NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Former University of Notre Dame fencing assistant coach Buckie Leach passed away Saturday, August 14. He was 62.
“I am devastated to learn of the tragic passing of my dear friend Buckie Leach, who was taken from us far too soon,” said Irish head coach Gia Kvaratskhelia. “Buckie’s legacy at Notre Dame and within American fencing stretch far beyond the athletic accomplishments of the fencers and teams that he coached. Rather, his enduring memory will be of the incredible person that he was – his kindness, his passion, his sense of humor, and the genuine way he brightened the lives of everyone who was fortunate enough to know him.”
“The Notre Dame Fencing Family is heartbroken over the tragic passing of Buckie Leach,” said the team in a statement. “Buckie was our coach for five wonderful seasons. In that short time, he helped us win three NCAA team titles, three ACC team titles, five individual NCAA championships and 20 All-Americans. But more important than all of these was how Buckie gave so richly and deeply of himself as a teacher, a coach, a leader, and a person. Every day he was with us, his kindness, decency, and humanity made us all better.”
Leach was with the Irish since the 2016-17 season and mentored some of the top foil athletes in the country during his time at Notre Dame. The Irish won three team national championships in his five seasons and five individual foil championships.
This past season with the Irish, Leach oversaw the continued rise in Stefani Deschner’s and Marcello Olivares’s careers. The pair both won individual foil championships as the team secured its 11th national title in program history.
Prior to 2021, Leach guided Lee Kiefer to her fourth individual national title in 2017 and Nick Itkin to his first two individual titles in 2018 and 2019. The Irish as a team came away with the national title in each of Leach’s first two seasons in 2017 and 2018.
On the national stage, Leach was inducted into the U.S. Fencing Hall of Fame in 2013 and has been the U.S. National Women’s Foil Coach in four Olympic Games, including this past July in Tokyo. During this Olympic cycle, U.S. women foilists have earned 11 individual and six team medals in international competition.
In his first stint with the national team in Atlanta, the U.S. was led by a seventh-place finish from Ann Marsh, and a 10th-place finish from the women’s foil squad (which included Notre Dame’s Sara Walsh). Four years later in Sydney, the U.S. women — led by Marsh and Felicia and Iris Zimmermann — took fourth place in the team event.
In his second term as U.S. National Women’s Foil coach, the U.S. qualified the maximum two fencers for Rio — Notre Dame senior Lee Kiefer (ranked third in the world at the time), and Nzingha Prescod (ranked eleventh). This summer in Tokyo, Keifer took home the individual foil gold medal under Leach’s tutelage.
Leach also excelled as a club coach in addition to his national team accomplishments. From 1981-2001, he built the Rochester (N.Y.) Fencing Centre into a national powerhouse, placing more athletes onto U.S. National and Olympic Teams during that time frame. In 2001, he moved to New York City’s famous Fencers Club and continued to develop national-caliber fencers.
Leach is survived by his sister, Kathy.
—ND—