It was forty years ago today
26/Nov/08
I’m old enough to remember Paul McCartney signing that old Beatles song. Well, it has been just over forty years ago now that Allen Steen announced that I had earned a black belt. Those weren’t easy to come by in 1968. In fact, Mr. Steen gave probably the hardest exams in the United States in those days. It is difficult to believe that four decades have passed since that day. I never would have thought that the martial arts would change my life the way they have. I know I would not be the person I am today if not for the arts. Actually, as I think about it, it isn’t just tae kwon do, ju-jutsu or kobudo (the arts I hold black belts in) that have changed me—it is the people that those belts represent. It is those instructors, those fellow practitioners and yes, my students, who have molded me for over forty years.
That’s why it was so great to see some of those faces last Saturday. Bob Woerner was the second black belt on my family tree of black belts. Tom Thompson, Paul Hinkley, Joseph Battino and Buddy Matthews, all predate the days I started teaching at the Richardson YMCA in the mid 1980s. Mr. Woerner and Mr. Thompson also trained under Allen Steen, James Toney and Jack Erickson at the original Texas Karate Institute in Snider Plaza in Dallas near SMU. It was especially meaningful to see Mr. Toney and Mr. Erickson at the event as well as former world champion (and Black Belt Magazine Man-of-the-Year) Roy Kurban. Roy and I came up through the ranks together and met several times on the mat (in spite of his gracious remarks on Saturday, he usually won those meetings).
I don’t have the space to mention all the names of the people who were at the surprise party (and I know that many more of you wanted to come but couldn’t) but I do want to say that it was touching to me that the only two young men I have ever promoted to black belt at the age of twelve were there. Max Rodriguez and Thomas Merhout were outstanding students at the time and continue to impress me and others with their skills and, more importantly, with their character.
In fact, it is the character of ALL the people in the AKaTo that make me proud to be a martial artist. So I want to thank all of you for being a part of my life for forty years. I also must thank my wife, Linda, for putting up with decades of evenings at home while I trained and taught. I am especially proud of my son, Rodney (who was the only one of my four kids to earn a black belt—by the way, I never pushed any of them to train). Rodney and his wife Ginny drove in from Louisiana that afternoon to attend the party and then drove back that evening! Finally, all you guys need to thank Judy Barnett for spending so much time arranging the event. And Mr. Proctor really put one over on me, I didn’t suspect a thing!