11-11-2007, 10:07 AM
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#1 | | Super Shoebie
Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: VA
Posts: 1,080
| Sad News from Virginia
From Tom Hennig on the Virginia Division Forum William and Mary Accident Quote:
William and Mary Accident
« on: Today at 09:53:50 »
The William and Mary fencing team was traveling to Haverford PA this weekend to compete in our 2nd of 3 MACFA team events. We were traveling in two vehicles, a van and a car, when the car was involved in a crash on I-95.
It brings us great sadness to report that our longtime coach, Pete Conomikes, died in the crash. Three fencers from the team were also in the car and are being treated at Medical College of Virginia in Richmond. Their injuries range from minor to critical.
We mourn the loss of our coach and are hopeful that our teammates will make a complete recovery.
Pete has been an amazing influence on so many in the fencing community. We ask that you keep those involved in the crash and their families in your thoughts and prayers over the next several days. We also request that the privacy of our team members and their families be respected in this time of great stress and uncertainty.
We will update this post with further information as we receive it. In lieu of phone calls or e-mails, please post condolences here in the forum.
Thank you for your concern.
William and Mary Fencing Team
| Please direct all condolences to Virginia Division Forum: http://forum.va-usfa.org/forum.cgi?b...num=1194789230 | 
|  | | And now for this message... |
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11-11-2007, 10:12 AM
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#2 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Michigan
Posts: 2,437
| God Bless them
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11-11-2007, 10:54 AM
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#3 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Philly
Posts: 630
| My deepest condolences to the fencers and families involved. I have met Coach Conomikes many times, and he has always been a class act and has instilled the same qualities in his fencers. | |
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11-11-2007, 11:15 AM
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#4 | | Just Joined
Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Midwest
Posts: 13
| With deepest sympathy on the loss of your Coach....
Prayers for those injured and affected by this sad event......
Karinka
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Salute | |
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11-11-2007, 02:37 PM
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#5 | | Senior Member
Join Date: May 2003 Location: Cambridge, MA
Posts: 4,084
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11-11-2007, 03:37 PM
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#6 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Fredericksburg, VA
Posts: 1,591
| Please give my most sincere consolations to the team and familly members of the coach and the three injured team members.
Ethan Charles Robertson | |
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11-11-2007, 04:07 PM
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#7 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: CC
Posts: 2,625
| Oh gosh. That's very sad.
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My name is Isaac Erbele, and I approve this message | 
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11-11-2007, 04:42 PM
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#8 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 418
| How horrible. This is the worst news yet on fencing.net. The only thing I can suggest for fencers is to drive carefully, and buckle up your seat belts. I am sure that everyone on fencing.net acknowledges your loss and feels very badly. Please be assured that all fencers everywhere will remember your loss. | |
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11-12-2007, 12:41 AM
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#9 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Back in Buffalo!!! (sort of...)
Posts: 141
| When I first started fencing in college, I was one of the few students with a car. Since we were poor college kids, we couldn't afford hotels, so we always drove very early in the morning to get to tournaments, and came home very late.
My car was a stick-shift. Few of my friends knew how to drive a standard transmission, so I almost always was the driver, on both legs of the trip. Many, many, many times I would start to doze off while driving home and, frankly, it is a miracle that I didn't get in a deadly accident.
I don't know the details of the William and Mary tragedy, and I am not suggesting that the driver fell asleep or anything. No matter what the circumstances, you have my most sincere regard and sympathy.
However, this might be a good time to remind everyone to TRAVEL SAFELY, especially when you have friends and family in the car, and everyone has had a long and exhausting day in many cases. | |
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11-12-2007, 11:37 AM
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#11 | | Member
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 45
| Sad news!
My prayers go out to the the families, | |
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11-12-2007, 12:58 PM
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#12 | | Senior Member
Join Date: May 2007 Location: Spain
Posts: 135
| God bless the coach...I lived in Virginia for 3 years and William and Mary´s got great people.RIP | |
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11-12-2007, 05:41 PM
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#13 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: MA
Posts: 7,347
| My condolences to the friends and family of the coach, and I hope that all the students recover quickly.
I just realized that I fenced one of the students through high school. It's scary when this happens to someone you know and have fenced before.
Again, my condolences to everyone involved. | |
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11-15-2007, 09:43 AM
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#14 | | Admin
Join Date: Dec 1999 Location: Atlanta, GA
Posts: 4,559
| Memorial Services Announced
The memorial services for Coach Conomikes will be on Friday. Quote:
Memorial service will be held Friday, Nov. 16, at 11:30 am at W & M.
