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GRANDMASTER MICHAEL ROBERT PICK
Kenpo
Image drawn and courtesy of Mr. Edmund Parker, Jr
In 1957 a small, hungry boy stumbled up to Ed
Parker's old Kenpo Karate Studio doorsteps on Walnut Street in
Pasadena, California. Unknown to the boy, while peering through
the front window, was a world that he would embrace, love, and
eventually lead in his lifetime. At ten years old, Michael Robert
Pick had no aspiration of becoming a grandmaster or even an expert
in the martial arts; he only had one thing in mind . . . SURVIVAL!!!
Earlier that day, Mike Pick was beaten up by five older schoolmates.
Feeling helpless, injured, and defenseless, Mike Pick decided that
at that point he would learn how to defend himself, he would learn
how to fight.
By no small coincidence, Mike Pick was living in Pasadena, California. Pasadena
is the city Senior Grandmaster Edmund Kealoha Parker opened his first commercial
Kenpo School in the United States. With a fat lip and dried blood under his
nose, Mike Pick shrugged his way into the studio. At that point Mike Pick met
the man who introduced him to his destiny and what would become his life's
work. Ed Parker was 26 years old in 1957. His jet-black hair, magnificent strength
and speed, awe struck the little Mike. From the onset, Mike Pick felt and knew
he was at home in the studio. At the time the Pasadena school had approximately
twenty-five to thirty students, Mike Pick was the only child. Senior Grandmaster
Ed Parker decided to teach Mike if in return Mike would clean the studio, which
for a ten-year-old boy was no easy task. The studio's work out area had thick
Tatami mats laid on the ground. Heavy for a man, even heavier for a boy. Mike
made good on his word and cleaned and maintained the school. In return, beginning
with the Horse Stance, Senior Grandmaster Ed Parker began to unfold the martial
science of Kenpo.
In the beginning, Senior Grandmaster Ed Parker had no systematic way of teaching
what is now Kenpo; there were no Kenpo manuals yet. Senior Grandmaster Ed Parker
would create a move or technique and would test and demonstrate on whomever
was around. Mike Pick studied and imitated every move he saw Senior Grandmaster
Ed Parker execute. To Mike Pick, Kenpo was now a way of life. He spent time
in the studio every day, soaking up everything he could. On his way to and
from the studio, Mike would do front crossovers on the railroad tracks that
led his way from school to home. Every free moment Mike rushed to the school
to follow and learn from the "Old Man." His inner dedication and
motivation transformed the meek boy into a hungry young warrior. By thirteen
he had created a regiment of 1000 kicks, 1000 blocks, and 1000 strikes a day.
He was motivated and dedicated.
At thirteen Mike Pick met another man who would influence him greatly. The
man was Grandmaster Tuumamao "Tino" Tuiolosega. Grandmaster Tuiolosega "big
brother" to Mike, was of Royal Samoan ancestry. Grandmaster Tuiolosega
was a United States Marine Corps Boxing Champion and All-Service Welterweight
Champion, a Korean War Veteran, and a tenacious street fighter. Occasionally,
Grandmaster Tuiolosega would drop by the Pasadena school and workout with Senior
Grandmaster Ed Parker and anyone else who would get on the mats with him. Immediately,
Mike and Grandmaster Tino struck up a brotherly relationship. Much of what
Mike Pick is in the martial arts may be attributed to Mike Pick's time with
Grandmaster Tino Tuiolosega on the mats. Grandmaster Tuiolosega would often
pummel anyone in the school, including a young Mike, in exhibition of his awesome
fighting prowess. From these sessions with Grandmaster Tuiolosega, Mike Pick
learned how to fight. Later Grandmaster Tuiolosega would form the Limalama
Arts of Self Defense that enjoys popularity all over the world.
Along with the influence of Grandmaster Tuiolosega and Senior Grandmaster Parker,
Mr. Leonard Mau also influenced Mike Pick in his early Kenpo years. Mr. Mau
was from Hawaii and was one of Senior Grandmaster Parker's top students. A
tenacious street fighter and successful tournament fighter, Mr. Mau competed
in the first International Karate Grand Champion match as a brown belt. Many
times, Mr. Mau would share and exercise his fighting abilities with Mike Pick.
During these early years at the Pasadena school, Mike Pick was never one for
formality or eastern influenced tradition in the school. Instead of a gi and
belt, Mike would often go barechested in jeans. It was not before long that
Mike starting earning a reputation as an aggressive, quick, and strong apt
pupil of Kenpo.
