John Nash

Master Nash was a medical corman in the Navy in 1958.  The U.S. Government asked for a volunteer with a medical background to go to Okinawa to be trained in the art of karate and become a hand to hand combat instructor for the Marine Corp. Master Nash volunteered and was sent through Marine Corp basic training (boot camp) at Camp Pendleton to get himself in condition for one of the hardest tests of endurance and training in his life.

Master Nash was sent to train under 39 year old Okinawan Eizo Shimabuku, 10th degree Black Belt (Red Belt) Grand Master of Shorin-Ryu Karate. Master Shimabuku was the youngest karate master in the world to be promoted to 10th degree Black Belt.  Master Shimabuku who could not speak the English language very well, accepted Master Nash as his student.  Instruction the first six months was 9 hours a day, six days a week and involved training in katas, free style sparring, and weapons.  After six months, instruction was 6 hours per day with another 3 hours per day teaching hand to hand combat at the Marine Corp base in Okinawa.

Master Nash trained four years in Okinawa with Master Shimabuku, traveling on weekends to different military stations in the Far East teaching karate for the U.S. including American and Vietnamese advisors in Viet Nam and U.S. Special Forces.  He also fought in karate tournaments in Japan, Thailand, and China while a student of the Shimabuku School.

Master Nash left Okinawa and the Navy in 1962 to return to Dallas.  He opened National Karate Institute - the first karate school in Dallas.  He had ten schools in Texas and instructed for ten years.

There are now many Black Belts across the U.S. teaching Shorin-Ryu.  Master Nash was the first American to teach Shorin-Ryu in the United States.  He has received recognition by Black Belt Magazine in one of their articles titled "Pioneer of American Karate, Part II".  Master Nash is retired and still resides in Texas.

 

HALL OF FAME