{{short description|American fencer}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2019}} {{Infobox sportsperson | name = Nikki Franke | image = | caption = | birth_name = | fullname = | nationality = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1951|3|31}} | birth_place = New York, New York, United States | death_date = | death_place = | height = | weight = | country = United States | sport = Fencing | event = Foil | collegeteam = Brooklyn College | team = | turnedpro = | coach = | retired = | coaching = Temple University | worlds = | olympics = }}
'''Nikki Franke''' (born March 31, 1951) is an American former fencer and fencing coach. She fenced for Brooklyn College, and was an All American. She competed in the women's individual and team foil events at the 1976 Summer Olympics, and fenced at the 1975 and 1979 Pan American Games, earning a silver medal in the individual competition in 1975, and a bronze medal in the team event in both years. As head coach of the Temple University women's fencing team, she was named the USFCA Coach of the Year in 1983, 1987, 1988, and 1991.
==Brooklyn College== Franke attended Brooklyn College, where she earned a B.S. with honors in 1972.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://chpsw.temple.edu/publichealth/faculty/nikki-franke-edd |title=Nikki Franke, Ed.D. | College of Health Professions and Social Work |publisher=Chpsw.temple.edu |access-date=October 27, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029192358/http://chpsw.temple.edu/publichealth/faculty/nikki-franke-edd |archive-date=October 29, 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="owlsports1">{{cite web|url=http://www.owlsports.com/coaches.aspx?rc=819 |title=Temple University Athletics – 2011–12 Women's Fencing Coaching Staff |publisher=Owlsports.com |date=October 21, 2002 |access-date=October 27, 2013}}</ref> She chose the college for its fencing, and fenced for it for four years, from 1968 to 1972.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WxUMkmeVnFAC&q=%22nikki+franke%22+brooklyn+college&pg=PA191 |title=Better Than the Best: Black Athletes Speak, 1920–2007 (V Ethel Willis White ... |date=April 22, 1994 |isbn=9780295990538 |access-date=October 27, 2013|last1=Walter |first1=John C. |last2=Iida |first2=Malina |publisher=University of Washington Press }}</ref> She was an All-American, and in her senior year she took third at the NIWFA collegiate championship.<ref name="owlsports1"/><ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/betterthanbestbl0000walt |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/betterthanbestbl0000walt/page/187 187] |quote=U.S. Fencing Coaches Association. |title=Better Than the Best: Black Athletes Speak, 1920–2007 |author=John C. Walter, Malina Iida |publisher= University of Washington Press|date= 2010|isbn=9780295801698 |access-date=October 27, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.espn.com/espn/news/story?id=6158206 |title=Nikki Franke is a true fencing legend |publisher=ESPN |date=February 26, 2011 |access-date=October 27, 2013}}</ref> In 1979 she was inducted into the Brooklyn College Hall of Fame.<ref name="owlsports1"/>
==Competition== She competed in the women's individual and team foil events at the 1976 Summer Olympics.<ref name="sports-reference">{{cite web |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/fr/nikki-franke-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200418072449/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/fr/nikki-franke-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 18, 2020 |title=Nikki Franke Olympic Results |access-date=April 16, 2011 |work=sports-reference.com}}</ref> Franke competed at the 1975 and 1979 Pan American Games, earning a silver medal in the individual competition in 1975 and a bronze medal in the team event in both years. She qualified for the 1980 U.S. Olympic team but did not compete due to the U.S. Olympic Committee's boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, Russia. She was one of 461 athletes to receive a Congressional Gold Medal years later.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Caroccioli|first1=Tom|last2=Caroccioli|first2=Jerry|title=Boycott: Stolen Dreams of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games|year=2008|publisher=New Chapter Press|location=Highland Park, IL|isbn=978-0942257403|pages=243–253}}</ref>
==Temple University== She is currently the head coach of the Temple University women's fencing team.<ref>{{Citation | title = 2011–12 Women's Fencing Coaching Staff | url = http://www.owlsports.com/coaches.aspx?rc=819 | access-date = July 18, 2013}}</ref> Franke was named the USFCA Coach of the Year four times (in 1983, 1987, 1988, and 1991).<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/betterthanbestbl0000walt |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/betterthanbestbl0000walt/page/187 187] |quote=U.S. Fencing Coaches Association. |title=Better Than the Best: Black Athletes Speak, 1920–2007 |author=John C. Walter, Malina Iida |publisher= University of Washington Press|date= 2010|isbn=9780295801698 |access-date=October 27, 2013}}</ref> Franke received a master's degree in Health Education from Temple in 1975 and completed the doctoral program in 1988. She recently retired as an associate professor in Temple University's Department of Public Health.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://owlsports.com/coaches.aspx?rc=2093|title=Dr. Nikki Franke - Women's Fencing Coach|website=Temple University Athletics|language=en|access-date=October 3, 2019}}</ref> In the 2017–2018 season. she reached a significant milestone with getting her 800th victory at Temple on February 4 at Northwestern. In her 46 years as the head coach of the woman's foil she compiled a record of 807–242–1. While leading the fencers to 46 postseason appearances that include 22 straight NIWFA championships titles.<ref name=":0" />
==Black Women In Sport Foundation== She is one of the co-founders of the foundation along with Tina Sloan Green, Alpha Alexander, and Linda Greene. It's a non-profit foundation that is based in Philadelphia that encourages black women and girls to participate in all areas of sport such as coaching and the administration of it.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.blackwomeninsport.org/|title=Black Women in Sport Foundation|website=Black Women in Sport Foundation|language=en-US|access-date=October 22, 2019}}</ref>
==See also== *List of USFA Hall of Fame members
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{sports links}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Franke, Nikki}} Category:1951 births Category:Living people Category:American female foil fencers Category:American fencing coaches Category:Olympic fencers for the United States Category:Fencers at the 1976 Summer Olympics Category:Fencers from New York City Category:Congressional Gold Medal recipients Category:Fencers at the 1975 Pan American Games Category:Fencers at the 1979 Pan American Games Category:Medalists at the 1975 Pan American Games Category:Medalists at the 1979 Pan American Games Category:Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States in fencing Category:Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States in fencing Category:Brooklyn College alumni Category:20th-century American sportswomen