On his sixteenth birthday Mike Pick stood in a horse stance for sixteen hours
straight. A gift to Kenpo and a gift to himself. His level of commitment to
Kenpo now surpassed everything else in his life. As negative destructive forces
in his external life battered his young impressionable years, Mike Pick turned
to a spiritual quest via Kenpo. By feeding his mind with large doses of philosophy,
history, and science, Mike Pick created the platform for which he would view
the world for his days to come. By reading Anatomy of the Human Body, Descriptive
and Surgical by Henry Gray, Being and Nothingness by Jean Paul Sartre, The
Prophet by Kahlil Gibran, the Bushido, Go Rin No Sho by Miyamoto Musashi, The
Varieties of Religious Experience by William James, The Craft of Power by R.
G. H. Siu, The New Science by Giambattista Vico, Bellum Catilinae & Bellum
Jugurthinum by Sallust, The Art of War by Sun-Tzu, The Way of Zen by Alan Watts,
Secrets of the Golden Flower translated by Carry F. Barnes, Siddhartha by Hermann
Hesse, and The Psychology of the Unconscious by Karl Gustav Jung, Mike Pick
began to attribute philosophical, spiritual, and scientific foundations for
the martial path for which he now traveled. His early attraction to intellectualism
is manifest in the way in which Mike Pick teaches Kenpo today. His scientific,
philosophical, and spiritual approach to intellectual understanding of the
martial human is largely responsible for his success as a Kenpo teacher and
practitioner. His continuing proliferation of Kenpo in regards to philosophy,
science, physics, and spirituality may be attributed to his early exposure
and study of the enlightened writings and thoughts of great thinkers.
By sixteen years old, Mike Pick had dropped out of high school out of necessity
to survive. His homelife after years of abuse and conflict had deteriorated
to state to which Mike had no control. The forces around him swirled in a dangerous
and uncontrollable whirlwind. The only way that Mike Pick could survive was
to fight. To do this, Mike Pick turned to the one thing that provided security
and stability. Kenpo. Between taking responsibility for his 4 younger siblings
and caring for his afflicted mother, the only thing them kept him sane was
his art, his Kenpo. By this time Mike Pick was a force in the martial arts.
The stereotypical tough kid from the wrong side of the tracks was in more way
than one accurate. His skill in Kenpo was rivaled by few. There were few he
would listen too, even fewer that could stop him. Of his early years, Senior
Grandmaster Ed Parker said:
Earnest and sincere in his desire to learn KENPO, he cleaned the Pasadena school
in lieu of payment. As a boy of ten, he was determined to earn his way in the
world of hard knocks-a trend that continues to this very day. His ability to
take on responsibility and earn his own way in life has become a permanent
part of his character. Although the principles and concepts that I have taught
him triumphs in his fighting skills, he has never been interested in rank or
even wearing a black belt. Always desiring to test the waters, he made it a
ritual to spar with everyone he could. Because of his intensity and skill he
was afforded the opportunity, on a number of occasions to spar with the late
Bruce Lee when he was only sixteen years of age. (Parker 1)
During this time Mike Pick wrote a thesis on the peripheral vision of the predatorial
tiger. After submitting his thesis to Ed Parker, on March 19, 1965, Mike Pick
was led onto the mats where Ed Parker took off his own belt, kicked Mike, and
promoted him to black belt. Mike Pick is the only black belt that Senior Grandmaster
Ed Parker promoted with a belt off of his own waist This event only solidified
Mike Pick's enthusiasm and devotion to Kenpo. By eighteen, Mike Pick was a
black belt and a warrior. Mike Pick was the first teenage black belt that Senior
Grandmaster Ed Parker ever promoted.
The era that Mike Pick came up in was one of tumultuous social evolution. Between
peaceniks, beatniks, hippies, squares, and big brother it was easy to be confused
as to where one belonged. The assimilation of oneself into a subculture was
more difficult then it appeared to be. For a person like Mike Pick, finding
where he belonged, was even more difficult. To be a modern warrior, when war
was unpopular, left one in a quandary. In search of his place, Mike Pick did
the only logical decision any patriotic young man would do. He enlisted in
the United States Marine Corps.
