Neil Diamond is one of the best-selling musicians of all time, selling more than 56.5 million records in the United States alone. Before becoming a successful musician, Diamond was a championship-winning fencer in high school and college.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Diamond attended Abraham Lincoln High School and joined the fencing team alongside his best friend, future Olympic fencer Herb Cohen. How good was he? He helped lead Lincoln to the 1958 city scholastic fencing championship.
After graduating, Diamond attended New York University on a fencing scholarship while taking pre-med courses. There, his team won the 1958 NCAA championship, defeating Navy.
Diamond was an exceptional fencer, known for a forceful, powerful lunge. A fencing lunge is an attacking footwork technique used to close distance and quickly score (touching an opponent).
Diamond stayed connected to fencing, attending NYU fencing practices, and he continued to fence as a globally known entertainer. For example, Diamond often used fencing to warm up before concerts, and appeared on a TV talk show to display his fencing wares.
But, of course, it’s because of singing that the world knows Diamond’s name. He had an amazing 37 Top 40 hits, three of which were #1 on the charts. Among the songs for which he is best known are Sweet Caroline, Cracklin’ Rosie, Song Sung Blue, Longfellow Serenade, You Don’t Bring Me Flowers, and America.
Diamond is another example of a prominent entertainer who was also a gifted athlete.
