Roger Cummings is entering is 50th year involved in fencing and his 11th as head coach of the Fairleigh Dickinson University women’s fencing team in 2011-12. He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience as a coach and athlete.
For almost two decades, Cummings was head coach of the girls’ fencing team at Ramapo High School, leading his squads to 10 state titles and multiple district titles. In 1995, he earned the NJSIAA Coach of the Year Award and was named the Star Ledger Coach of the Century (1900-2000), Coach of the Decade (1990’s) and Fencer of the Decade for the 1960s. Through the years, many of his athletes have gone on to win several high school interscholastic championships and Under-19/Under-20 International Pan Am World Cup Championships. He has also coached Senior National Champions and Senior World Cup Champions.
He has coached numerous athletes at international competitions including the Senior World Sabre finalist in 1999, who finished second in 2000. Cummings also coached the Women’s Pan-American Junior Epee Champion. He has coached several men’s and women’s foil and epee junior and senior national champions and finalists, as well as Veteran World finalists.
Cummings’ involvement with fencing remains multi-faceted. He serves on several committees and is involved in many fencing associations. He is a representative from the Fencing Officials Commission to teach and rate referees in the United States, as well as the Olympic Squad Epee and World Teams.
His experience as an athlete includes being a Junior Olympian in 1964 and was a member of the Junior World Team in 1965. Cummings has competed in the World Cup in the foil and epee and was the U.S. Fencing Association National Epee Team Champion in 1985. He was also a finalist in the 1984 Olympics.
Cummings’ only stop in the collegiate coaching ranks before coming to Fairleigh Dickinson was with the Rutgers’ Scarlet Knights as an assistant coach for the 1972-73 season.
He went to Pennsylvania Military College and also graduated from Bloomfield College in 1970 with a bachelor’s degree in economics. A native of Denville, NJ, he and his wife, Wendy, reside in Fair Lawn, NJ. The couple has one daughter, Candice, and one son, William.