By 1967, Mike Pick was an infantryman in the United States Marine Corps. He
was attached to Hotel Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Division. His unit
was deployed for use in Vietnam. Routinely, Mike Pick and his unit were engaged
in small arms and hand to hand combat. Among other operations, his unit was
deployed in Operation Pegasus, Operation Kentucky, Operation Napoleon, Operation
Thor, Operation Trusdale, Operations Scotland 1, & 2, Operation Mutter's
Ridge, Operations Lancaster 1, & 2, and Operation Dragon the United States
pacification program. While engaged in combat Mike Pick carried the M-14 rifle,
M-16 A-1 rifle, .45 caliber pistol, M-60 machine gun, the K-bar, hand grenades,
and Kenpo as his weapons.
The experience of war and the engagement in combat are events that significantly
alter a person's perspective, knowledge, experience, spirit, mind, body, and
soul. Mike Pick is no different in this regard. The Vietnam Conflict not only
changed modern American media, the way American citizens respond to actions
by a government, and the American mainstream culture, but more importantly
and more significantly, the Vietnam Conflict corrupted, altered, exposed, tainted,
drew blood from, forced tears from, and hurt a generation of Americans. Mike
Pick is no exception.
For his service while in Vietnam, Mike Pick was awarded the Purple Heart, the
Combat Action Ribbon, the Presidential Unit Citation, the Naval Unit Citation,
the Good Conduct Medal, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, the Vietnamese Legion
of Merit, the Vietnamese Service Medal with two Bronze Stars, the Vietnamese
Campaign Medal, and the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon. It has been said that
necessity is the mother of invention. While in engaged in the Vietnam Conflict,
Mike Pick was faced with the ultimate necessity, the need to stay alive. During
his tour of deployment in Vietnam, Mike Pick evolved as a man, a Marine, a
human being, and a warrior. It is one thing to engage an enemy in a Karate
School, on the street, in a tournament, or while in training, but it is another
to engage an enemy when that enemy intends to kill. Kenpo was put to the ultimate
test by Mike Pick in Vietnam. If it were not for this period in his life, while
serving in the United States Marine Corps, the reality based application of
what Mike Pick teaches today, would be in question. Returning home a decorated
war veteran in August of 1969, instead of the hero's welcome that was earned
and deserved, Mike Pick was greeted by protestors chanting negative sentiments
and throwing spoiled food and refuse at him. The impact of a warrior returning
home to a home that did not accept the warrior back can only be defined as
hurtful and negative. This is how all Vietnam Veterans and Veterans of other
conflicts who fought and died for their country have been wronged in the past.
To this class of warriors United States Citizens have abandoned and hurt, the
Vietnam Veterans belong.
When settled back from Vietnam, Mike Pick continued his studies with Ed Parker
immediately. He worked numerous jobs, which included roofing, bartending, and
owning an operating his own painting company. He bought his first home in Monrovia.
Shortly thereafter, he married and had his first child, Michael Robert Pick
Jr. All the while, dedicating much of his time to Kenpo.
Senior Grandmaster Ed Parker had always had an individual who had provided
him with security while attending events and while traveling. Senior Grandmaster
Ed Parker's first such companion was Mr. Leonard Mau. When Mr. Mau moved back
to Hawaii, the responsibility was handed over to Grandmaster Tuiolosega. When
Grandmaster Tuiolosega created the Limalama Arts of Self Defense and went his
own way, the responsibility was passed on to Mike Pick. Mike Pick was Senior
Grandmaster Ed Parker's choice bodyguard until his death in 1990. As Senior
Grandmaster Parker's companion and confidant, Mike Pick contacted every Kenpo
black belt in the world to invite them to Senior Grandmaster Parker's tribute
dinner in Los Angeles, California in 1987. At the 25th Anniversary of the International
Karate Championships, during the finals on Sunday, Mike Pick carried Senior
Grandmaster Parker's belt, a symbolic act for things to come. Mike Pick was
also Senior Grandmaster Parker's "ambassador" to schools and individuals
that had some grievance with Senior Grandmaster Parker, or vice-versa. A visit
from Mike Pick was either a blessing or a curse.
The pressures of Vietnam, a failing marriage, and childhood ghosts led Mike
Pick to a critical moment in his life. Searching for answers to questions that
he could not answer himself, some peace of mind from the war, and pressures
from peers, family, and friends, Mike Pick sought refuge. Packing up his truck
full of supplies he headed to the Bitteroot Mountains in Montana. At the farthest
filling station into the wilderness, Mike Pick filled up his tank with Gas.
