Mike Lofton

Mike Lofton, who later took the name Mika’il Sankofa, was a sabre fencer who competed at New York University (NYU). Lofton competed at the 1984, 1988, and 1992 Olympics in sabre. He was a 10-time US sabre champion, winning in 1984-88, 1990-92, and 1994-95. Lofton competed at the Pan American Games, winning team silvers in 1987 and 1991, and an individual bronze in 1991. He won the NCAA sabre title all four years at NYU, the only fencer (through 2015) to win individual titles with the same weapon for four consecutive years.

Lofton later worked as a publicist for Ernst & Young, Grey Advertising, Bond & Partners, and Shandwick International. From 1990-2009, he was a co-founder, director of athletics and fencing coach for the Peter Westbrook Foundation. He also coached the Stevens Institute of Technology men’s fencing team from 2005-09 In the 2010s he owned and coached at the Thrust Fencing Academy in Nyack, New York and coached at West Point. Lofton was inducted into the NYU Sports Hall of Fame in 1994 and the US Fencing Association Hall of Fame in 2005.