Dr. Gyi

I had the opportunity to meet and talk with Dr. Myaung Gyi, courtesy of Joe Palanzo when he had be teach at his recent camp."Doc Gyi", as they call him, is the REAL DEAL.
I was privileged to sit and talk with him privately a few times during the event. He is a PhD in psycholinguistics and has an interesting background beypnd the fact he is fluent in nine languages. He is widely known as a grandmaster of Bando, a Burmese art. One portion of it looks like Muay Thai, but like many arts, there is way more to it.I had seen bando back when I was a brown belt in Chicago and thought it was pretty exotic.
Dr. Gyi had been the chief instructor for the United States Karate Association (USKA) for 15 years. I remember the USKA from my days as a new black belt and it was one of the biggest karate associations in America. Odd that a bando man would hold that position? I found he had trained with Gogen Yamaguchi, "The Cat", a famous Goju-Ryu master. Makes sense to me. Gyi was the boxing coach for a university in Ohio for years, and he worked with the US military when he was young.
We spoke of other things and I'll pass that on here soon in a second article. I was impressed with the Doctor and I'm looking forward to meeting him again.

48 hours

It was just about the amount of time I had to travel to and from Baltimore for the WKKA camp. Joe Palanzo was at the airport to pick me up, which was a pleasant surprise considering that he had lots of people at his camp. We caught up a little in the car and when we got to the hotel I was on my own for a few hours.
In that time I saw Mr. Tom Kelly in the hallway and got myself introduced to Dr. Gyi. Mr. Kelly was Ed Parker's right-hand man for many years and we were up until midnight that night exchanging stories and thoughts on the art. Dr. Gyi and I spoke over the afternoon and during the next day. I was quite impressed with him and picked up many bits of information about Ed Parker and the arts. Dr. Gyi met Mr. Parker in the mid-50's and they were friends until Mr. Parker passed away. In fact, when Dr. Gyi taught his class and asked them to project an image in their minds of Ed Parker as a sign of respect during a salutation he was teaching, he knelt down and asked the class if they would kneel with him. When he finished he turned and wiped his eyes, saying that it always brings a tear to him when he salutes his friend.
I got re-acquainted with Joe Briedenstein, Ken Herman and some other people I hadn't see in a while. Joe's wife, Suzanne and his son and daughter were there as well. I hadn't seen the kids since they were very young and it had been years since I'd seen Suzanne. I was made to feel at home.
The visit was way too fast but I enjoyed it a lot. I was at the first camp 22 years ago and I hope to be at the next.

WKKA camp

I'm off to Baltimore for Joe Palanzo's Worldwide Kenpo Karate Association camp. I was pleasantly surprised to be invited. I'm looking forward to seeing some old friends and meeting some new people. Dr. Myaung Gyi will be there. I've heard about him for years and am excited about meeting him.
I'll recap when I return.

Joe Palanzo

I met Joe Palanzo back in the early 80's at the Internationals. Back then I was heavily into promoting seminars in Chicago. I'd had Bill Wallace, Fumio Demura, Keith Vitali, Ed Parker, Frank Trejo, Huk Planas come to my school and co-promoted some with Benny "The Jet" Urquidez and others. So I asked Joe to come out.

If you've ever been to a Joe Palanzo seminar you know they are always a good time. Joe has a great sense of humor, speaks well, and demonstrates at full-speed. If you don't know Joe you not only missed that, but probably wouldn't know he's a very savvy businessman and a very proficient trumpet player. He plays so well that he's performed with the Baltimore orchestra.

Joe came to my school several times over the years and was always a big help to me and my guys. He came out for my tournament and was there for the "Big Four" seminar in 1986. He invited me out for his first Baltimore camp, where I met many of the same people who are still practicing today, 20 years later.

Mr. Palanzo was a coach of the Budweiser Karate Team along with Ed Parker. The Bud team was the first corporately sponsored karate team in the US. It was NOT the first time a large corporation sponsored karate. I think that was Coors beer and Jack Farr that may have had that honor but that's another story. I wrote an article about the team in Karate Illustrated magazine and it's in my book, Further Insights into Kenpo.

Joe unexpectedly stopped by my studio in Ft. Myers a year or so ago. His daughter lives here, and she's married to one of my black belt's black belts. He's doing well and still has a studio, holds the big WKKA camp and is promoting his KSP program.

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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.