He drove into the mountains until there was a half a tank left. He would then
have enough to get back when he was ready to leave. He would not leave for
10 months. Surviving through a harsh winter in the mountains of Montana, Mike
Pick had a large amount of time to explore the Kenpo which know in many ways
defined who he was. It was during this time that Mike Pick made many breakthroughs
in Kenpo. Including advancements in power sources, anatomical alignment, engagement,
and striking. His dedication in the wilderness to Kenpo, manifest itself as
a physical, emotional, and spiritual catharsis and regeneration.
His return to civilization and life thereafter would prove to be a time of
growth, change, and new experience. Mike Pick began to pursue blacksmithing
and horseshoing full time. After graduating from Oklahoma Farriers College,
he found himself with a new career, new wife, and his first Kenpo School. He
had always taught Kenpo either in other schools or in seminars, but now he
began to bring up his own Kenpoists. He began to teach out of his home in Steptoe,
Washington. He would later open a school dedicated to Kenpo in Colfax, Washington.
On different occasions, Senior Grandmaster Ed Parker visited his school, or
Mike Pick would accompany him in various schools in the United States. During
this period of time, Mike Pick's sons Zachary Kealoha Pick and Zephaniah David
Pick were born.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Mike Pick energized his study of Judaism,
which is his family's heritage. He participated regularly in the Jewish Defense
League and increased his knowledge of the spirituality of Judaism. The study
and practice of Judaism continues to have profound meaning in Mike Pick's life.
While living in Washington, Mike Pick spent five years as a member of the Whitman
County Mounted Posse. The Whitman County Mounted Posse is a quasi-law enforcement
agency that helped the Sheriff and Police Departments with special or anomalous
situations.
During the 1980s Mike Pick's skill and insight with the knife blossomed. Part
of his training regiment was to go into meat lockers and practice cutting flesh
with his knives. This period saw his exponential growth as a Kenpo knife technician.
His earnest training and scientific analysis of the knife, led to many breakthroughs
which afforded Mike Pick the ability to carry the Kenpo knife further. Senior
Grandmaster Parker said of Mike Pick, "The success of his efforts then
and his understanding of terminology and principles now has resulted in his
being my top student in knife fighting." (Parker 1) In essence, Kenpo
is a knife killing system. The ultimate expression of the Kenpoist is the knife.
The natural evolution of a Kenpoist is not fulfilled until the knife is realized.
For this reason, Mike Pick has expanded the knife to a new level. Mike Pick
has designed the "Pick Tactical Knife" to meet the needs of Kenpo
and survival in today's world.
In 1982, Mike Pick published a collection of his poems in a book titled Childhood,
Namhood, Manhood. The book dealt with the emotional, physical, and spiritual
strains of a battered childhood and going to war. Appearing tough on the exterior,
the writings of Mike Pick expose and express his most tender, emotional, and
sensitive nature.
As his skill in blacksmithing and horseshoing grew, so did his desire to live
in an area that would support a man with his occupation. He ventured to Arizona
and Hawaii, before settling in Humboldt County in Northern California. During
this period he was blessed with continued growth in his family. He gained a
daughter, in Nicole Darnell Pick, and enjoyed the births of two more daughters,
Micah Susan Pick and Hannah Noreen Pick. The mother of these three daughters
is Mary Susan Pick, Mike Pick's soulmate and partner for life.
While living in Hawaii, Mike Pick accompanied Senior Grandmaster Parker to
the funeral of his teacher, the late Grandmaster William K. Chow. For all those
persons who know the complexities of the relationship between Mr. Chow and
Mr. Parker, those persons must also know why Mr. Parker would need a companion
at his funeral.
Mike Pick's dedication to Kenpo during this period never lost inertia or stride.
In Humboldt County, Mike Pick opened up a club in downtown Eureka and enjoyed
a loyal and active student body. He traveled to teach seminars or traveled
to accompany Senior Grandmaster Parker all over the United States. By this
time, Senior Grandmaster Parker had promoted Mike Pick to 7th Degree Black
Belt.
Always patriotic and enthusiastic about the United States Marine Corps, Mike
Pick recruited approximately 30 young men to enlist in the United States Marine
Corps. Among the 30, are his oldest son who served, his middle son who is serving,
and his youngest son who will serve. This tradition of military service was
inherited by his father, Russell Otto Pick. Russell Otto Pick served three
and one half years during World War II from Guadacanal to Tokyo in the Pacific
theatre in the United States Army. Mike Pick's "Semper Fidelis" attitude
and esprit de corps also led him to share the Sergeant-At-Arms billet in the
California Marine Corps League with World War II and Korea Marine Veteran,
the late, Mr. Chester O'Bannon for a period of three years.
