Ok, where do I start?  How about the beginning that is usually a good place, right?  When I opened the first fencing school in Florida back in 1992 it was the first of it's kind in the state of Florida.  A fencing facility that would be open only for fencing 24/7.  We didn't have to beg for space from the school administrators.  Our practice wasn't getting cancelled at the last minute because the Dance club needed the space.  And we wouldn't have our fencing tournament cancelled that day because the Ping Pong Club needed to use the space for their tournament that they forgot to schedule.  Any of these things sound familiar to anyone? Not only did I discover that it was the only fencing school in Florida but one of about only 6 to 10 in the country.  Now to be honest, at the time I know little or nothing about national and international fencing but my learning curve that I embarked on from that point would make the G-force of leaving earth orbit on a rocket look like an everyday pony ride. The resulting education that I received about fencing infrastructure in the United States vs. Europe would lead me down the road to the PFL.
	One of my early business partners who was also my boss during the day was a man by the name of Eric Delarue.  Nice guy fenced his whole life in France.  Moved to the USA and figured he was done fencing because what we had here was lacking to say the least.   We after many trips back and forth to France may business education from Siena kicked in.  Not only was I going to run a great fencing school but I was going to have them be like martial art schools in the United States.  It was also while I was in France that I learned ot the type of financial support that fencing received in many of the European countries.  I thought to myself.  "Sports in the USA are not subsidized unless it is like the little league in baseball, big time professional sports are run like a business and rely on the free market system to survive"  This thought would put many things in motion and would put the whole idea of professional fencing in the minds of everyone who fenced throughout the world.
	So now that I had this idea about big time fencing in the United States I needed to find out what was currently at the top of the mountain.  Back in 1993-1994 you were able to sign up and attend the North Atlantic Circuit Events.  Back then some people called them the Olympic Trails because they were used to select the Olympic Team for the United States through the USFA the NGB for the USOC.  I decided to hang my hat at the NAC that was being held in San Franciso, had I known this would be the largest and strongest sabre NAC to date I probably would have been terrified.  Had I had ever fenced against an A rated sabre fencer I would have be nervous about fencing against 40 of them in that event alone, being only a C rated fencer myself.  Had I know who was who in the national and international fencing world I also would have been apprehensive about fencing Paul Freidberg in my first bout but I didn't so I beat him and everyone else in my pool.   This would make me seeded 10th after the pools and I would go on to fence many direct elimination bouts and finally losing to John Freidberg in the round of 16 (15-14).  Yes, I missed getting my A at my first NAC by 1 point.
	Back to why this was important for the Professional Fencing League.  I had made up flyers about the top 10 reasons that we need a Professional Fencing League here in the United States.  For the life of me I wish that I still had the list so if you are reading this and have a copy please email me.  Anyway's I put them on the table that usually all the colleges and clubs put other fencing information on and handed them out to people around that day.   Harmless right, I didn't know anyone there.  This is where I first met Derek Cotton,Bill Oliver, David Burns (he was in my pool) and Don Alperstien.  Little did I know that this act of handing out a flyer would open pandoras box and the wraith of the USFA board 4 years later.
	So, I went around and pulled down all the flyers and threw them away.  Fenced the rest of the tournament and keep answering the question of he day.   Who the hell in Alan Blakeborough and do they have national level fencers in Florida, hell is there fencing IN FLORIDA??????? I sat the entire plane ride home to Florida from California and was amazed that my little flyer had caused such a huge stir.  Was the USFA that insecure?   Had someone tried it before and it went terribly wrong?  Was the USFA already working on a similar project to help improve and grow fenicng in the USA?  Or was the USFA just a small group trying to stay small so that control could be maintained by about  8 people? I would learn the answers to all these questions and many more in the years to come.   Where most people would shy away from the huge amount of work and uncertainty that lied ahead.  My time at Siena and my time in the military had taught me to stare uncertainty in the face and call it opportunity.  As for hard work, hell, I grew up in South Troy, NY, ever been there, ever met my father?
