers Club, the oldest fencing club in the Western Hemisphere.”
While his dad contributed to his love of fencing, Mr. Bukantz owes his success to his late mother’s perseverance and fighting spirit. Alice Bukantz had “lost 75 members of her family in Auschwitz,” he said. “The Holocaust took a huge part of her life, but her revenge was to live the best life she could have. While I followed in my dad’s fencing footsteps, she was my inspiration.”
“Fencing is a niche sport that has grown in popularity,” Mr. Bukantz said. “There are 70 high schools in New Jersey that offer fencing. Currently, there are 45 fencing clubs, a growth from four in 1980 when I first moved here. Each month, there are 120 to 400 entrants in a single USA Fencing event occurring across the country. With multiple events, there can be up to 2,000 fencers at these national events, which are held in gigantic convention centers.
“Fencing serves as a great entree into college,” Mr. Bukantz said.
Mr. Bukantz, 67, has retired from his energy consulting business; he’s now devoting all his time to the Maccabi Games USA, and to his work with and for his sport.
He has been a referee and administrator at two Olympic games, seven World Championships, and 22 NCAA championships. “I’m no longer reffing the top college meets,” he said. At the collegiate level, “you have to be on top of your game.” Throughout the last 25 years, he’s appreciated the opportunity to referee at New Jersey high school fencing matches. “When I’m reffing high school kids from mid-December through March 1, I know I’m going to be happy,” he said. “Refs can self-assign to fencing meets all over New Jersey. I used to take the most competitive meets, but now I choose meets that are closest to my home.”
Mr. Bukantz believes the most impactful moment of his career has been marching into the Maccabiah Games opening ceremony in Israel. “While I am proud to represent the United States and proud of my accomplishment in making the team, what’s most striking is recognizing that it’s the only time a Jew can march into a gathering of 30,000 people and know that every single one of them is proud that you are Jewish,” he said.
Since 2023, Mr. Bukantz has gone from 247 to 186 pounds by eating carefully and exercising. “I got back into the shape I was in as a world class athlete,” he said. That, combined with his 45-year arc in Maccabi USA coming to an end after this July’s Maccabiah Games, led to his following his mother’s mantra of living life to the fullest. “It was time to get back into the ring.”
Mr. Bukantz is excited to lace up his boots one last time while raising money toward a cause he feels so passionately about. “I have served as the president of Maccabi USA since 2017 and have been involved with the organization since participating in the 11th Maccabiah Games in 1981 as a fencer,” he said. “I have always loved professional wrestling. And using wrestling as a vehicle to bring athletes to the Maccabiah has been incredibly meaningful.”
Like his late father, Jeff Bukantz will be inducted into the USA Fencing Hall of Fame in Milwaukee, in a ceremony set for July 1. On July 3, he will leave for Israel for the Israel Connect cultural week for Maccabiah Games competitors. The games will follow. Then, on July 18, he will depart for Tbilisi, Georgia Republic, to provide commentary at the World Fencing Championships.
To register for the Maccabiah Mania III fundraiser at Livingston High School, set for March 2, email sgraber@maccabiusa.com or call (215) 561-6900 ext. 4148
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