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PAT WORLEY
Texan, Pat Worley, currently a 9th degree black was Jhoon Rhee's National grand champion in 1970, a title that was held by Joe Lewis for four years. Young Pat Worley was driven to self improvement and it was his fortitude that made him very, very good at karate. Worley was rated in the national top ten for fighting from 1970 through 1975 and he was a two time National Champion and the number one contender for the World Middleweight title from 1974 to 1977.
Pat Worley played football in high school, but took up karate in 1967 under Chuck Loven. He considered himself an average karate student, but it took him only two years to earn his black belt and only one more year of tournament competition to get him into the national karate spotlight. He says it was very hard work, but it was his instructor, Chuck Loven, who took Worley's enthusiasm and made it into Worley's passion. For Worley, karate was more than just fighting, it encompassed physical fitness, self confidence, philosophy and respect for others.
Pat's originally competition took place in Texas where points were scored usually on the 4th or 5th technique in combinatons, but when he moved on to competeing in the east, judges scored on the 1st or 2nd technique before the refree broke them up. This meant that he had to change his fighting style. While a top notch competitor, Pat attributed his techniques to his instructor, Chuck Loven, to Pat Burleson, another tough texas competitior and to Jhoon Rhee.
Pat and his older brother John both taught at the Jhoon Rhee Institute of Tae-Kwon-Do in Washington D.C. in the 1970s but currently Pat has joined forces with Gordon Franks and they operate several schools with an active enrollment of over 3000 students.
Pat Worley has been feature in articles in Karate Illustrated Magazine, Professional Karate Magazine, Sport Karate Magazine, Official Karate Magazine and the Minnesota Business Journal and he is listed in the History of the Martial Arts, and Who's Who in American Martial Arts.
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