Chaba Pallaghy

Chaba Pallaghy was born in Hungary in 1932 and emigrated to the United States in 1957 where he became a sabre fencer. At the 1963 Pan American Games Pallaghy won gold in the team competition and an individual bronze medal. His promising career was curtailed, however, following an injury to his Achilles tendon, with Pallaghy becoming a referee. Between 1972 and 1996 he worked as either a referee or a member of the director technique at five Olympic Games, including officiating bouts at the München and Montréal Games.

From 1972 to 1976 Pallaghy served as the Vice-President of the Amateur Fencers League of America (later USA Fencing). He was also an executive committee member of the Federation Internationale d’Escrime (FIE) from 1981 to 1996, serving as their Vice-President from 1993 to 1996. In 2003 Pallaghy was honoured by US Fencing with the Jack Baker Award for his service to the sport and was inducted into the FIE’s Hall of Fame in 2015.