Frank Trejo

I met Frank in 1977 when I walked into the Pasadena studio at Internationals time. I introduced myself, "Hi, I'm Lee Wedlake from Chicago." His reply? "Yeah? So what?" Frank later told me that he had so many people coming in at the time around the tournament, many with huge egos and wanting some kind of special treatment so many times he reacted like that.

When I started working with Ed Parker directly in 1979 I spent a lot of time at the Pasadena studio. Frank taught me a lot and got my fighting skills shaped up. I could go on with the stories of what kind of misadventures Frank and I had but I'll spare the gory details. Suffice to say there was a lot of "research" in the bar environment, technical arguments in the studio office - some of which were settled on the mat, and some great times hanging with Frank. This photo is from that time.

I brought Frank out to Chicago to teach many times and later to Florida after I moved there. Frank's first exposure to snow was in Chicago. Unfortunately, it was about -30 at the time, too.

Frank brought John Conway Jr with him once and those two started fist-fighting and grappling while watching TV in my living room. That was a sight.

Ed Parker told me to learn the techniques from Frank and then come back and show me what I'd learned so that he could check what was being taught. Frank spent many hours teaching me the material above purple (Mr. Parker taught me the yellow and orange personally) and I thank him again for that. He let me teach there at the studio when I was in town and all the guys in the famous Friday night class helped me, too. Eventually I was tested for third black and Frank was promoted to fourth at the same time. That's when he passed his belt to me. He did it again when he went to fifth and I went to fourth. Frank was there in Chicago when I was promoted to fifth by Mr. Parker, Joe Palanzo, Huk Planas, and Frank. The photo of them is from 1986 at my school in Oak Lawn, IL.

Frank is like a brother to me. We don't keep in touch as much as we did. I wouldn't trade my time with him for anything and truly appreciate what he did for me. And he didn't even get me arrested or killed.















How many people can you identify in this photo of the 1986 Chicago seminar?

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Lee Wedlake has been teaching Kenpo Karate for over 35 years and has written a variety of Kenpo Books about different kenpo katas and kenpo concepts. Mr. Wedlake has worked directly with Ed Parker and is generous with his knowledge and his time. He is available for Kenpo Seminars and camps.