Since Binghamton moved to Division I in 2001, many athletes have achieved personal success. Pole vaulter Rory Quiller won a national championship, soccer goalie Stefan Gonet was featured in Sports Illustrated and 7-foot basketball center Nick Billings was drafted by the NBA Developmental League’s Roanoke Dazzle. But before any of the All-Americans or NCAA qualifiers, there were two Olympians. A fencing coach and his prot√É©g√É©.

Like hockey, Binghamton once sported a varsity fencing program, from 1971-76. The biggest beneficiary may have been John Moreau ’77, who never even picked up a fencing weapon before meeting coach Paul Pesthy.

Moreau was a track star at Binghamton when Pesthy asked him to give fencing a try. Pesthy thought Moreau had the potential to succeed in the modern pentathlon, a five-sport event that includes running, swimming, pistol shooting, show jumping and fencing.

‘Pesthy told me once he knew I had potential because I was the only person who ever had run all the way up the water tower hill on campus and refused to walk,’ Moreau said. ‘I don’t know what it looks like now, but when I was there it was a goat trail, straight up.’

Less than two weeks after Moreau’s first fencing lesson, he took a trip to Syracuse that would change his life.

‘One Saturday morning in November, I got a call from Paul, and he asked me if I could replace one of our fencers who had the flu for a match in Syracuse,’ Moreau said. ‘I’ve been fencing for a week and a half. I asked, ‘When do you want me?’ He said, ‘In 15 minutes.’ I replaced a sabre fencer. I never even touched a sabre before, and Paul had me up there that very first match. I beat the guy 5-0, and we wound up losing only two matches out of 27. I was hooked after that.’

Thirteen years later, Moreau became Binghamton’s first Olympian when he competed in the 1984 Games in Los Angeles. He also competed in the 1988 Games in Seoul, won a national championship in 2003, and is currently ranked second in the 50-to-59 √É©p√É©e division by the United States Fencing Association.

Pesthy himself was a member of four Olympic fencing teams, and his modern pentathlon team won a silver medal in the 1964 Games. He and Moreau remained close long after they left Binghamton, and Moreau spoke at Pesthy’s funeral when he passed away two years ago at the age of 70.

‘I looked at him as a father,’ Moreau said.

Pesthy was giving fencing lessons when he needed to be rushed to the hospital. His cancer had morphed into chronic lymphatic leukemia. The doctors gave him the most potent treatment available, but his body wouldn’t take it.

‘He came home to say goodbye to everyone,’ Moreau said. ‘He brought in his students, introduced me as their new coach, and brought the parents in and gave them a speech about letting their kids fence for the love of it. It couldn’t have been scripted better in the movies. Here’s a man who died a day later, yet he was more concerned about leaving his students without a coach.’

Moreau has a lot of stories like that about Pesthy that have accumulated over the years. Here’s one of his favorites:

It was a few years back, on Father’s Day, about a week after Pesthy had double-bypass surgery. Moreau called Pesthy’s home, expecting Paul’s wife to answer.

‘I called his wife to see if it would be OK to visit him in the hospital,’ Moreau said. ‘I knew that hundreds of people had been going to see him and I didn’t want to tire him out.’

But Paul’s wife didn’t answer the phone.

‘Paul answered the phone,’ Moreau recalled. ‘I said, ‘What are you doing home?’

Pesthy replied, ‘Just got back from walking a half mile.’