Sunday, January 21, 2024

A little more information on the history of the "Checkered G i"

(from a recent conversation on Facebook)

Joe Lewis came up with it from a black light hippy poster. - Norm Lane

Joe Lewis was asked to teach Tracy students freestyle sparring. He saw a psychedelic poster that caused your vision to fade in and out. He felt it was a great idea to put the design on a uniform to cause his opponents to defuse their vision during matches. - Joe Rebelo

The uniform was created by Ray Klinengberg and it was Joe Lewis who was the front man of the fighting team. Both Joe and Ray shared this story about how & why it was created at one of my Florida kenpo camps. - Sean P. Kelley

Joe Lewis and Dick Willet pioneered the concept. The checkers were of different sizes. It impairs depth perception and throws timing off. Dick Willet's black belts improved their win to loss ratio in tournaments wearing these. They were known as the "Wild Bunch." - Toby Massell


(link to part 1) http://kenponotes.blogspot.com/2019/06/the-checkered-gi.html


Wednesday, January 10, 2024

Sunday, January 7, 2024

A story told by Mr. White about how Mr. Parker saved someone's life

(from Mr. White's Facebook page)

I remember Mr. Parker driving up to my school in Garden Grove, CA. He told us he had just saved someone's life. We asked what happened and he replied that someone had cut him off on the road and they exchanged words. Mr. Parker said he did not get out of the car thus saving the other driver's life.

Monday, January 1, 2024