Dr. Samuel D’Ambola, one of the most revered figures in the history of Essex Catholic High School, a Hall of Fame fencer and coach, and a beloved family physician in Newark, died Jan. 22, 2022. He was 99.
While “Doctor Sam” was the volunteer fencing coach at Essex Catholic—he never took a penny in compensation—his teams won nine state championships, eight Cetrulo Tournaments, and two metropolitan championships. He was inducted to the Essex Catholic Hall of Fame in 1983. Many of his Eagle fencers won scholarships to compete in college, becoming All-Americans and Olympians, including Peter Westbrook, a three-time Olympic medalist. The Essex Catholic fencing program, which he founded in 1960— drew the attention of The New York Times in 1968. Dr. Sam “has written a prescription that gives nothing but headaches to the fencing opponents of Essex Catholic,” the article said. In 1972, The Times observed that he was very active on the staff of Clara Maass Hospital in in Belleville and Columbus Hospital in Newark and teaching at New Jersey College of Medicine and Dentistry while coaching the Eagles to eight straight state championships.
Tom De Poto, a member of the state championship 1970 team who was inducted into the Essex Catholic Hall of Fame in 1990, remembered that Doc had a nickname for that squad.
“Doc thought our win streak and run of consecutive championships would end that season,” De Poto said. “He thought Barringer had a better team, and maybe Ramapo, too. He called us his Avis team, after the Avis rent-a-car commercial that said, ‘We’re Number 2, but we try harder.’”
As De Poto recalled, the team continued the unbeaten streak and won the Cetrullo and state championship tournaments, producing two individual state champions in the three weapons that year. “Doc had a large but quiet influence on his fencers, many of whom followed in his footsteps to become doctors,” he said. “Others became judges, prominent lawyers, educators and leaders in their fields. Several became highly regarded coaches, as well. He was a role model for many of us.”
“It is difficult to say all the things I want to say,” said John Lina, a 1965 ECHS fencing alum who became a doctor. “Doc was one of the great gifts and blessings that I have had in my life. Meeting him and fencing for him altered the course of my life and set me on a path I could not have imagined.”
As many as 100 fencers a year were drawn to the varsity, JV and freshman teams overseen by Dr. Sam.
State foil champion and a member of a metropolitan championship team at Barringer High School in Newark, Dr. Sam went on to fence at Seton Hall University, where he was on an Eastern Intercollegiate Championship team that won 68 straight matches before competition was ended by World War II. He was elected to the Seton Hall University Hall of Fame in 1976. He also was named to the National Fencing Coaches Hall of Fame.
One of 10 children of Italian immigrants, Dr. Sam enlisted in the Navy in World War II and served in the Pacific. He was very proud that he and all seven of his brothers served during the war. A fencing scholarship enabled him to major in pre-med at Seton Hall.
After leaving Newark, Dr. Sam and his family lived in Atlantic Highlands for many years. He and his wife, who died in 2018, had a son and a daughter, both of whom became doctors.
ECHS fencing alumnus and Hall of Famer Ed DeVivo ’71 in 2016 published a book, Soaring On The Wings Of An Eagle: The Legacy Of Fencing Coach Samuel ‘Doc’ D’Ambola And The Essex Catholic High School Fencing Team. A must-read for all Essex Catholic fencers, it is available on Amazon.