Beloved fencing coach dies, three students injured in accident
News · W&M News · Staff stories · Conomikes dies in accident
Author: Staff, Source: W&M News
Date: Nov 12, 2007
The William and Mary community is mourning the loss of venerable Fencing Club Coach Peter S. “Pete” Conomikes, who died Saturday afternoon in a single-car accident that also injured three students.
Conomikes, who has coached at the College since 1972, was traveling with members of the club fencing team to Haverford, Penn., to compete in a Middle Atlantic Collegiate Fencing Association team event when the accident occurred around 1 p.m. on Interstate 295 near Richmond. Three members of the fencing club were traveling with Conomikes and also were injured, Vice President for Student Affairs Sam Sadler said in a note to the College community Sunday afternoon. Students Spencer Butts and Ben Gutenberg remain hospitalized at the Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center (Medical College of Virginia) and are in critical but stable condition, Sadler said. The third student, Matt Peppe, was treated and released from the hospital, he added.
“We are extending care, both in Richmond and here on campus, to the members of the Fencing Club and to the families of our injured students,” said Sadler in his message. “I know you will want to provide support for them and to remember Mr. Conomikes in your own way. The sense of community we share at William and Mary is a remarkable source of strength and healing.”
Conomikes began his fencing career at Columbia University in 1940. During much of a long career, he was an A - rated fencer in his specialty, epee. At one point, he was A - rated on all three of the weapons used in the sport.
Conomikes joined the coaching staff of the College in 1972, when fencing was a varsity sport, and served as head coach until 1995 when the sport became a club. He continued coaching the club and teaching a beginning fencing class until the accident.
A statement on the William and Mary Fencing Team’s Web site said: “We mourn the loss of our coach and are hopeful that our teammates will make a complete recovery. Pete has been an amazing influence on so many in the fencing community. We ask that you keep those involved in the crash and their families in your thoughts and prayers over the next several days.”
Conomikes reputation and influence extended far beyond the campus and earned him many honors and awards, said Sadler. Additionally, many of the fencers he coached at the College continued in competition. His work has helped preserve competitive fencing through his support of the Middle Atlantic Collegiate Fencing Association.
“He will be missed by all who knew him,” said Sadler. “Because of his efforts and dedication he leaves a proud legacy of excellence in fencing at William and Mary and more importantly gratitude, deep affection and respect in the hearts of all those whom he has taught and coached.”
Sadler added, “The students in the Fencing Club join me in asking that you keep their injured teammates (and their families) in your thoughts and prayers as well as the wife, family members, and friends of their beloved coach, Pete Conomikes.
Contact Us © 2007 The College of William & Mary
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11-25-2007, 07:46 AM
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#15 | | Super Shoebie
Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: VA
Posts: 1,080
| From the VA Div Forum http://forum.va-usfa.org/forum.cgi?b...num=1195010040: Quote:
Title: Re: Pete Conomikes Memorial
Post by Alan_Sikora on 11/18/07 at 10:27:54 We would like to express our thanks to everyone who took part in the memorial service and to everyone who sent condolences, either here or by phone or mail.
Burial plans have not been finalized. We will post them as soon as they are completed.
Our hearts and prayers remain with Ben and Spencer and we ask that everyone support them and their families in this trying time.
Memorial donations can be sent to:
The College of William and Mary
Memo Line: Fencing Club IMO Pete Conomikes
POB 1693
Williamsburg, VA
23187-8779
________
Title: Re: Pete Conomikes Memorial
Post by Alan_Sikora on 11/24/07 at 19:14:02
Pete's burial will be at Quantico National Cemetery, December 10th at 11 a.m. The family would like you to know that all are welcome, however, we don't want anyone to feel obligated to attend. It will be a very brief military ceremony. Your support has been more than generous and very much appreciated.
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Last edited by chefencer; 11-25-2007 at 07:55 AM.
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11-30-2007, 12:04 PM
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#16 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Alexandria, VA
Posts: 308
| Ben Gutenberg, one of the William & Mary fencers injured in the auto accident which took the life of Coach Pete Conomikes, died of his injuries earlier this week.
The College held a memorial ceremony yesterday. http://www.wm.edu/news/index.php?id=8488 | |
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11-30-2007, 03:50 PM
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#17 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: USA
Posts: 1,076
| That is just horrible. He was so young...
Rick
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