Longtime martial artist earns rare honor
04/22/2001
By Dan R. Barber / The Dallas Morning News
Teacher. Writer. Author. Artist. Christian. Certified tough guy.
Keith Yates is all of these.
For almost 40 years, tae kwon do - translated, way of kicking and punching - has been Mr. Yates' passion. He teaches the martial art to others, young and old. He has written books and magazine articles on the subject.
And recently, the long-time Garland resident became a 10th-degree black belt in the art.
"It was a surprise to me. I didn't know they were going to do that," says Mr. Yates, 50, who began studying tae kwon do in 1964 as a Richardson teenager. "It's basically an honorary rank, you could say, based on time and contribution."
Master Yates, as he is known at the Garland and Richardson YMCAs where he teaches, was promoted to 10th Dan by the Amarillo-based American Karate Black Belt Association-Chin Sook Hage Kwan on March 31.
Few martial artists reach 10th-degree black belt, said Allen Steen, an association founder and member of the High Dan Board that promoted Mr. Yates.
"It's a one-in-a-million occurrence," said Mr. Steen, 61, a Dallas resident and former world karate champion who was Mr. Yates' first teacher.
Mr. Yates, deputy communications director and creative director for the Dallas Theological Seminary, has authored or co-authored nine books on the martial art, among them The Complete Idiot's Guide to Tae Kwon Do. He's also written more than 300 magazine articles and is a monthly karate magazine columnist and a member of the Texas Martial Arts Hall of Fame.
"His contributions to the martial arts are just immeasurable," Mr. Steen said.
These days, Mr. Yates, who with gray hair and round glasses looks more like a college professor than a grand master, devotes much of his time to teaching. He leads classes at the Richardson YMCA on Tuesday nights and at the Garland YMCA on Thursday nights. Most of his 100-plus students are children.
"I still get the enjoyment and fulfillment of seeing my little 7-year-olds pass to their yellow belts," Mr. Yates says. "To me, that's still the fulfillment."
Charles Bouton, executive director of the black belt association, said Mr. Yates is among the best karate instructors in the country.
"He's an exceptional teacher," Mr. Bouton says. "Oh heavens. He's in the top 5 percent, no question."
Judy Barnett, who serves as the karate classes' volunteer coordinator, says Mr. Yates' students idolize him. Master Yates is a friend and a mentor, she says.
"I know my son looks up to him like a second father," says Ms. Barnett, 46, of Richardson, who with her 14-year-old son, Aaron, earned her black belt in March 2000.
"You don't make black belt under him unless you really become part of his family," she says.
Mr. Yates' journey to tae kwon do grand master began as a tall, thin 13-year-old who was too small for football and other team sports.
He would spend hours alone in his bedroom, drawing and listening to music.
"I was a fairly shy kid," he recalls.
It was his mother's idea that he study martial arts.
"He was a very quiet person. He was not outgoing or anything," Dolores Yates, 75, recalls. "He had a few friends, but he didn't participate in sports or anything like that.
"I just felt he needed to get out among people a little bit more," she said. "He just stayed in his room most of the time."
Back in 1964, when Mr. Yates walked into his Dallas studio, Mr. Steen says, he couldn't have predicted Mr. Yates would advance so far in tae kwon do.
"His mother drove him to the school and he was just a skinny kid," said Mr. Steen, a retired pro martial artist who defeated Chuck Norris in 1966 for the world title.
"One person in a million makes grand master."
Mr. Yates advanced quickly and became a black belt in 1968. A magazine profile photograph of the young man who would be master shows him in a fighting stance, his right foot with heel extended more than a foot above his head.
The middle-aged Mr. Yates, who is married and has four children ages 15 to 21, chuckles when asked if he could repeat such a limber feat today.
"I can stretch the heel out, I just can't stick it that high," he said.
There are some concessions to age, even for a grand master. Besides, why would he need to kick an opponent or a bad guy that high?
"I always say, 'You don't have to kick them in the head.'"
Art and the martial arts remain his two passions. Mr. Yates is the design director for Kindred Spirit, a Dallas Theological Seminary publication, and he drew the cartoons in The Idiot's Guide to Tae Kwon Do.
"I've been an artist and martial artist all my life, it seems like," he says.
Staff writer Dan R. Barber can be reached at 972-272-6591, ext. 227 and dbarber@dallasnews.com .
www.akato.org - the american karate and tae kwon do organization