	Upon my arrival back in Florida I had realized that if I was going to try and create a Professional Fencing League I was going to need a good business plan, a lot of research and one hell of a lucky break.   The good business plan was actually the easiest part to the whole PFL.  I had done all the research that one could do into professional sports at the time in 1994 and finally decided to that we would take the blueprint for professional gold and use that for fencing.  The last part the lucky break came in the form of an invitiation to be part of the US Olympic Festival.  Needless to say I got to pick the brains of the top US fencers at the time and learn how "underfunded" and "unorganized" the state of fencing was in the united states compared to Europe.  Our team would go on to win the gold medal and many discussions to move to NY city would begin but Fr, Dennis would keep popping up in my head saying "Don't be selfish, go and fix things, you know that is your calling".  Next I would go to the first NAC II/III in Chicago and win the gold in foil.  Then it was off to Albany, NY the return of the King.
	When I got back to my roots of the Tri-county area, the place were I first started fencing 12 years ealier, little had changed.  The people that were fencers back then he just gotten older and the amount of fencing had just about had died.  The large fencing community that John Chang had created had just about faded away but a couple of old familiar faces were still around and some of those I wish had either died or moved away litlle did they know that they would be used as pawn to keep power with those 8 people in the USFA.  So I started first with recruiting some old friends from my old day with the Hudson-Berkshire division and we opened Mechanicville, NY.  A 36,000 sq ft fencing facility! Yes, that is right, 36,000 sq ft.  And if you were ever there you would have thought it was the largest fencing facility in the world.  After that we began creating many fencing schools and recruiting many people into our mission of creating the first ever professional fencing league in the world.
	Results speak for themselves and slowly we created one of the largest fencing divisions in the northeast and took over the NAS government body which had been run by one man for 36, Burt Moore.  To know him was to love him.  Because if you didtn't know him you might have a different opinion.  He deserved the plaque.  However, this Sherman's march that we were currently on didn't go unnoticed by the national office and I am sure that we stepped on a lot of toes on the way.  Yes, I was a little aggressive in my early years.  Hey, I was a sabre fencer what did you expect me to do, buy you dinner first.  Right, junior?   Everything was going according to the business plan (no you can't have it) until we sent a letter to the USFA and told them about the PFL and asked how we could work together so that both organizations could benefit.  What I recieved back would set the tone for nothing less then WW3
	The Executive Director of the USFA stated that anyone who competed or participated in the Professional Fencing League would be banned and expelled from the USFA.  As per a section within the USFA bylaws that allow for this to happen if someone belonged too or fenced for another organization.  However, this didn't make sense because the NCAA was a seperate organization than the USFA and the NCAA fencers were not banished from the USFA.  Needless to say the USOC saw things our way also and had them rescind the ban but guess what?  The USFA executive committee was under not obilgation to tell anyone this especially the over 200 members that signed up to fence in the PFL who thought if they did their Olympic dreams would be toast.  As we continued forward with our plan of the PFL the USFA even took a step further to stop us by sending a letter to every member of the USFA in the division that it the PFL didn't stop the executive board of the USFA would disband the division.
	So, January came and on the same day as the Super Bowl we hosted the first PFL event.   I have cried twice in my life.  At the birth of my son and when we started the opening ceremonies at the PFL event.  It was great and we had a blast.  The business plan was built on 64 fencers showing up per event to break even.  We fell short of this by far.  In order for us to get the 200 plus fencers to show up that had joined we would need to get the word out that you were not going to be banned from USFA tournaments.  So, we had it placed on the agenda at the national meeting to take place at the Junior Olympics to be hosted in MA.  At the time the voting BOD was made up of all the divsion chairperson throughout the USA.  Of the 76 at the time that were part of the BOD over 50 where part of the PFL.  This was going to be a slam dunk, or at least I was nieve enough to think that.  What happened next I would have never have anticipated.  The executive board, tabled the motion, and would not here about it.  The question of members of the PFL fencing in the USFA events were tabled.  It was decided by them, that executive board , that this issue was to big for just the BOD to vote on and would have to go to the general membership in the form of a mailed ballot.  I never got one or anyone that I know in the USFA at the time.  So in one fell swoop the executive board had silenced the knowledge that the USFA couldn't ban you from fencing in the NAC if you fenced in the PFL.
		PFL continued