GM Castro and wife having tea with Bruce Lee

Date and location unknown, but how cool is that? 

Sitting down and having tea with Bruce Lee. 

Mr. Parker with GM Ralph Castro

 (From the Ed Parker Sr. Facebook page)

Ralph Castro first met Ed in the early 50’s while they were both serving in the Coast Guard. In those days, Ralph and Ed, both Island boys, used to get together to play ukulele. Ralph said, “Subsequent to my discharge from the device, I went back to Hawaii to train with Professor Chow. On my return to the mainland, I joined Ed’s Kenpo Karate Association and he helped me with my business. In fact, I also received my first black belt from him and I treat him as my senior, since I could not train with professor Chow. I received rank promotions from Ed until the later years when I was recognized by Professor Chow who promoted me to the rank that I am. 

In 1963, Ed and I gave a Kenpo demonstration at a Chicago tournament put on by Robert Trias. During my years with Ed, I participated with him at his Long Beach International Karate Championships. We had a very close relationship, like brothers. When I last talked to him, he told me about the studio burning and about the movie fight scenes he was choreographing for “The Perfect Weapon”.

Mr. Ralph Castro's family of martial artists

 From left to right, Mr. Castro, and his children Boss, Rob, April, May, June, July, and Mia.

Mr. Parker and Mr. Ralph Castro, old friends

“I have traveled extensively throughout the United States attending and participating in many Karate Tournaments. My travels throughout the years have made me aware of the constant need to portray Karate on an elevated plain. Wherever and whenever my advice has been needed, I have suggested, assisted, and encouraged such Karate events. When an unjust rule or unfairness to contestants have been suggested or indicated, I have defied, protested, and rejected such practices. I stand for the welfare of all contestants no matter what system they represent. With this tradition, Mr. Ralph Castro and myself welcome you to this momentous event. We both have strived to present Karate in a pleasing light, fair to all concerned, interesting to motivate audience appeal, educational so as to encourage the laymen to one day join a system and become a competitor.” - Ed Parker Sr.

(Excerpt taken from the California Karate Championship program, held at the San Francisco Civic Auditorium on May 4, 1967)

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Mr. Parker and Mr. Castro met while serving in the Coast Guard. Both were students of Professor Chow, just at different times.

Notice Mr. Parker wearing just a simple, yet very worn out, black belt with no stripes.

Remembering Ralph Castro, the SF Peninsula’s trailblazing martial arts master

From his friendship with Bruce Lee to the many thousands of students he taught over a lengthy career, Castro was a key contributor to martial arts culture in the Bay and well beyond.

(by Charles Russo thesixfifty.com 3-6-19)

1958.

When it comes to martial arts culture in America, the date can land like pre-history, a forgotten and hidebound era before Black Belt Magazine or Enter the Dragon or high-profile UFC fight cards. But it was 1958—more than 60 years ago—when Ralph Castro first began (formally) teaching kenpo karate around the San Francisco Bay Area.

Castro passed away last week at the age of 87, leaving behind a martial arts legacy that in many ways mirrored the trajectory of the culture within America: from early hot spots in Hawaii and the Bay Area, through the boom times of the “kung fu craze” of the 1970s and the Karate Kid mania of the ’80s. Castro was not merely present within this evolution, but a factor in shaping it, a role that was reflected in the many photographs that lined the walls of his longtime school in Daly City where he was pictured alongside the likes of Bruce Lee, Ed Parker and Chuck Norris.

“Grandmaster Ralph Castro was a true pioneer for martial arts in America, especially the San Francisco Bay Area,” explains Gene Ching, publisher of Kung Fu Tai Chi magazine. “Beyond being the founder of Shaolin Kenpo, he was a true gentleman and a stalwart 49ers fan.”

Castro’s recent passing reflects the final days of the pioneering generation within the Bay Area who made significant contributions to the foundations of martial arts culture in America and around the world.

