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Grandmaster Allen R. Steen - Dallas |
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Grandmaster Allen R. Steen began training in 1957 under Grandmaster Jhoon Rhee. He opened the first store front dojo in the early 1960s and is credited with growing the largest martial arts empire in history. |
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E-mail: Grandmaster Steen |
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Al Francis - San Antonio |
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Former U.S. #1 ranked point fighter Al Francis devotes his martial arts expertise to teaching youth and their families who otherwise could not afford lessons. He is as much a champion in character as he is in the ring. |
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Fred Simon - Beaumont |
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Fred Simon is not only known for his outstanding and long lasting martial arts career, but he is also famous for his contagious smile and friendly disposition. He was GM Jhoon Rhees 1st African American Black Belt.
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Larry Caster - Dallas |
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Grandmaster Larry Caster began his martial arts training in 1959. He is world renowned for his fierce fighting prowess. This reputation is equaled only by his extremely respected reputation for training some of the most legendary fighters in martial arts history. |
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Michael Park - Plano |
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Chuck Norris - Dallas |
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From his undefeated reign as the professional world middleweight karate champion to an entertainment career spanning over twenty feature films and a highly rated television series, Chuck Norris seems to have tapped a bottomless well of success. |
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E-mail: mpark@kajukemboplus.com |
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John Nash - Dallas |
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John Nash, as a young Navy Corpsman, was sent through Marine Corps boot camp and then to Okinawa to train and create a hand to hand combat program for the Marines. Read more... |
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J. Pat Burleson |
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Allen Steen’s first black belt and an early world champion fighter. |
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E-mail: Grandmaster Burleson |
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Grandmaster Richard Jenkins - Houston |
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Grandmaster Jenkins is a Texas Karate Pioneer, a Charter Member of the old Southwest Karate Black Belt Association and original American Karate Black Belt Association, and is the senior member of the "High Dan Board"... |
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Skipper Mullins |
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Skipper Mullins began his karate training in October 1963 at the Red Bird National Guard Armory in Dallas, Texas. He was all of 5'7" tall and weighed 120 pounds. No wonder the Sensei, Mr. Allen Steen, laughed at him when he proclaimed he would be the best... |
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James Toney |
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James B. Toney began his martial arts career in 1964 with Allen R. Steen at the Texas Instruments Athletic Center in Dallas. Grandmaster Toney’s real fame and reputation comes from his prowess as a teacher. Read more... |
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Demetrius Havanas, deceased |
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Nicknamed “The Golden Greek”, Mr. Havanas began training in Karate in 1967 at Texas Karate Institute owned by Allen Steen in Dallas, Texas. He won ninety straight tournaments in both fighting and forms as a brown belt. Promoted to Black Belt in 1971, he won …. |
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E-Mail: rjinhouston@sbcglobal.net |
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E-mail: |
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E-mail: |
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Keith Yates |
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Keith D. Yates is recognized as one of the nation’s leading authorities on the martial arts. He has written almost two hundred magazine articles and numerous publications including “Sport and Fitness,” “Black Belt,” “Inside Karate,” “Taekwondo Times,” ... |
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E-mail: KYates@dts.edu |
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Master Kim Geary - Austin |
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A 7th degree black belt in Cha Yon Ryu, Master Geary has been a student of Grandmaster Kim Soo for 30 years. She has been winning championships in advanced women’s forms and fighting since 1977 and in 1994, placed 2nd in Omsk, Siberia, Russia |
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Roy Kurban |
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Details coming soon. |
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Tim Vought - Dallas |
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Tim Vought, Sensei, founder and chief instructor of the art of Shorin AikiBudo, began his practice of martial arts in 1959. Mr. Vought retired from the Dallas Police Dept. in 1990. |
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E-mail: |
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E-mail: |
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Grandmaster Jhoon Rhee - Washington D.C. |
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World renowned 10th Degree Black Belt, known as the Father of American Taekwondo. Appointed to Nat’l Council on Vocational Education by President Reagan and Special Advisor on President’s Council on Physical Fitness by President Bush….. on and |
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E-mail: |
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Grandmaster Won Park - Ft. Worth |
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One of Texas’ leaders in promoting the Olympic style of Taekwondo. |
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Royce Young |
