Nikki Franke is twice a pioneer.

Forty years ago, she blazed a new trail by excelling in fencing, a sport that featured almost no African-American females. Later, as a coach, she drew on her experiences to open new paths for other female athletes of color.

Franke, now the director of fencing and women’s foil coach at Temple, knows from these great personal experiences how powerful the forces of opportunity and exposure can be. Over her 36-year tenure, including this year, her teams have stood out for how they are formed from different cultures.

A native New Yorker, Franke played all the traditional sports in high school and was set to attend City College and eventually become a high school physical education teacher. Then, a new instructor at her school introduced her to fencing.

“It changed my life,” said Franke, who at the urging of a friend ended up at Brooklyn College. “It’s really about exposure and opportunity. If that teacher hadn’t come to my high school, I never would have been exposed to fencing.”

As a four-year letter-winner and National Intercollegiate Women’s Fencing Association All-American at Brooklyn in the late 1960s and early 1970s, she was one of about 35 African-American students on the entire campus. Though she remembers her time at the school as both interesting and difficult, she said being on a team made it easier to cope with her unusual situation.

“The team may not have been very diverse, but it was very accepting and open, and the coach was fair, encouraging and nurturing,” she said. “It gave a totally different atmosphere to me than might have been available to students who were not involved on a team.”

Franke went to Temple as a graduate student and teaching assistant before eventually earning the opportunity to establish a team of her own – the Owls’ women’s fencing squad – in 1972. Now an associate professor in the university’s department of public health, Franke acknowledges she since has had offers to work elsewhere. But the chance to teach and coach – her two greatest passions – have kept her in Philadelphia.

Franke recalled a time when fencers were a more diverse lot than they are now. The fluctuating demographics of college students and the bygone days of plucking a potential fencer out of physical education classes or from other sports have changed the makeup of the sport. Now, she said, many of fencing’s best and brightest are being produced by private clubs. That creates an economic issue, which in turn hampers diversity.

Nevertheless, she believes the issue can be successfully attacked. Coaches and administrators must make diversity a priority, Franke said, by staying aware of the issue, searching for talent in out-of-the-way places and focusing on increasing opportunities by encouraging sponsorship of nontraditional sports at more institutions.

She also endorses the grass-roots efforts of the Black Women in Sports Foundation. Franke serves as secretary of the organization, which aims to introduce nontraditional sports to girls through clinics and other activities. The group also provides mentoring and life-skills support to kids through after-school programs.

Franke said the approach works to everybody’s benefit.

“There are advantages to having our athletes interact with each other and learn about different cultures and traditions that carry over into their everyday lives and make them better people, not just better athletes,” Franke said. “This is a very diverse world, and it’s important for students to interact in diverse settings – not just as a sport lesson, but as a life lesson.”

Spoken like a true pioneer.

Photo courtesy of Temple University.