“Ralph went to a really rough high school in Honolulu and he was the toughest guy there.” —Coach Willy Cahill, San Bruno

Island Origins

Castro emerged from the mid-20th century martial arts culture of Hawaii, a diverse, dynamic and seriously rough-and-tumble fight culture that was the first great (though often forgotten) martial arts melting pot in the world.

Predicated on the work opportunities within the islands’ cane fields, Hawaii experienced a robust influx of immigrants from around the Pacific (and the world) in the early 20th century. The workers brought their respective martial arts styles with them, and—after factoring in the great many U.S. servicemen stationed nearby—a unique, rugged and otherwise unprecedented martial arts laboratory soon developed.

Born of Spanish and Hawaiian descent, Castro grew up in close proximity to the islands’ fight culture. In fact, his father—Rafael “Boss” Castro—made extra money by fighting in underground bareknuckle boxing matches along the docks in Honolulu in order to help support his wife and eight children.

In time, the young Castro began his own martial arts career by studying under William Chow, a gruff and volatile character who, at five feet two, went by the nickname “Thunderbolt.” Chow’s classes were notorious for their stark physicality, and as one student described the practice environment: “[Chow] was into full-on fighting in the classroom rather than sparring. I used to get broken ribs. It was bad. That’s how we learned it.”

Eventually, Castro moved to the mainland with his wife Pat and their young family (they would ultimately have seven children, and named their daughters April, May, June, July and Mia). In San Francisco, Castro began teaching in his spare time in a variety of locations, including the family living room (which was put to a halt after one of his students came dangerously close to falling out an open window). In 1958, Castro opened his first formal location on Valencia Street in San Francisco’s Mission District.

"I can’t tell you the number of late nights that [Bruce Lee] spent with Ralph Castro, and Wally Jay, James Lee, Allen Joe, all those guys. Many late nights where they would go around the room demonstrating things.”—Linda Lee Caldwell (Bruce Lee’s widow)

Early Pioneers

In California, Castro partnered with Ed Parker, another of Chow’s students, who would also make his mark on martial arts culture in America. Operating out of Pasadena, Parker was profiled by TIME magazine in 1961 as the “High Priest of Hollywood’s Karate Sect” for teaching martial arts to a number of celebrities, including Warren Beatty, Gary Cooper, Steve McQueen and—most notably—Elvis Presley.

Castro became part of Parker’s International Kenpo Karate Association, an organization that would play a major part in enrolling seemingly countless Americans into martial arts practice in the years to come. Far ahead of the curve for the early 1960s, Castro offered training programs at his school for women and children in an industry that largely catered only to adult men at the time.

In 1963, Castro and Parker were introduced to a young, dynamic and fairly egotistical young “gung fu” practitioner named Bruce Lee. Although Lee was half the age of Castro, Parker and their Bay Area colleagues, they accepted him as an equal. (An old photo shows Bruce explaining some of his technique at Castro’s school on Valencia Street, during this era.)

Lee was on such a similar wavelength to these practitioners that he soon dropped out of school at the University in Washington, in Seattle, to live in Oakland and collaborate with the martial artists he had met in the Bay. What followed were many late night think tank sessions between Bruce and the likes of Castro, Wally Jay (a renowned jiu-jitsu instructor in Alameda), James Lee (Oakland native and MMA pioneer), Al Novak (East Bay kajukenbo teacher) and other trailblazing figures from the region. Collectively, their collaborations and subsequent ventures would form key foundations to the modern martial arts industry in America.

“Whenever we saw Ralph with his students at competitions, we’d all be saying — ‘Jeez, we gotta fight those guys?!’”—Barney Scollan, student of Ed Parker and Bruce Lee

Long term legacy

As the popularity of the martial arts began to bloom in the mid-1960s, Castro helped to form the California Karate Championships, an annual regional tournament held at the San Francisco Civic Auditorium, which typically hosted more than 1000 participants and helped to launch the careers of martial artists such as Chuck Norris and Mike Stone.

