![]() I carried my shoes and walked across the mats barefoot, noting a new hole in the plaster wall where Bob Cook had kicked Larry Hartsell dangerously close to the plate glass mirrors. For the most part, we have always been a brawn society, evidenced in the early 1960s as we oiled our vast war machinery for transport to the jungles of Vietnam. ![]() If there was a spiritual aspect to this eastern philosophy of deadly fighting, it eluded us Westerners in the worst way. Mysterious, intimidating, at times even cryptic, many of these men were revered as superhumans, if not gods. Men whose sole purpose was to protect "The King."īack in the sixties when the martial art was in its infancy in this country, it was amazing what power the lay public bestowed upon the elite few who wore the black belts. It was a select group of Ed Parker's black belts who later became known as the infamous Memphis Mafia. His name was Elvis Presley, and he didn't own a guitar upon which our school emblem wasn't prominently displayed. Their most formidable foe was a nearby Tang Soo Do school, whose head instructor was a young man named Chuck Norris.Įd Parker's most notorious black belt hung out in Memphis. On the tournament circuit there was a group of Parker's students who became known as "The Wrecking Crew." And they fought anyone and everyone. Universe, and a college football hero, among others. The student roster of the advanced class read like "The Wild Bunch." We had a couple of ex-felons, several Hell's Angels, a recent Mr. Hawaiian-born, six-feet tall and a solid 220 pounds, and thought by many to be as fast and as powerful as Muhammad Ali. Ed Parker ran a tough class because Ed Parker was tough. I took off my sweat-drenched karate uniform and noted fresh blood on the sleeve of the recently torn rice cloth. There was a swollen lump the size of a golf ball, and the pain was excruciating. I sat in the dressing room gazing at my right shin. It was a cold, rainy night thirty-two years ago in Los Angeles, and Ed Parker's black belt class had just ended. ![]() We have had a jolly good lesson, and serves us jolly With all our most holy illusions knocked higher than The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences-Performance of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984 ![]() Parts of Chapter 20 of the present work appeared in an issue of Karate Illustrated magazine (Vol.3 #6) January 1993 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 96-94563 Gilderoy Publications, Lompoc, California For information write to special sales manager, Gilderoy Publications, Post Office Box 2004, Lompoc, CA 93438 Gilderoy Publications titles are available at quantity discounts for sales promotions, premiums or fund raising. Gilderoy Publications / Lompoc, California ![]()
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