I've heard many stories of many arts that were, shall we say, less than honorable. The one I heard about Kenpo Karate, however, is one of the worst I have heard. Unfortunately, I don't know how true it is, but with the data I present in this article perhaps some one could let me know if they have any light to shed on the truth or falsity of it.
Ed Parker is credited with being the founder of modern Kenpo, teaching movie stars, including Elvis, putting on the biggest tournament in the world for years, the Internationals, and all manner of other deeds. His students are legion, and his prowess is quite well known. Unfortunately, he was only a brown belt when he first began teaching.
In those days he was actually teaching the Heian forms from Shotokan karate, this as illustrated by one of his earliest books. Running out of material to teach his students, he returned to Hawaii and was told to go take a hike, the founder of the system apparently had lost interest in him as a student. I'm not sure, exactly, what the fall out was, but it was perhaps that Ed was teaching without permission.
Ed then ran into a fellow in San Francisco named Jimmy Woo, whose named might have been Jimmy Wu, who knew tremendous and authentic gung fu, but who spoke almost no English. Ed brought Jimmy to Los Angeles, where they lived together, and where Jimmy created the Kenpo forms, the techniques, and so on. Ed took these forms and techniques and began teaching them as his own.
During this time, Ed asked Jimmy to write a book with him on this new art, and Jimmy spent his days writing a book on Kenpo, teaching Ed and some of his students, all while still being lacking in the English language department. One day Jimmy saw a rough draft/translation of the book that Ed was planning on sending to an agent, and he was surprised to see that his name was not even mentioned in the book. This was surprising, because even though he was partners with Ed, Jimmy was doing all the work.
He is supposed to have asked, why not my name on book. Ed asked if they could take a drive, he had an errand to run, but he would explain on the way. Ed drove Jimmy into Hollywood, but didn't say anything about the book. Ed let Jimmy out of the car on Hollywood Boulevard and drove away.
Jimmy stood on the street corner with only the clothes on his back and a single quarter to his name. With that last quarter he went to a pay phone and called one of the students he had been teaching. In broken English, terribly confused, he told the student that he didn't know where he was, but Ed had driven off and left him.
He had been writing and teaching, and creating a whole system for Ed Parker, and he had been betrayed. My question is, is there any truth in this story? If anybody has the straight skinny on it, I sure would like to know.
Ed Parker is credited with being the founder of modern Kenpo, teaching movie stars, including Elvis, putting on the biggest tournament in the world for years, the Internationals, and all manner of other deeds. His students are legion, and his prowess is quite well known. Unfortunately, he was only a brown belt when he first began teaching.
In those days he was actually teaching the Heian forms from Shotokan karate, this as illustrated by one of his earliest books. Running out of material to teach his students, he returned to Hawaii and was told to go take a hike, the founder of the system apparently had lost interest in him as a student. I'm not sure, exactly, what the fall out was, but it was perhaps that Ed was teaching without permission.
Ed then ran into a fellow in San Francisco named Jimmy Woo, whose named might have been Jimmy Wu, who knew tremendous and authentic gung fu, but who spoke almost no English. Ed brought Jimmy to Los Angeles, where they lived together, and where Jimmy created the Kenpo forms, the techniques, and so on. Ed took these forms and techniques and began teaching them as his own.
During this time, Ed asked Jimmy to write a book with him on this new art, and Jimmy spent his days writing a book on Kenpo, teaching Ed and some of his students, all while still being lacking in the English language department. One day Jimmy saw a rough draft/translation of the book that Ed was planning on sending to an agent, and he was surprised to see that his name was not even mentioned in the book. This was surprising, because even though he was partners with Ed, Jimmy was doing all the work.
He is supposed to have asked, why not my name on book. Ed asked if they could take a drive, he had an errand to run, but he would explain on the way. Ed drove Jimmy into Hollywood, but didn't say anything about the book. Ed let Jimmy out of the car on Hollywood Boulevard and drove away.
Jimmy stood on the street corner with only the clothes on his back and a single quarter to his name. With that last quarter he went to a pay phone and called one of the students he had been teaching. In broken English, terribly confused, he told the student that he didn't know where he was, but Ed had driven off and left him.
He had been writing and teaching, and creating a whole system for Ed Parker, and he had been betrayed. My question is, is there any truth in this story? If anybody has the straight skinny on it, I sure would like to know.
About the Author:
Al Case has practiced martial arts, including kenpo, for forty+ plus years. You can See his Research at Monster Martial Arts.
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