In time, he branded his particular art as “Shaolin Kenpo” and operated numerous schools with thousands of students around the Bay Area. In 1980 he settled into his largest and final location—on Washington Street in Daly City, near the 280 freeway. 

Reflecting on his teacher’s life and legacy, Vince Ronan emphasized Castro’s love of his family and students, as well as his perennial sense of humor (and, of course—his enduring devotion to the San Francisco 49ers).

When it came to the martial arts, Ronan says that Castro was a 24/7 practitioner: “Great Grandmaster lived and breathed martial arts … and he applied his training to almost everything. The few times we’ve seen Great Grandmaster using the push broom to sweep, you could see him working on his kenpo stances and side stepping as he walked up and down the floor.”

Upon retirement, Castro passed his school into the hands of Vince and his brother Gerald, who were students of his for close to three decades.

Castro was inducted into the Martial Arts History Museum Hall of Fame in 2002, and was honored again for Lifetime Achievement in 2017. The museum’s president, Michael Matsuda, frames Castro’s legacy in prominent and far-reaching terms: “Considered one of the early pioneers of the arts, Castro introduced the unique system of Chinese Kenpo to an American audience. Through his guidance and teachings, he has touched thousands upon thousands of lives and spread the art across the world.”

https://thesixfifty.com/remembering-ralph-castro-the-peninsulas-trailblazing-martial-arts-master-46c580a89e3c?source=false---------0

Mr. Parker with Grandmaster Daniel K. Pai and Mr. Ralph Castro

Ralph Castro

Bruce Lee, Ed Parker, James Lee, Ralph Castro

(from the Striking Distance Facebook page 10-1-16)

Ralph Castro emerged from the mid-20th Century martial arts culture of Hawaii. Although it rarely gets the credit it deserves, Hawaii was really the first great international martial arts melting pot in the world. And it wasn't just diverse, it was tough....old school tough. Once when I brought up Ralph Castro's name while interviewing Willy Cahill about this history, he smiled and said, "He went to high school with my brother; a really rough school....and Ralph was the toughest guy there."

Mr. Castro opened his first kenpo school in San Francisco in 1958. Barney Scollan, a student of Al Tracy's in Sacramento during the early '60s, told me: "Whenever we saw Ralph with his students at competitions, we'd all be saying - 'Jeez, we gotta fight those guys?!'

Castro was also a key part of why a young Bruce Lee left a good situation in Seattle to relocate to Oakland. Here in the Bay Area, Bruce aligned himself with a talented group of forward-thinking practitioners, training and talking martial arts with a 24/7 mindset. Linda Lee gave me a great description of this: "I can't tell you the number of late nights that were spent with Ralph Castro, and Wally Jay, James Lee, Allen Joe, all those guys. Many late nights were they would go around the room demonstrating things."

When I interviewed Mr. Castro a few years ago, I found him to be a very humble, benevolent, and down-to-earth guy. He is living proof that you can be a tough guy AND a gentlemen.

There are other people that are far more qualified to talk about his longterm career than me. But for the section of history that I have studied and written on, I have to salute Mr. Castro not only as a trailblazing martial arts pioneer, but as a class act in every way.

Ralph Castro

(photo and text from June Castro Michalowski's Facebook page)

Great Grandmaster Ralph Castro is recognized for opening the first Kenpo Karate Studio in Northern CA in 1958. He credits long-time friend, Ed Parker, for his support and encouragement with opening his San Francisco location, just 2 years after Ed Parker opened his famed Kenpo Karate Studio in Pasadena CA. Notable friends include: Wally Jay, Bruce Lee, Jimmy Lee, Adrian Emperado, Jhoon Rhee, Al Dacoscos, Ernie Reyes Sr., Ming Lum and more.

The presentation will highlight Great Grandmaster Ralph Castro’s life, his contribution to the martial arts and his legacy. Following the presentation Great Grandmaster will donate his original Karae Gi and his first Black Belt to the Martial Arts History Museum.