Sports

Blue Mountain Books & Manuscripts, Ltd.: Sports

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(Domolky, Lidia; Nagy, Marta; Hamori, Jeno; Belsey,Jim; Zimonyi, Robert; Magay, Daniel; Keresztes, Attila; Rerrich, Bela; and McCrum, Marie).

[Hungarian Olympic Athletes' Freedom Tour]: Autographs of 14 Hungarian Athletes and Their Sponsors Attending a Dinner Party Hosted by Charles Douglas Jackson and His Wife Grace Bristed Jackson at the Dakota in New York City in Honor of the Defecting Hungarian Olympic Athletes

New York, NY: The Dakota, January 1st, 1957. 1957. - One page with 14 autographs penned on a gilt-edged, cream-colored sheet measuring 10-3/4 inches high by 8-3/4 inches wide, removed from the guest book of Grace Bristed Jackson and C. D. Jackson. Dated "January 1st, 1957", the signatures are identified along the top as those of guests present at the "Hungary Day - (Athletes)" dinner held at the Dakota in New York City prior to their departure on the "Hungarian Freedom Tour" of 59 cities organized by Sports Illustrated magazine. Near fine.

The dinner was held in New York City prior to the athletes' departing on the Hungarian Freedom Tour of 59 cities.

Charles Douglas Jackson [known as "C.D."] and his wife Grace Bristed Jackson hosted parties and events at their apartment in the Dakota. Jackson worked on and off at Time magazine in an administrative capacity for many years and was made vice president of Time, Inc. in 1940. He was periodically sent on various diplomatic missions by Eisenhower. He also found time to serve on the boards of several organizations, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Free Europe Committee and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

Of the 14 signatures, we've been able to identify the following which are listed in the the order in which they appear on the page:

The first to sign is Lidia Domolky, the Hungarian fencer who won an individual World title at Rome in 1955. She competed in the 1956, 1960, 1964 and 1968 Olympics winning one gold and two silver medals. She and her husband, fellow fencer Jozsef Sakovics, defected during the Sports Illustrated tour. However, they both returned to Hungary after a year.

Signing next is gymnast Marta Nagy who defected and enrolled at Colorado. There she continued competing in and coaching gymnastics.

The fourth signature is that of the fencer Jeno [Eugene] Hamori who won a gold medal in the team event at Melbourne. He was on the U.S. team in Tokyo in 1964.

Tour manager Jim Belsey is the next to sign.

The sixth autograph is that of the rowing coxswain Robert Zimonyi who defected and became a U.S. citizen in 1962. With American teams he won an Olympic gold medal in 1964 and a gold medal in the 1967 Pan American games.

The eighth autograph is that of the Olympic and World championship gold medal sabre fencer Daniel Magay. In the 1956 Melbourne Olympics he was a member of the Olympic gold medal winning team in the Saber team competition. After the Olympics he defected to the U.S. where he continued his success, winning gold medals in the 1957, 1958 and 1961 U.S. Individual Championships.

The ninth signature is that of the fencer Attila Keresztes who won a gold medal in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics in the sabre team competition. After defecting he represented the U.S. in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

Following Keresztes is the signature of Gyorgy Jekelfalussy-Piller (1899-1960). In the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics he won 2 gold medals, in the individual and team sabre fencing events. In a period of only six years he won 10 Hungarian Championships, six with the sabre and four with the foil. After coaching the Hungarian fencing team at the Melbourne Olympics in 1956 he defected to the United States.

In theThe fencer Bela Rerrich is the eleventh to sign the guest book. He won a silver medal in the team epee event at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. He defected and eventually settled in Sweden.

The last signature we've been able to identify is that of Marie McCrum, secretary to C.D. Jackson.

The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 started as a nationwide popular uprising against the Soviet controlled government of the Hungarian People's Republic. Starting as a student protest, the uprising lasted from October 23 to November 10, 1956. On November 4th, 1956, Soviet tanks rolled into the streets supported by Soviet troops who killed thousands in the brutal repression of the revolt. A headline in a Darwin, Australia newspaper was the first thing which Hungarian athletes competing in the Melbourne Olympics heard about the Soviet Union's brutal invasion of their country. Supported by a strong Hungarian community living in Australia, 48 athletes defected, many making their way to the U.S. Water polo-ists and swimmers were part of the 30 athletes who participated in the "Hungarian Freedom Tour" organized by Sports Illustrated magazine which was owned by Time, Inc. During the tour, there was open rebellion by 11 of the athletes against their tour sponsor Sports Illustrated magazine and tour manager Jim Belsey. As they toured the 59 cities, athletes spend most nights sleeping on the bus though they had been promised hotel rooms.

UNIQUE. Fine .

Blue Mountain Books & Manuscripts, Ltd.Professional seller

Book number: 95783

USD 500.00 [Appr.: EURO 439.5 | £UK 373.5 | JP¥ 71273]

Catalogue: Sports

Keywords: SPORTS; AUTOGRAPHS; SIGNATURES; SIGNED; AUTOGRAPHS; HUNGARIAN OLYMPIC ATHLETES; OLYMPICS; DINNER PARTY; CHARLES DOUGLAS JACKSON; GRACE BRISTED JACKSON; DEFECTED; DEFECTION; SOVIET; TWENTIETH CENTURY; 20TH CENTURY; FENCERS; SABRE; GYMNAST; EPEE; COXSWAIN;