Nick Bravin

{{Infobox sportsperson

| name = Nick Bravin

| birth_name = Eric Oliver Bravin

| fullname =

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| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1971|5|28}}

| birth_place = Los Angeles, California, United States

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| height = {{convert|5|ft|10|in|cm}}

| weight = {{convert|181|lb|kg}}

| country = United States

| sport = Fencing

| event = Foil

| collegeteam = Stanford University

| coach = Zoran Tulum

| retired =

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}}

Eric Oliver "Nick" Bravin (born May 28, 1971) is an American fencer and lawyer.Bob Wechsler, [https://books.google.com/books?id=dAq4TGQsWwwC&dq=nick+bravin+jewish+fencer&pg=PA149 Day by Day in Jewish Sports History] He was a four-time U.S. National Champion, a three-time NCAA National Champion, and a two-time Olympian.

Early life

Bravin is Jewish, and was born in Los Angeles, California.{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d8Q-AQAAIAAJ&q=nick+bravin+jewish+fencer|title=Encyclopaedia Judaica Year Book|date=August 15, 1983|publisher=Encyclopaedia Judaica.|via=Google Books}}[http://usfencinghalloffame.com/wp/bravin-eric-nick/ "Bravin, Eric Nick,"] US Fencing Hall of Fame. His mother is Shawn Bravin.{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/1996/05/nick-bravin-atlanta-olympics-fencing|title=Anatomy of a Champion|first=David|last=Halberstam|magazine=Vanity Fair|date=May 4, 1996 }} His older brother fenced, and his grandfather had been a top fencer in Lithuania.[https://www.nytimes.com/1996/07/07/sports/sports-of-the-times-olympians-have-a-life-after-games.html "Sports of The Times; Olympians Have a Life After Games,"] The New York Times. His maternal grandfather was murdered by the Nazis in the Vilna ghetto or the killing fields of the Ponari forest just outside Vilnius, Lithuania.{{Cite web|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/knowing-jack-holocaust-re_b_1435615|title=Knowing Jack: Holocaust Remembrance Day 2012|date=April 19, 2012|website=HuffPost}}

Bravin began fencing at the age of 12 at the Westside Fencing Center in Culver City, California.{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-09-04-sp-2088-story.html|title=Fencing Has Added Thrust Since '84 Olympics|date=September 4, 1988|website=Los Angeles Times}}[http://www.jewsinsports.org/Olympics.asp?sport=olympics&ID=581 "Bravin, Nick": Jews In Sports] He graduated in 1988 from Hamilton High School, where he played for the football team.{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-06-09-sp-121-story.html|title=OLYMPIC TRIALS / FENCING : L.A.'s Nick Bravin, 21, Retains National Foil Title|date=June 9, 1992|website=Los Angeles Times}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8j2XCgAAQBAJ&q=%22Nick+Bravin%22+%22hamilton+high%22&pg=PT254|title=Everything They Had: Sports Writing from David Halberstam|first=David|last=Halberstam|date=December 15, 2015|publisher=Hachette Books|isbn=9780316312233|via=Google Books}} In the late 1980s, he moved to Palo Alto, California.

Fencing career

He competed in the foil events at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, and the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.{{cite web |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/br/nick-bravin-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417183927/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/br/nick-bravin-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 17, 2020 |title=Nick Bravin Olympic Results |access-date=December 29, 2011 |work=sports-reference.com}}{{Cite web

| title = A Foil to His Foes : Fencer Nick Bravin Intimidates, Attacks, Offends—and Wins

| first = Shav | last = Glick

| work = Los Angeles Times

| date = July 16, 1992

| access-date = May 2, 2015

| url = https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-07-16-sp-3784-story.html

| quote =

}}

At Stanford University, where he majored in human biology and from which he graduated in 1993, Bravin was three-time NCAA foil champion (1990, ’92, and ’93), as he had a college record of 208 victories and 5 defeats, and won four All-America awards.{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-07-16-sp-3784-story.html|title=A Foil to His Foes : Fencer Nick Bravin Intimidates, Attacks, Offends—and Wins|date=July 16, 1992|website=Los Angeles Times}} Bravin won four US National foil championships: in 1991 (at age 20, the youngest to win the championship), 1992 (beating three-time Olympian Michael Marx, 5-3, 2-5, 6-4), 1994, and 1996 (defeating Cliff Bayer), while coming in 2nd in 1995, and 1999 (losing the title by one touch).

He was on the US Pan American Teams in 1991 and ’95, and won two team silver medals as well as two individual bronze medals. He was the Pan-American Fencing Champion as both a junior and a senior. Bravin was elected to the US Fencing Hall of Fame.

He was featured in the cover story of the May 1996, issue of Vanity Fair magazine.{{Cite magazine

| title = Anatomy of a Champion

| last = Halberstam | first = David

| magazine = Vanity Fair

| date = May 1996

| access-date = May 3, 2015

| url = http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/1996/05/nick-bravin-atlanta-olympics-fencing

| quote =

}}

In 2006, he was inducted into the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.{{Cite web|url=https://scjewishsportshof.com/bravin-nick.html|title=Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame Home|website=scjewishsportshof.com}} In 2010, he was inducted into the Stanford Athletics Hall of Fame.{{Cite web|url=https://gostanford.com/honors/stanford-athletics-hall-of-fame/nick-bravin/163|title=Nick Bravin (2010) - Stanford Athletics Hall of Fame|website=Stanford University Athletics}}

Legal career

Bravin continued on to a legal career, graduating from Columbia Law School, where he was a member of the Columbia Law Review, with a JD in 1998.{{Cite web|url=https://www.paloaltoonline.com/weekly/morgue/sports/1996_Jul_24.FENCER.html|title=Foiled once, Bravin focuses on team|website=www.paloaltoonline.com}} Bravin was a law clerk for Judge David M. Ebel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, and for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the United States Supreme Court.{{Cite web|url=https://www.law.nyu.edu/|title=Home | NYU School of Law|website=www.law.nyu.edu}}

He was an Acting Assistant Professor of Lawyering for four years at New York University School of Law.{{Cite web|url=http://www.ellslaw.com/attorneys|title=Ellsworth Law Firm|website=www.ellslaw.com}} He has practiced in every level of federal and state court, as well as in mediations, arbitrations, and internal investigations. His work has focused on criminal matters, including representation of the individual initially named as "a person of interest" in the anthrax mailings of 2001. Bravin is of counsel to the Ellsworth Law Firm, where he works primarily on criminal and appellate cases. Bravin has also taught Separation of Powers Law at U.C. Berkeley's School of Law, and Constitutional Law at the University of California's Washington Program. He writes on legal and non-legal issues, and his work has appeared in Foreign Policy magazine, Slate, and the Huffington Post.{{cite web |url=https://its.law.nyu.edu/facultyprofiles/profile.cfm?section=bio&personID=37785 |title=New York University School of Law Faculty Biography |access-date=February 24, 2013 |work=its.law.nyu.edu}}