My fascination with and love for the martial arts had its beginnings a long time ago, before I was in my teens. It was then that I first saw a television program, a western no less, wherein the guest star was portraying a man who had trained in the mysterious art of karate while in Japan and when confronted by the usual town bullies he dispatched them handily.

I thought that was really pretty cool but in the segregated small southern town (population around 12, 000) that I grew up in there was no place for me to study so I purchased one of the mail-order booklets that were advertised in back of comic books. Then, on my second trip out to California, my uncle purchased a judo gi (uniform) for me from a Japanese dry goods store that used to be on Jefferson in Los Angeles. I tried teaching myself some of the moves from the book and probably had minimal success but regardless, like bodybuilding/weight training before it, I threw myself wholeheartedly into this new pursuit.

It wasn’t until my late teens that I was finally able to have some formal training. Much to my surprise and pleasure, classes had been started in the National Guard armory in my home town and a friend and I joined up as soon as we realized that we would be accepted regardless of our skin color (yes, that was an ever-present consideration then). It was not all that long before that the Civil Rights Bill had been passed and accepted as law. But our instructor, a Cajun gentleman, Sensei Rod Prejean, at that time a brown belt in Shotokan and Zazen Te, and his assistant, Mike, a green belt, welcomed us into his classes and, soon afterwards, another classmate of ours joined the class as well.

I was a senior in high school and I studied with him until I left for the Marines right after graduation.  Once in the Corps, I studied with whomever I could wherever I happened to be stationed at the time so I got to study an eclectic blend of  martial arts styles for varying periods. Through the years, Shotokan, Shorin Ryu, Kenpo, Shorinji-Kempo, Taekwondo, Moo Duk Kwan, Wing Chun, and Tai Mantis were among the arts I studied with a variety of instructors both in and once I got out of the Marine Corps. I was even an assistant instructor with Sensei Rico Mercado whom I trained with at my last duty station, in the Las Pulgas area of Camp Pendleton, before I got out of the Marines.
 

As with everything else I have tried in my life, God has put me in contact with people who became very well known for being the best in the field of martial arts as has also been the case for those I met in my other pursuits of acting and music.  One such person,  who considers me his first student, was noted martial artist,Master Ernie Reyes, Sr., father of another noted martial artist, Ernie Reyes, Jr., who was teaching Moo Duk Kwan for Master Choi Dan Kyu at the time I first met him and whom I first studied under after leaving the Marines. He was inspirational back then because of his talent, speed, power, flexibility, and dedication to the arts. It is no wonder he has become so famous in the martial arts community.

The martial arts have long played an integral part in my life and personal development and they still do. Being exposed to so many different arts have given me a healthy respect for what each may have to offer. They are another area in which my unquenchable thirst for knowledge even now drives me to seek to know and understand more and more.  I realize there is so much I have yet to touch on.  For when you think you know all there is to know, you truly cease to grow.

 They, along with my belief in God,  allow me to go inside myself for the calm I need to cope with the hectic times and events that happen to all of us and they shall ever be important in my life.