Talking with Chuck Sullivan

It was great to reconnect with Mr. Chuck Sullivan at the Bob White Invitational. I don't think I'd seen him since 1988 at the Ed Parker Tribute in LA. What a pleasure to talk with him.
   We spoke of people we knew and some kenpo history. He had an observation that so many of us had parallel history; working with the same man in the same system but not meeting. Which was one reason why Bob White's event was so cool. It gave many of us a chance to connect or reconnect.
  I had quite a bit of undisturbed time talking with him. With all the people around it would seem like a "hi/bye" thing but nobody tried to horn in on our conversation. There were a few polite hands on a shoulder to let us know they were present but no distractions. I am grateful for that.
  Mr. Sullivan is credited with creating the set we know as Staff Set. He freely acknowledges that he learned a longer staff set from Mr. Parker and re-worked it. I had seen a video of that long set many years ago and can't remember where. Mr. Sullivan told me he took out some of the repetitious moves and got up the nerve to ask Mr. Parker if he could show it to him. According to his account, Mr. Parker said  that's the version they'd use from then on. And the Staff Set was born.
  While I had him I asked him about something I'd heard that Danny Inosanto had created the Stance Set as was shown in the Secrets of Chinese Karate book Mr. Parker wrote. I had doubted that info but wanted to hear from someone who was there then. Mr. Sullivan told me "Danny was too young" to have done that back then.
  It was an enjoyable few minutes to spend with a man who has done so much for our system. He looks great and has tremendous energy, too. My thanks to him for spending time with me and to Bob White for making the meeting possible.

Bob White Invitational

The weekend of March 22-24 weekend I was fortunate to be invited by Bob and Barbara White to attend their event in Costa Mesa, CA. This was the 8th annual Bob White Invitational. They and their staff pulled off a wonderful event to raise money for the Royal Family Kids Camp organization. The RFKC sends abused children to camps across the globe and the White's efforts help many of those kids. I'm told they raised $100,000 this weekend!
   Friday night they held a dinner at a local country club at which they showed a video of one of the kids who had been abused, rescued, cared for and adopted and how RFKC was instrumental. This child's story is a beacon. The founders of the RFKC were there, too and spoke a bit about how the kenpo community has stepped up to help the program so much - and has been spearheaded by the Whites.
   I had ridden over with Bob White, Steve LaBounty, Barney Coleman and John Sepulveda.   I didn't get 10 feet inside the door and saw so many people I hadn't seen in years that it took me another hour to make my way inside. Here's the short list; Chuck Sullivan, Vic LeRoux, Steve Cooper, Ed Downey, Angelo Collado, Rich Hale, Barney Coleman, Gilbert Velez, Doreen DiRienzo (Cogliandro), Mike Pick, Rainer Schulte, Paul Dye, Martin Wheeler, Bobby Lawrence, Ed Parker Jr. and more.

The seniors. I'm over Bob White's left shoulder.

  I was honored to sit at the table with Bob and Barbara, Steve LaBounty, John Sepulveda, Doreen DiRienzo, Barney Coleman and Benny "The Jet" Urquidez.
  At Saturday's tournament I saw my old friend and teacher, Frank Trejo. I finally met Bill Hayes from Old School Kenpo. Dave Hebler was there and Paul Dye interrupted his demo team to have them salute him, which was only right since he had been his first instructor. Outside with Steve LaBounty I was introduced to "Johnny", who turned out to be John Natividad, one of the premier fighters in the 60s and 70s. Graham and Jaydean Lelliott had come down from the Fresno area and we had a chance to hang out, too. Brian Duffy was there from Texas, so we had each other's backs.
  I met several people I'd heard of before like Ted Sumner and Sergio Correa.
  The tournament was an all-kids event and went like clockwork. They had a drawing for a Harley Sportster motorcycle won by a lady who had never ridden a motorcycle before (they pulled her ticket out of my cowboy hat). Between that, the silent auction at the tournament and the auction the night before at the dinner, Bob told me the would raise close to six figures for the kids and they did.
  They're planning #9 next March.
     

Another one to be proud of (updated)

My long-time student, Steve White, of Manchester, NH is on his way to Spain to do a business seminar for the Martial Arts Industry Association (MAIA) branch in Europe. He was invited by Marc Sigle of Esslingen, Germany, who is heavily involved in it. Steve's program director at his school, Lee MacDonald, is with him.
Steve's Manchester Karate Studio is a very successful and respected school in New Hamsphire. It's been there over 25 years.
In addition, Graham Lelliott is down in Australia on a teaching tour in four cities. Based on the Facebook reports he's doing his usual bang-up job.
I am happy to see the accomplishments of my students and wish them continued success.
UPDATE: Marc Sigle mailed me and said Steve is wowing them there.

Congratulations

Steve Hatfield

Back about 30 years ago I met Al McLuckie at a seminar I did at Fred Degerberg's in Chicago. It was the first seminar I ever did (and I sure wish it had been better). Al was doing Serrada Eskrima, having come from California and working under Mike Inay, an Angel Cabales student. Over the years Al trained in other arts and is a phenomenal martialist. I hosted a tournament in Chicago that I had Mr. Parker at and Al did a demo of his Filipino Martial Arts. When I asked Mr. Parker what he thought, he said "He's above average". That's pretty good from someone who had seen so much from all over the world, including crossing hands with Bruce Lee. Al has continued to progress and created his own system called Warrior Arts.

   Not long after I met Al I met Steve Hatfield from Ohio. I've always encouraged people to get with Al to improve their weapons work and Steve was one of them. Al lives in Ft. Wayne, IN and Steve being in the Columbus area, they were able to connect. Steve has been one of my students since the mid-80s and is also very well versed in chi-kung (qi-gong). Like many of my students, he's cross-trained and he passes that down to his students. Recently, Steve earned his instructorship from Al in Warrior Arts after 25 years of training. Well done, Steve!
 

More in the line of sheepdogs

An open letter by the president of Cold Steel knives.
http://www.coldsteel.com/Open-Letter-To-A-Sheep.aspx