A longtime advocate for women’s athletics, Jane R. Littmann was a four-sport athlete at Oberlin College, competing on the varsity field hockey, lacrosse, and basketball teams in addition to helping start a women’s fencing team during the pre-Title IX era.
It was the sport of fencing in which Littmann became world renowned, eventually becoming the first “A” rated women’s épée fencer in the world for winning the event at the 1980 U.S. National Fencing Championships.
Littmann was the No. 1 ranked women’s épéeist in the U.S. and North American Circuit in 1986 and 1990 and a two-time member of United States World Championship teams. She was a member of the national team from 1988 until her retirement from competition in the sport. However, she “unretired” for one special event in 1999 when she competed and served as team captain of the Columbia Fencers’ Club women’s épée team that won the gold medal at the summer nationals.
Littmann’s most noteworthy accomplishment may be her pivotal role in removing barriers to women in fencing, helping transform the history of the sport, which traditionally had limited women to fencing foil. Through her voice and example, women’s épée and saber gained respect, recognition, and inclusion in the national, world, and Olympic programs.
Littmann won medals at the U.S. National Championships in foil, épée, and saber, a rare feat for any fencer. She won the first women’s saber event ever held at Nationals and took four silvers and another gold in the following six years before concentrating her efforts in épée, which achieved international status before saber. She retired from competition in 1992 prior to women’s épée being added to the Olympic program in 1996 and women’s saber in 2004.
After graduating from Oberlin in 1972, Littmann earned a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and is a retired professor of clinical neuropsychiatry and behavioral science at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine. She has a private practice, continues to publish and present, and she teaches fencing in the USC Department of Physical Education.
Littmann is head coach and co-founder of Columbia Fencers’ Club. Elected into the South Carolina Fencing Hall of Fame and included in the Museum of American Fencing, Littmann also referees for USA Fencing at North American Cups & Nationals.
