Choyu Motobu: Okinawan Karate
There is a large amount of technical and historic information available about the art that Choyu Motobu inherited from his father and passed on...
Eric Lee: King of Kata
Eric Lee was born in Canton, China. His father studied martial arts and Eric would watch him train and this inspired Eric at the...
Yukio Tani: Judo
Yukio Tani was born in 1881. He is known as one of the first Judoka to compete and teach outside Japan. A pioneering Japanese...
Hawkins Cheung: Yip Man Wing Chun
Hawkins Cheung was recognized as the most senior Yip Man Wing Chun instructor in the U.S. and one of the top practitioners in the...
Emilio Mel Bruno: Judo
Mel Bruno received his first degree Black Belt from Jigaro Kano in 1935. In 1954, he was recommended by Dr. Jigoro Kano, the founder...
Howard Jackson the “California Flash”
Howard Jackson hails from the mean streets of Detroit Michigan. Survival was a daily affair and to do so Jackson looked to the martial arts...
Rickson Gracie: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Rickson Gracie (pronounced Hickson), son of Helio Gracie, was born into a Jiu Jitsu family on November 21, 1958. At six years old he...
Masatoshi Nakayama: Shotokan Karate
Masatoshi Nakayama was the first Shotokan practitioner to be awarded his 9th dan while still alive and he was awarded his 10th dan after...
The Story of Tatsuo Shimabuku and The Isshin-Ryu System
There is legend that states karate came to Okinawa in the nineteenth century when Chinto, a shipwrecked Chinese sailor, was washed ashore. Naked and...
Robert Trias: Father of American Karate
Robert Trias was born on March 18,1922. At the beginning of World War II Robert A. Trias was called upon to serve his country in...
Daniel K Pai: Pai Lum Kung Fu
Daniel K Pai was born Daniel Kalimahae Pa’i in Kameula, Hawaii, on April 4, 1930. His grandfather, Pai Po-Fong, taught him the Pai Family...
Hector Echavarria
As a sickly child who suffered from severe asthma, Hector Echavarria was encouraged by his parents to use martial arts to overcome his handicap....
David Krapes: Lua and Muay Thai
Raised in Southern California, David Krapes martial arts background spans over a 40-year period. In the late sixties he became a practitioner of San Soo...
Don Nagle: Isshinryu Karate
Don Nagle was born in Jersey City, New Jersey on April 5, 1938. As a teenager in high school he began studying Goju-Ryu Karate. He enlisted with...
Benny Urquidez “The Jet”
Benny Urquidez, Known as "The Jet", was born on June 20, 1952 in Tarzana, California. He is probably the most famous American kickboxer with...
Helio Gracie: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
At the age of 17, Helio Gracie (pronounced Eh'leeo) first stepped into the ring in Brazil to face a boxer named Antonio Portugal. Helio...
