Dr. Nikki Franke, the long-time coach of Temple University’s women’s fencing team, was recently announced as the recipient of the NCAA’s 2026 Pat Summitt Award. Named for the late University of Tennessee women’s basketball coach, the award recognizes an individual who has demonstrated devotion to the development of college athletes and made a positive impact on their lives.
“I always admired [Pat Summitt’s] ability to get the most out of her athletes and to be someone that they knew really cared about them but still held them accountable,” said Franke, who retired as Temple’s fencing coach in 2022. “Receiving this award is a wonderful recognition for not just me but for what we developed at Temple.”
Raised in Harlem, Franke started fencing when a physical education teacher at her high school started a fencing club. She attended Brooklyn College, where she honed her skills as a competitive foil fencer, reaching the elite level of the sport and competing at the 1976 Olympics.
Knowing she wanted to pursue graduate school, her mother and her college coach convinced her to leave New York City and attend Temple University in Philadelphia, where she accepted a graduate assistant position with the fencing program and studied for her master’s degree in public health. Seeing that men’s fencing was a varsity sport but women’s fencing was a club sport, she became instrumental in securing varsity status for women’s fencing.
Franke went on to earn a doctorate and became a professor in Temple’s Department of Public Health, where she served until 2019, while continuing as the head foil coach of Temple’s nationally recognized fencing team. She became the first woman of color to coach a fencing team to an NCAA title. Developing her student-athletes, who earned 35 All-America honors, was a priority.
“Setting standards, setting expectations, and focusing on the importance of good communication — not just between me and my athletes, but the athletes amongst each other, so they knew that they were there to support and help each other,” said Franke, who also spent years involved with the NCAA’s fencing committee working to have a positive impact on collegiate fencing. She embodied the message that education is as important as athletics.
“I was actually the first academic advisor for women’s athletics,” said Franke, one of the founders of the Black Women in Sport Foundation. “I stayed at Temple because it gave me an opportunity to do the two things that I really love, which were coaching and teaching. … It’s so important that we give young people opportunities because you never know what will develop.”