In May of 1993, Mike Pick was named the California Employment Development Department's "Teacher
of the Year" and "Outstanding Veteran Employer of the Year" for
his blacksmithing apprenticeship program created for Disabled Veterans. His
awards were based on his creation of a three-year, six thousand-hour blacksmithing
apprenticeship program recognized as the standard for the state of California.
His skill and ability in blacksmithing now afforded him the opportunity to
teach what he knew.
Not one to stay out of action, Mike Pick volunteered on the Six Rivers Detachment
of the Humboldt County Fire Department. The detachment routinely engaged itself
in firefighting and lifesaving exercises. His experience and knowledge greatly
increased the ability of the fire department to respond on a local level.
In December of 1990, Senior Grandmaster Parker suffered a heart attack and
died, sending shockwaves around the Kenpo world. The loss of the first American
Grandmaster of Kenpo was felt by all that had ever heard of or met the man.
On a personal level, Mike Pick was deeply hurt, on a pragmatic level; he was
left without a teacher.
At Senior Grandmaster Parker's funeral, Mike Pick was a pallbearer and the
first person to greet everyone who came to pay respect to Ed Parker while lying
in state.
Before Senior Grandmaster Parker's death, he had scheduled Mike Pick to be
promoted to 8th Degree Black Belt on January 27, 1991 in Santa Clara, California.
By that time Mike Pick had gone through the entire Kenpo system with Senior
Grandmaster Parker eleven times. Three of the eleven times, Senior Grandmaster
Parker and Mike Pick countered the system. The eleven times that Mike Pick
went through the system with Senior Grandmaster Parker was focused on the primary
and master techniques of each belt level that illustrated and taught the principles
and matrix of the Kenpo system. For his 8th Degree Black Belt Thesis, Mike
Pick presented Senior Grandmaster Parker 92 pictured and choreographed techniques.
The techniques were used to complete the system via Form 9 and Form 10. This
completed the system by fully evolving it into a knife system.
After Senior Grandmaster Parker's death, his organization, the International
Kenpo Karate Association, was left in a state of bitter political rivalry and
egotist power struggles. Sensing the inevitable, Mike Pick split with the International
Kenpo Karate Association to preserve his character and integrity.
Due to his ongoing personal studies and breakthroughs in the matrix of Kenpo,
it was time for Mike Pick to stand on his own and teach what he knew. Always
one for anonymity and being in the shadows while Senior Grandmasrer Parker
was alive, the responsibility of leading was daunting and troublesome. Nonetheless,
his responsibility outweighed his concerns.
In the early 1990s, Mike Pick founded the Universal Kenpo Federation. The Universal
Kenpo Federation provided Mike Pick the necessary vehicle to proliferate American
Kenpo. Immediately, the Universal Kenpo Federation harnessed a large loyal
following. The clean break from the old and creation of a new organization
provided Mike Pick the ability to teach the evolution of Kenpo, which he now
mastered.
After years of respectful tribute to the passing of his late teacher, Senior
Grandmaster Edmund Kealoha Parker, Michael Robert Pick followed in the ancient
traditions of Kenpo to honor those who have come before him. Under the sanction
and endorsement of Grandmaster Tuumamao "Tino" Tuiolosega, Mr. Pick
continued the path of his 40-year evolution in Kenpo and acknowledged the obligations
of his passage and lineage, as the 39th Grandmaster of Shoalin Kenpo. On March
19, 1965, Senior Grandmaster Edmund Kealoha Parker removed his personal belt
from his waist and promoted Michael Robert Pick to the rank of 1st Degree Black
Belt. On November 8, 1997, Mr. Pick retired Mr. Parker's belt into its place
in history and forged himself with the fundamental principles of "KENPO" as
the 10th Degree Black Belt and 2nd Grandmaster of American Kenpo. Of the occasion,
Grandmaster Tuiolosega wrote:
It is with great respect and affection that I whole-heartedly support the recommendation
by your Federation members to promote your Founder, Master Michael Pick to
10th degree Black Belt in Kenpo. He has been in the martial arts for over 40
years and is a responsible and dedicated practitioner who has always exemplified
the principles and virtues that are the basis of martial arts. Since I have
known Michael, I have followed his strides and performance in the Art and I
take great personal pride in observing his continued efforts to further the
art of Kenpo and to bring out the best in each individual he instructs. He
is a traditionalist "rebel" in the most honorable sense of the word
and he has taken his knowledge and compounded its value by showing others how
to better their knowledge and skills in the Art. Your promotion of Master Michael
Pick is not taken lightly as I would not encourage a promotion to this degree
if it were not attained in an admirable manner. He has lived his life with
a strong sense of integrity and I can without any reservation, support your
member's decision to promote him and can only encourage the support and acknowledgment
of others who have been blessed by his friendship and professionalism, and
talent. (Tuiolosega 1)
Since Grandmaster Pick's acceptance in 1997, he has turned his energies to
refining the evolution of American Kenpo. The Universal Kenpo Federation hosts
biannual Instructor standardization workshops to proliferate American Kenpo
in its most recent evolution. Grandmaster Pick teaches and enlightens by traveling
around the country to share his wealth of knowledge.
