I was recently notified that I was being inducted into the United States Martial Arts Hal of Fame!  THE UNITED STATES MARTIAL ARTS HALL OF FAME.  Wow, what does it really mean?   

One of the first things is that the recognition by the USMAHOF is for my family, not just me.  This part of it is a big thing for me, since all of my family are Martial Artists, and that makes us somewhat unusual – in a good way!  My wife is a martial artist, my kids have all trained martial arts, and most of my cousins, some uncles, and many more in the family.   In addition to what most people recognize as Martial Arts, we also come from an uncountable number of generations of military members.  My grandfathers and their fathers served, I spent 22 years in the military, my wife served 6, and 2 of my sons also served

I recently put an old picture of my grandmother sitting in the bleachers with Grandmaster Ed Parker of Kenpo on our academy website.  This photo was taken over 25 years ago.  The fact that he is visiting with my grandmother pretty much shows the total involvement that my family has had in the martial arts for longer than I can remember.  We (the family) have fought full contact in just about anything imaginable, including kickboxing, MMA, boxing, and stick-fighting; as well as competed in Judo, Jiu Jitsu, and Karate.  One of my cousins was a major fight promoter, and some have been designated trainers for official agencies.  My oldest son was a great kickboxer, one of my sons was an outstanding wrestler, and one is amazing on the ground.  All are excellent in many other areas.  The best part of this, is that now, we can train each other – and I never get old!

 Many times, when people come into my academy; the first person they meet is one of my sons.  Sometimes the new potential student will want to know who will teach their classes.  They assume that the two young guys (ages 18 and 21) might not be experienced.  However what they don’t realize is that my kids have no idea what it is like not to train!  When other kids were playing with toddler toys, mine were playing martial arts on the mat.  

So, I have to say thanks to The United States Martial Arts Hall of Fame on behalf of my family, and I’m happy to see that the family is now “officially” recognized as an American Family of Martial Artists!


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