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Grandmaster Royce Young, 9th Dan is another Texas Karate pioneer and serves the High Dan Board of the AKBBA-CSHK as its Vice-Chairman. He is one of the earliest students of the pioneer TEXINX karate club, begun by Allen Steen at the Texas Instruments plant…. |
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Danny Passmore - Waco |
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Founder of The Texas Martial Arts Hall of Fame, interpreter for the deaf, and author of a book on Emotional Self Defense. The person who beat BORAT at his own game and made a lasting impact on an entire African nation in the Western Sahara. |
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E-mail: won@wonpark.com |
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E-mail: |
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Troy Dorsey - Mansfield |
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Troy placed in his first karate tournament after only two weeks of karate lessons. He was the 1st person to ever win two World Titles at one event (point fighting & kickboxing). In 1982, he set the record for the quickest knockout in kickboxing history in 9 seconds of the first round…. |
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Jose Santamaria |
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Pioneer instructor who took the Texas Team to the top as they won the coveted Eagle Cup, the national team championship award. |
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Chief Adrian Roman |
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Grand Master Adrian “Chief” Roman, for the first time in history, offers to the world the fighting system of his Native American ancestries. This weapons system consists of the knife, bow and arrow, blow gun, lance, war club, tomahawk and …. |
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Ed Daniel |
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Dubbed the “King Kong of Karate”, Ed Daniel stood 6’6” and weighing in at 275 lbs, one of the largest and oldest competitors on the tournament circuit during the 1960s and ‘70s. He began his road to success when he won the White Belt Division at the 1964 U.S. Karate….. |
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E-mail: JMS@santamariaskarate.com |
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E-mail: |
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Dennis Gotcher |
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Master Gotcher began his study of martial arts in 1968 at the General Dynamics Rec. Club. He later opened “Dennis Gotcher’s All American Martial Arts” in Waco, Texas. He was a 3 time U.S. Champion and had a professional full contact record of 19 & 1…. |
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Steve Cardenas - San Antonio |
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Familiar to most martial art movie enthusiasts as “Rocky” The Red Power Ranger. |
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Bob Kristensen |
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Shihan Robert Kristensen began his training (self defense) while on tour in Vietnam in 1970. His formal training was later started…. |
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Grandmaster Ye Mo Ahn |
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Details coming soon. |
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E-mail: |
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E-mail: |
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Vince Tamura - Dallas |
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The D/FW Metroplex is home to many accomplished athletes. To say that Vince Tamura is an accomplished athlete and instructor in the sport of judo and jiu jitsu is an understatement. With all his credentials, Tamura is a quiet, humble man, but …. |
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E-mail: |
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Since he retired as a federal agent in a covert government program, Mr. Park teaches Kajukembo and Aiki-Budo in Plano, Texas. In 2007, he was elected to the honored position as a board member of the American Kajukembo Association. |
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HALL OF FAME |
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Members |
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Read a brief statement about our members or follow the links to a full page description or to the websites. Please remember that this site is still under construction and all hall of fame members are not yet listed. |
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Grandmaster Kim Soo - Houston |
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Grandmaster Kim Soo is the founder of Cha Yon Ryu and presides over more than 30 locations in Texas with schools throughout the U.S. and around the World too numerous to list in this small space. Read more about this great man. |
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E-mail: information@kimsookarate.com |
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J.D. Lawler - deceased |
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Mr. Lawler began martial arts training in 1944. He was one in the second waves of soldiers to enter Japan after their surrender. He began training in martial arts the next week after his arrival. Read more by clicking on the link provided here: |
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Dr. John Painter - Arlington |
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Dr. John Painter, founder of The Gompa, is one of the foremost leaders of Chinese martial arts in Texas. He is a Ph.D. in Naturopathic medicine as well as a Captain in the American Rangers Law Enforcement Institute. Read much more in his bio... |
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Victor Cheng |
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Details coming soon |
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Bill Sosa - deceased |
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Bill Sosa Sensei was one of the pioneers in Aikido in Texas, the Southwest and Mexico. He began training in 1953 and moved to Texas in 1972. He immediately formed the Southwestern Aikido Institute which continues to thrive and spread across the nation. |
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E-mail: Dr. Painter |
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E-mail: |
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E-mail: sosasiaa@sbcglobal.net |
