Welcome to a California! November …85 degrees Fahrenheit.
We are preparing to have our annual Christmas Party. The Date for the Christmas Party is December 1st from 4:00-6:00PM. We will also be having our very first Flash Sale, on the same day from 2:00-6:00PM. We will have discounts on nearly everything, including: uniforms, t-shirts, patches, books and more. These can make great Christmas Gifts and stocking stuffers. The prices will be good ONLY during the sale hours.
Just a refresher for our students both new and old, Mr. Parker, the founder of American Kenpo Karate was born in Hawaii in 1931 and began training in the martial arts at a young age in judo and later boxing. Sometime in the 1940’s, Ed Parker was first introduced to Kenpo by Frank Chow who then introduced Ed Parker to William Chow, as student of James Mitose. William trained Parker while serving in the Coast Guard and attending Brigham Young University. In 1953, he was promoted to the rank of black belt. Parker, seeing that modern times posed new situations that were not addressed in Kenpo, adapted the art to make it more easily applicable to the streets of America and called his style, American Kenpo Karate.
Ed Parker opened the first “Americanized” karate school in the western United States in Provo, Utah in 1954. By 1956, Parker opened a Dojo in Pasadena, California. His first brown belt student was Charles Beeder. There is controversy over whether Beeder received the first black belt awarded by Parker. Beeder’s son has stated for the record that his father’s black belt came after Ed Parker had moved to California. The other black belts in chronological order up to 1963 were: Rich Montgomery, James Ibrao , Mills Crenshaw (Authorized by Ed Parker to open a school in Salt Lake City, UT in late 1958. That school later became the birthplace of the International Kenpo Karate Association; or IKKA), Tom Garriga, Rick Flores, Al and Jim Tracy of Tracy Kenpo, Chuck Sullivan, John McSweeney, and Dave Hebler. Parker was well known for his business creativity and helped many martial artists open their own dojos. He was well know in Hollywood where he trained many stunt men and celebrities; most notable was Elvis Presley. A few masters who are know around the world to this day such as Al Tracy, Bob White Huk Planas, Larry Tatum, Bob Mitchell, Ron Chapel, Frank Trejo, Eddie Downey, John Sepulveda, and Steve LaBounty. He helped Bruce Lee gain national attention by introducing him at his International Karate Championships. He served as on of Elvis Presley’s bodyguards during the singer’s final years, did movie stunt-work and acting, and was the Kenpo instructor of martials arts action movie actor, Jeff Speakman. He is best know to Kenpoists as the founder of American Kenpo and is referred to fondly as the “Father of American Kenpo”. He is formally referred to as Senior Grand Master of American Kenpo.
The Recognized head of our system today is Mr. Bob White (Mr. Kellogg’s instructor) who is located in Orange County, California.
Next Month we will have Mr. White’s Bio.