Recently, Grandmaster Pick has become the 22nd member of the International
Close Quarter Combat Instructors Association. The International Close Quarter
Combat Instructors Association was created by the famed Colonel Rex Applegate
to teach close combat to elite military organizations around the world. Grandmaster
Pick's teachings, experience, and insight have led him to be the prime Martial
Arts, Combative, and Close Quarter Combat instructor for Special Forces, 10th
Group (Airborne), United States Army. He has shared his valuable lessons of
combat, killing, and Kenpo with soldiers being prepared to deploy in hostile
environments.
Grandmaster Pick also teaches five to seventeen-year-old children with the
Police Activities League (PAL). Once a year, for six weeks, Grandmaster Pick
teaches troubled youth confidence, self-awareness, self-reliance, integrity,
and honor through Kenpo. The PAL program has been created by the Colorado State
Police to combat delinquency in the youth of Colorado.
Another passion of Mike Pick's has been the bonsai. He has learned under Sensei
Yoshio Naka and Sensei K. Sakamoto. At times, Mr. Pick has had more than 200
hundred bonsai. Mike Pick now retreats to the mountains behind Pike's Peak
of Colorado to gather new trees for pruning.
Over the years, Mike Pick has had influential mentors outside of the Kenpo
world. Mr. Jeffrey C. Chu, former Senior Advisor to the President of the Stanford
Research Institute and influential inventor of the computer, has become a second
father to Mr. Pick, in that he provides spiritual, intellectual, and moral
guidance to Mr. Pick. Mr. Frances Whitaker, the Grandmaster of Blacksmithing,
has had profound influence on Mr. Pick's skill as a blacksmith and maturation
as a craftsman and teacher. Of his teacher's and mentors, Mike Pick has been
graced to learn from three Grandmasters, Senior Grandmaster Edmund Parker,
Grandmaster Tuumamao Tuiolosega, and Grandmaster Frances Whitaker.
In October of 2000, the Universal Kenpo Federation made a pilgrimage to Hawaii.
The sixty plus group camped on the beach of Malakahana on the North Shore of
Oahu. The time was one of great significance and bonding. All that were there
grew as a family and a clan. While in Hawaii, Grandmaster Pick promoted his
oldest son, Michael Robert Pick Jr., to 1st Degree Black Belt. Michael Pick
Jr. is Grandmaster Pick's first person to go from white belt to black belt
and has been his father's student for 17 years. As the Lua is the progenitor
for American Kenpo, and as Senior Grandmaster Parker is of Hawaii, the pilgrimage
was one of great importance to Mike Pick to follow his roots of American Kenpo
back to Hawaii. On the sands of Queen Emma's hideaway, the group worked out
everyday, tracing the roots of Kenpo's ancestors via modern day American Kenpo.
At the Saturday night Luau, Mr. Jay Andrus, nephew of Senior Grandmaster Parker,
represented the Hawaiian Parker family by supporting Grandmaster Pick and the
Universal Kenpo Federation.
Mr. Pick currently lives in the mountains of Colorado with his wife and children,
enjoying a successful blacksmithing business. As an active member of his Temple,
Mike Pick continues his study of Mystical Judaism and the Torah. A lover of
the outdoors, in his spare time he enjoys hunting, fly fishing and fly tying,
and camping. Of all his interests, passions, and pursuits, his greatest is
his family.
Letters Cited:
Parker, Edmund K., President and Founder, International Karate Association
Tuiolosega, Tuumamao "Tino" , Grandmaster & Founder, Limalama
Arts of Self-Defense, July 23, 1997. Originals on file at UNIVERSAL KENPO FEDERATION
HEADQUARTERS
Endorsements and Qualifications leading to Mr. Pick's Acceptance of his 10th
Degree Black Belt and Title of Second Grandmaster of American Kenpo.
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