Nikki Franke’s remarkable career in fencing is a win for women’s sports and Black female athletes. Here’s why.
Her retirement from Temple after 50 years as its head women's coach comes with a lifetime of achievements in the pursuit of equality.
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When Dr. Nikki Franke formally announced her retirement as head coach of Temple’s women’s fencing program on Tuesday, it marked the culmination of a 50-year-career.
While what she did in sports is a remarkable feat in its own right, it might pale in comparison to the accomplishments Franke amassed over that time as a pioneer in the sport of fencing and symbol across women’s sports.
As someone who spent a large part of her life in North Philadelphia, Franke is a local figure people should know. That’s why we created this explainer to get everyone up to speed.
Franke founded women’s fencing at Temple
Franke, 71, is the first Black woman to coach a Division I fencing program and was the driving force in moving the sport from a club team to a full-on varsity sport in 1972. She’s a pioneering legend who dealt with both the stigma of being a woman, and a woman of color, in a sport that lacked both prior to Title IX.
Her appointment as head coach in 1972 was a notable move for the university that came around the same time the entire college sports landscape was coming to terms with Title IX.
Franke, a champion in her own right
While she brought Temple’s program to prominence, Franke was a world-class athlete in her own right as a member of two U.S. Olympic teams in 1976 and 1980. Additionally, Franke was a two-time national champion in the foil competition in 1975 and 1980, and was a runner-up in 1978.
As a member of two U.S. delegations at the Pan American Games, Franke became a silver medalist in the individual foil competition in 1975 and aided a third-place finish for the U.S. team in both 1975 and 1979.
» READ MORE: Title IX: Temple fencing coach Nikki Franke is as inspiring as ever
Franke’s dominant run as Temple coach
Franke will leave the Owls as the winningest coach in any program at the school with 898 career wins in all competitions. As part of the National Intercollegiate Women’s Fencing Association, the governing body for collegiate fencing, Franke’s Owls have won the national title every year since 1999 and consistently ranks among the top 10 best programs in the NCAA.
Franke, a trailblazer for women’s sports
Franke became just one of three women inducted into the International Sports Hall of Fame in 2002. She’s also the only Black coach in the United States Fencing Hall of Fame, with her appointment in 1998. She’s in Temple’s Hall of Fame and is slated to be added to the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame in November.
In a 2022 interview with NBC Nightly News, Franke discussed the early days of her coaching career when she, as a Black woman head coach, surprised far too many.
“People would walk into the practice facility and they’d immediately walk up to my male assistant coach, assuming he was the head coach,” Franke said. “I mean, it couldn’t [possibly] be me, right?”
When asked if enough has been done to level the playing field in women’s athletics, Franke told NBC: “We have done a lot, but there’s still more we can do.”