Mills Crenshaw in action

Remembering Mills Crenshaw, the voice behind a massive Utah anti-tax protest rally

(by Paul Rolly sltribl.com 12-26-16)

Long before the tea-party movement was launched, a talk radio host in Salt Lake City got his listeners so riled up against tax hikes that they marched on Utah's Capitol by the thousands and chanted slogans that echoed through the building's rotunda while the governor remained holed up in his office, reluctant to even show his face.

The talk-show host was Mills Crenshaw, the premier voice at the time of K-TALK Radio. His anti-tax drumbeat inspired close to 7,000 protesters to show up at the Capitol to rail against a more than $300 million tax increase the Legislature passed to benefit public education.

 

Crenshaw, who spent 50 years on the radio, mostly in Utah, died Tuesday of complications incident to age. He was 80.

 

"He had a golden voice," said conservative activist Janalee Tobias. "It was just the kind of voice that made you believe whatever he said. He could really motivate people."

 

"He was one of the great talk show hosts on radio," said former U.S. Rep. Merrill Cook. "He was an absolute natural at that and he was a great help in many of the things I was trying to accomplish."
 

Crenshaw organized the massive protest in November 1987 after the Legislature, at the request of then-Gov. Norm Bangerter, passed the largest tax hike in state history.

 

Crenshaw had been at KTKK 630 AM for about a year, having moved to Utah from his home state of California.

 

He had been inspired by the California tax-limitation movement that led to successful ballot proposal Proposition 13, which imposed strict caps on property taxes.

 

"We were in total agreement on that," said Cook, who used the momentum from Crenshaw's Capitol Hill rally to launch a petition drive to get three tax-limitation initiatives on the ballot in 1988.

 

Cook ran as an independent candidate for governor that year, with the ballot initiatives serving as the basis for his political rallying cry.

 

"Mills was usually right there in my camp," said Cook, who has run for office more than a dozen times, including two successful bids in Utah's 2nd Congressional District.

 

The tax initiatives went down to defeat and so did Cook, although he received a respectable percentage of the vote for an independent.

 

Crenshaw and Cook continued their small-government, limited-taxes crusade, which eventually helped Cook get elected to Congress in 1996.

 

"I got a phone call from a little old lady and she broke down and started to cry," Crenshaw once said to explain his passion for the anti-tax campaigns.

 

"One of the things I've learned in the decades I've been on the air is there are times when you just shut up and listen. And I listened to her and when she got her voice again she said, 'I don't know what I'm going to do.' "

 

The woman, who had called in to his radio show, added: "Everyone is behind this tax increase and I don't know how I'm going to buy food and pay my taxes at the same time."

 

Crenshaw said he listened and then the phone lines lit up "and for two weeks, nobody wanted to talk about anything else."

 

"That was the peak of talk radio in Utah," said longtime Republican strategist Dave Hansen.

 

"And Crenshaw was at the top. He was the Rush Limbaugh of Utah."

 

Hansen was a part of the Bangerter administration and was at the Capitol when Crenshaw's army arrived to protest the taxes.

 

"I remember it well," he said.

 

Besides his radio career, Crenshaw launched several businesses and, for a short time, owned a radio station. He authored a book, "The Christmas of '45," and he was a black belt in karate.

 

"Even in his later years, he kept himself in shape," said Tobias.

 

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http://www.sltrib.com/home/4744292-155/remembering-mills-crenshaw-the-voice-behind

A post left on Mr. Crenshaw's Facebook page today

"The next time I hear thunder I will know it is you with Mr. Parker working on some new kenpo techniques."

Mr. Crenshaw passes away

Mr. Mills Crenshaw, one of Mr. Parker's early students back in the BYU days, passed away last night.

He was 80 years old.

A post from Mills Crenshaw's Facebook page today

Martial Arts History

It’s one thing to talk about history and quite another to LIVE HISTORY.

My association with Ed Parker began at BYU in 1954. I was a, ‘green as grass’ freshman; and wanted to attend all the events on campus. During a basketball half time, the winter of 1954 I witnessed a demonstration of Kenpo, put on by Parker and a group of Islanders he had trained.

This was before there were any videos, or TV presentations, and Kung fu movies were as yet un known. I was blown away! The speed power and efficiency of their techniques was phenomenal. I had been trained in fencing at Napa High School, Napa California before leaving to attend college at BYU. Some of the blocks, parries and counters were reminiscent of fencing theory; I had to learn more!

I rushed to the locker room just after the demo and caught Ed just before he entered. I’ll never forget what he said to me when I said I had to learn Kenpo. He scowled at me with what became known as, “The Look,” and said, “Don’t call us, kid, we’ll call you.”

In those days Ed Parker was quite Jingoistic. He only trained Island boys and Asians, with an occasional law enforcement exception. It took a lot of pleading and persistence before he relented and took me under his wing.

I remember as though it were just last week when he began to “reconstruct,” Kenpo. His scientific mind constantly analyzed the fundamentals of the martial arts and streamlined them for increased speed efficiency and power. One afternoon, in the wrestling room, he said, “I want to eliminate the ’AND’ in our techniques.” He then demonstrated what he meant, by first executing a Block & then Counter. He then demonstrated a super- fast curved strike that, in a single move, blocked the incoming fist, punished the attacking arm and struck the attacker’s carotid artery, all in a single move. From that very day I watched and studied the development of what became “American Kenpo.”

Through the decades we became close friends and brothers. He even lived in my home for a month while we collaborated on the publishing of his tribute to Elvis, Presley, “Inside Elvis.”

The day came, shortly before his untimely death, when I got a phone call from my friend, instructor and the brother I never had. He said, “Mills, I have seen the “future of Kenpo. His name is Jeff Speakman.” He then went on to describe his movie career, his skill set and most of all his creativity. He then asked me to befriend Jeff, support him and assist him in any way possible.

The subsequent loss of Ed Parker was tragic; but the legacy he left continues to grow, because of men like Jeff Speakman. When I got that phone call, I knew exactly what he meant. We had discussed it many times in private. Particularly when polishing the development of the International Kenpo Karate Association, (IKKA).

Ed Parker didn’t want to develop super ‘Robots.’ His goal was to create “Thinking Warriors,” capable of building on what he, Ed Parker, had created; and expanding the art in ever widening ripples of creative discovery. That is what he saw in Jeff Speakman; and that is what we continue to witness. Each generation of “thinking warriors” expand the frontiers of the art. We are all privileged not just to be observers; but to be participants in history. Thanks in no small measure to leaders like Jeff Speakman.

Respectfully,

Mills Crenshaw

Happy Birthday to Mr. Crenshaw