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ACFA Coaching Staff

The ACFA coaches are all volunteers who contribute their time to ACFA and the fencing program at Amarillo College.

 

Richard Howard

Richard Howard is the Head Coach at ACFA and has been coaching fencing for over 30 years.  He is certified by the United States Fencing Coaches Association and he Academie d' Armes Internationale as a Moniteur D' Escrime in foil, epee and sabre.  He is also a coaching member of the United States Fencing Association.  Coach Howard was initially trained by his maternal grandfather, Mr. T. E. Anderson, who was a student of Ralph Faulkner at the Falcon Studios in the late 1920's and early 1930's.  In addition, as a young teenager, Coach Howard's grandfather placed him under the tutelage of Maestro Nick Toth in Colorado Springs in 1960.  Coach Howard has helped develop the talent of numerous fencers, producing fencers who have competed at the National Junior Olympic Championships and other national competitions.  He is also a certified fencing referee in all three weapons.  Coach Howard is a retired professor of Biology at Amarillo College and is still the curator of the Amarillo College Natural History Museum.  He is also a concert pianist.

 

Chuck Slaughter

Chuck Slaughter is a Coach and competitive fencer at ACFA.  He has been fencing competitively since 1999 and started coaching fencing when he started he Amarillo College youth fencing program.  He has served as a volunteer fencing instructor for Amarillo College for the Beginning Youth and Intermediate Youth Fencing Classes since 2001.  He serves at the coach of the ACFA youth fencers and is also the primary epee coach for ACFA.  He also assists Head Coach Richard Howard with the adult fencing classes at Amarillo College.  Coach Slaughter has completed his Level 1 Coaches certification in foil and epee at the USFA's Coaches College held at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  He was selected at the 2006 Volunteer Coach of the Year by the United States Fencing Association and was a National Finalist for the 2006 United States Olympic Committee Volunteer Coach of the Year Award.  Coach Slaughter is the coach of Juleah Nusz, the 2009 USFA National Champion in Junior Women's Epee.  He has served as Chairman (2005-2007 and 2009-2010), Vice-Chairman (2007-2009) and Secretary (2003-2005) of the Plains Texas Division of the USFA.  His married to Gayle and they have two children, Jared and Courtney.  Coach Slaughter has been an Assistant District Attorney in the 47th Judicial District of Texas serving Armstrong and Potter Counties since 1989.  He is the chief prosecutor in the 251st District Court of Potter County and coordinates the review and prosecution of all child abuse cases in Potter County.

 

Jay Young

Jay Young is a coach and competitive fencer at ACFA who works with fencers in all three weapons.  Coach Young's primary coaching responsibilities are to develop the competitive skills of the adult intermediate and advanced fencers.  When he is available, he also works with the ACFA youth fencers.    He is currently the primary foil coach at ACFA as well.   He is a rated fencing referee in all three weapons and regularly referees at USFA National tournaments and other open tournaments across the United States.  A graduate of Texas Tech University, Coach Young plays the tuba and is a band director in the River Road School District in Amarillo.  He is married to Mary and they have one daughter, Alison.  While Jay was at Texas Tech, he also served as a fencing coach with the Double T Fencing Club at Texas Tech in Lubbock.

 

Josh Evans

Josh Evans is a coach and competitve fencer with ACFA.  He is a charter member of the competitive fencing program at AC since it's inception in 1999.  Currently on a leave of absence from ACFA, Josh has served primarily as a foil coach and, more recently, as a sabre coach.  He has also taught one semester at Amarillo College as an instructor for a Beginning Youth Fencing Class.  Prior to being appointed as a coach at ACFA, Coach Evans was a Red Shirt (Senior Teaching Assistant) at AC for many years.  Coach Evans is married to Jamy and they have two children, Kraigan and Kyler.  He graduated from West Texas A & M University in 2007 with a bachelor's degree in biotechnology.


 


 

Trey Sluder

Trey Sluder


 


 


 


 

 

Jared Slaughter

Jared Slaughter


 


Ben Simpson

Ben Simpson