|
GEORGE A DILLMAN
Dillman Karate International
George A. Dillman is a 9th degree black belt in Ryukyu Kempo
Tomari-te who was honored by Black Belt Magazine as "1997
-- Instructor of the Year". He is one of the USA's best-known
and well-established martial arts personalities. Dillman began competing in the early 1960's and came to
the attention of the martial arts press at this time. By the middle of that decade, he started
running his own tournament, the Northeast Open Karate Championships.
This annual competition first kicked off in
Palmer Park, Maryland in 1966. The tournament site was moved to Suitland,
Maryland in 1967, and moved again to Reading, Pennsylvania in 1968
where it was held until 1996.
Official Karate magazine (Nov. 1982) described Dillman
as "one of the winningest competitors karate has ever known." Dillman
was four-times National Karate Champion (1969-1972) and during
this period was consistently ranked among the top ten competitors
in the nation by major karate magazines. During his nine-year competitive
career, Dillman claimed a total of 327 trophies in fighting, forms,
breaking and weapons.
Dillman began serious martial arts training in 1961 with Harry
G. Smith. He went on to study with Daniel K. Pai, James Coffman,
Sam Pearson, Robert Trias and Seiyu Oyata. Dillman has always considered
himself a student, never a master of the martial arts. To this
end he and his wife and students have traveled throughout the United
States to meet and train with various martial arts experts.
Because of his perseverance, Dillman's martial arts talents have
earned him widespread U.S. media coverage. He has appeared on 35
national TV shows, including: Real People, Mike
Douglas, PM Magazine, Evening Magazine,
and NBC's Sports Machine. Dillman has also been featured
five times in Ripley's Believe It or Not, and has been the
subject of over 300 newspaper and magazine articles. Dillman, who
was a professional boxer for three and one half years, is the only
person known to have trained with both Bruce Lee and Muhammad Ali.
In May of 1988, Dillman was inducted into the Berks County Sports
Hall of Fame. He was the first martial artist to be included.
Currently, Dillman travels the world teaching seminars on pressure
points and tuite (grappling) hidden within the traditional movements
of the old martial arts forms. It is his research and scientific
dissection of the old forms that is earning him his most notoriety.
Never one to shy away from controversy, Dillman has rediscovered
a formerly secret level of meaning for kata movements, and has
made that interpretation understandable to all. He has produced
a video tape instructional series on the pressure points, and has
written five books with Chris Thomas. Kyusho-Jitsu: The Dillman
Method of Pressure Point Fighting; Advanced Pressure
Point fighting of Ryukyu Kempo; Advanced Pressure
Point Grappling: Tuite; Pressure Point Karate Made
Easy; and Little Jay Learns Karate. The books
have been said to be, "the definitive martial arts books of
the century," and "unparalleled among current martial
arts literature."
Dillman is the chief instructor for Dillman Karate International,
an organization of over 85 schools worldwide, with an enrollment
of nearly 15,000 students. He has studied under five 10th degree
black belts from Okinawa and is currently furthering his personal
study through research, practice, and the sharing of techniques
with Professor Remy Presas (Modern Arnis) and Professor Wally Jay
(Small Circle Jujitsu).
|
