I was living in Baltimore, Maryland when I started my Martial Arts training in 1961. Some Police Officers from the local precinct were teaching Judo in one of the elementary schools three times per week. I use to go with some local neighborhood kids. In 1964 I started taking White Snake Gung Fu at the local Boys Club. The Sifu (Jim Thompson) and I eventually became close friends. Around three years later a Karate school opened in the local town. The instructor was GM Park Chul Hee. I use to go there every day after school and watch the classes. Master Park kept telling me to bring my parents to see about lessons. At that time my parents would never let me take Karate lessons we didn't have that kind of money. Every day I would continue to go watch the classes. Eventually GM Park told me if I cleaned the school he would teach me. During this time I continued to take Gung Fu on the weekends, that was the only time the Sifu had to teach.

I continued training in Tae-Kwon-Do during the week and in Gung Fu on the weekends. I went from cleaning the Dojang, to teaching beginners, and eventually to assistant instructor (this didn't set right with the Senior Black Belt). Tae-Kown-Do came natural for me. GM Park would not promote anyone under the age of 18 to Black Belt. It felt like I was a Brown Belt forever. During this time I was fighting in tournaments up and down the East Coast. While I was a Brown Belt GM Park brought in another Instructor from Korea, Sa Bum Myung Chul Yoo. When it finally came time to test for my Black Belt the test was in three different parts, over several weeks period, in three different locations. I received my first 1st dan Black Belt in 1974 under GM Park with Myung Chul Yoo listed as my instructor. I had tested for my Black Belt 6 to 9 months earlier and was presented my Black Belt shortly after I tested. I received the certificate right before I went into the Marine Corps.

During my tour in the Marine Corps I was eventually stationed at Camp Horno in Camp Pendleton California where I became the base Karate Instructor.

I'm the one throwing the reverse roundhouse kick (1975 teaching on Base).

When I was still taking lessons from GM Park a Black Belt came in and tested for his 7th dan. That Black Belt was Master Young Ik Suh (the link will show both GM Park and Master Suh in the same photo taken in the 1950's). Master Suh had a dojang in Burbank, California. I took private lessons from him for around two years. The lessons consisted of breathing exercises and taking blows from a baseball bat. The link states he retired in 1976, but I am positive I trained in his Burbank, Califorinia dojang in 1976. He must have retire after I quit taking private lessons from him.

GM Ed Parker and I taken in his home in 1975 or 1976.

The first time I fought in GM Ed Parker's Internationals I was introduced to GM Parker by one of his Black Belts (Joe Palanzo) from Baltimore, Maryland that I knew from fighting tournaments on the East Coast. That was in 1975 and I made it to the semi-finals in the Black Belt division. Between 1975 and 1976 I got to know GM Parker. For the 1976 Internationals I brought a team from the Marine Corps to compete. They fought in the Brown Belt division and were disqualified for excessive contact (you know Marines). That year I fought Lenny Ferguson in the semi-finals. He beat me by by 1 point. He went on to win the Internationals in the Black belt division that year. I also fought with the BKF team that year, we won the Black Belt team competition. And I did some Professional Kickboxing during this time.

When I was honorably discharged from the Marine Corps I moved back to Maryland and opened up two Karate Schools. I also started college and used all of my VA educational benefits. I must stress here I got my first Black Belt under GM Park Chul Hee not GM Ed Parker. Some Black Belts got the two mixed up which caused me a lot of headaches in the early 1980's. I learned a lot from my conversations with Ed Parker, but I never trained with him. I continued to teach Tae-Kwon-Do and to take lessons, with either a high ranking student of GM Park Chul Hee or someone associated with GM Park Chul Hee that was at 7th dan or higher. I also studied White Crane and White Snake Gung Fu, American Kenpo, Hapkido, Isshin-Ryu, Tai-Chi, Lima Lima, and Gen-Bu-Kan. I hold the rank of Black Belt in several different styles. My highest dan is in Taekwondo, but rank lost it's meaning to me with all of the McDojos popping up promoting children to Black Belt. I'm a well-rounded Martial Artist with an extensive Martial Arts background. I've been collecting Martila Arts books since I was a teenager. I am currently a Board Member of the Extreme Budo Federation which Sensei Slonski and I founded. I don't like titles like Master or Grandmaster, I prefer Sensei, Sifu, or Sa Bum. I'll be 60 this year (2015) and I'm still a student after over 50 years of Martial Arts practice.

I wrestled in Jr. High, High School, College, and professionally. When I was in my late thirty's I decided to Wrestle Professionally. I wrestled professionally for three years. My stage name was the American Ninja. The below photo was taken of me just about twenty years ago in the early to mid 1990's. I was a lean 265 lbs. in this photo. That was the shape I was in when I wrestled. I was also a Competitive Bodybuilder and Powerlifter at that time.

Martial Arts is a way of life for me. I work in the IT field. I can build computers and program them. I have a Bachelor’s Degree in IT, I graduated Summa Cum Laude. I also have a Master’s Degree in IT, with a focus on Business Intelligence. I graduated with a 4.0 average. I am a member of the Iota Sigma Tau Honor Society, Golden Key International Honour Society, Alpha Beta Kappa Honor Society, and Graduate Information Technology Association (GITA). I am also A+ certified.