The Beginning of Kenpo in Ireland

(by Tommy Jordan from the John McSweeney Facebook page, June 16th, 2013)

Ed Parker Snr. Stated in Infinite Insights Vol. 1. that John Mc Sweeney was the first of his black belts to bring kenpo outside of the United States and in doing so made the IKKA International when he went to Ireland to study in Trinity College in 1962, and after his schooling he had developed four black belts headed by John Conway under the umbrella of the IKKA. John Mc Sweeney brought with him his IKKA black belt certificate and the Constitution of the IKKA, which had been completed in December 1962, and the Officers were. Ed Parker. President. Mills L. Crenshaw. Chairman.  Stanley A. Hall. Vice President. Charles K. Sullivan. Sec. And Treasurer. The IKKA certificate was the only cert, which John ever displayed on the wall in Fitzwilliam St. and contrary to what has been said, there never was a Kenpo Karate Assn of America CERT displayed in Fitzwilliam St. in Dublin. I have a copy of a letter which John wrote in 1963 where he states that he came here to Ireland as the European Director of the IKKA and recommends Ed Parker as an Authority on Kenpo Karate, and his intention was to spread kenpo to the rest of Europe. I have business cards and grading cards, which were used from 1961 to 1969 by Al and Jim Tracy. John Mc Sweeney. Tommy Jordan. John Conway. Maurice Mahon. Jim Rice and Peter Whitney. Pete Presswell Phil Hegarty and Martin Sleeman and all have Kenpo spelt with an N as in kenpo, and in John Mc Sweeney’s interview with Frank Di,Maria he stated that he taught the same kenpo as Ed Parker did. I believe the above is sufficient to prove that it was kenpo which John Mc Sweeney brought and taught in Ireland, and could not possibly be as some people have claimed, an off-shoot of the Ed Parker American Kenpo system.? As the EPAK did not exist, and Ed Parker did not develop it until many years later. The above also makes it clear that the IKKA did exist since 1962, contrary to claims made by some that there was no IKKA until 1964.

If further evidence is required then please relate to the book, which Thomas Mitose wrote. WHAT IS SELF DEFENSE. Techniques in that book were taught to his students  including William Chow. Chow in turn taught the same techniques to his students and Ed parker was one of his students learning kenpo karate and in turn taught the same techniques to John Mc Sweeney and also wrote a book titled KENPO KARATE where the same techniques may be seen on utube, today demonstrated by Ed parker under old school kenpo. Mc Sweeney brought those same techniques to Ireland and Ronnie Gurey taught the same ones in England to Peter Presswell, Phil Hegarty , Martin Sleeman and Pete Whitney, beginning  in March-April 1965.

My question is. How can people who were not there at the time claim that it was KEMPO-GUNG-FU, or a distant OFF-SHOOT OF KENPO, which was being taught in Ireland and England.

John Mc Sweeney began teaching kenpo in Ireland on 26/Feb/1963 and that is the day I began as his first student. His intention was to spread kenpo throughout the rest of Europe, but when he finished his studies, I believe it was his wife who did not like the damp climate here, wished to return to the U.S.(but I may be wrong in that assumption) John selected his four best students, Tom Jordan, Maurice Mahon, Jim Rice and John Conway, and had us train extra hard and also showed us how we should teach and brought us up to black belt standard. Although he was qualified to grade us to black belt he tested us for that grade and recommended us to Ed Parker for black belt as we did not have sufficient teaching hours in, as required by the Constitution.

John and his family returned to the U.S. in Nov/1964 and it was in April 1965 that I received the black belt certs from Ed Parker. It was earlier that year when Ronnie Gurey who had trained with Mc Sweeney went to Swindon, England, and began teaching kenpo to Peter Presswell, Phil Hegarty, and Martin Sleeman. March/April 1965 in Old town. They later moved to the Ship Inn where Pete Whitney joined and as the classes became bigger they moved to Walcott Common Room.

It was 1966 when Phil Hegarty contacted Tommy Jordan  from the Irish Karate Assn with a view to getting further instruction and T. Jordan went to Swindon and graded them to brown belt. The British Kenpo Karate Assn was formed and Brendan Walsh, a black belt from the IKA went to Swindon for almost a year in 1967-68 where they sought and obtained membership of the IKKA and Brendan  became the British rep for the IKKA. Jim Rice also taught in Swindon for a while.

In 1968 Peter Presswell and his wife came to live in Ireland for a while so that Peter could train for and be tested for his black belt and he was tested by John Conway, Jim Rice and Tommy Jordan, when he returned to teach in Swindon as the first kenpo black belt in Britain.

It was in 1968 when Maurice Mahon first began to teach kenpo in Jersey. C.I. Where he also taught the local Police. Maurice continued to teach there until 1970 when he returned to Dublin and left the club in the capable hands of John Jacklin and Don Cassidy and he continued to return to Jersey for Seminars and gradings.

The IKA had represented Ireland in competitions in New York and Rhode Island.

In 1966 and formed the first multi-style Assn with Shoto-Kan Wado- Ryu and Kenpo styles, and had their first competition in 1967. The Irish Karate Assn gained entry to the European Karate Union in 1968 and took part in the EKU Championships in 1969

And were signatories at the formation of the World Union of Karate Organizations in Paris 1970 and continued to take part in the above events for many years.

The BKKA were very much involved in competition at that stage and were accepted as members of the British Karate Assn in 1970, which provided them with greater access to competitions.

It was in 1972 when John Conway and Jim Rice went to L.A and trained in the New Ed. Parker American Kenpo with many of the senior black belts, and John Conway developed a very good relationship with Ed Parker. John and Jim returned to Ireland in 1972 and opened two schools where they taught the EPAK professionally.

I trained in the then new system  but I preferred the style taught to me by John Mc Sweeney, and I have continued to teach, update and streamline the same kenpo I have been doing since 1963. It was in 2007 that Peter Coyle and I were asked if we would accept 10th degree black belt grade after training consistently for 44 years, and Al Tracy, who was one of the seniors that Mc Sweeney trained with. Tom Saviano a 10th degree with Mc Sweeney, Gregg Mathson and Becky Mornar came over from the US and awarded both Peter and I 10th degree black belts.

There has been a lot of misleading information placed on websites relating to the beginning of kenpo in Europe by people who were not involved in kenpo at that time, and others had not been born in 1963. However, I believe I should be given credit for at least knowing the style of karate I have been involved in for more than 45 years and that is Kenpo karate as taught to me by John Mc Sweeney, as a Martial Art, in the true meaning of the word Martial. I was there from Day one when it began here, and I can prove it with documented evidence, and Peter Whitney in Swindon, England can do likewise with regard to the beginning of kenpo in England as Peter has been doing kenpo techniques for more than 42 years.

I have asked of those who have claimed that John Mc Sweeney and I do an offshoot of kenpo, or Kempo-Gung Fu where and from whom they first heard the above, but I never received an answer and doubt if I ever will. As this year 2008 is the 45th anniversary of kenpo in Europe I hope that the above will help to correct some of the misleading information, which has been placed on the Internet over the past few years.