Dániel Magay

After helping Hungary win a gold medal in team sabre at the Melbourne Olympics, Dániel Magay defected to the United States, as did many of Hungary’s 1956 Olympians, in response to the Soviet crushing of the October Revolution. He settled near the Bay Area, where he studied engineering and chemistry while waiting tables and washing dishes to earn room and board. He joined a new Silicon Valley firm called Raychem, and eventually became chief of research there. He won three US titles in sabre (1957-58, 1961) in the early years after his arrival in his new country.