Early Days

I always wanted to know as much as possible about the leaders I followed. I realize many don’t care about that but for any who may, here is a little of the story of my early training days.

At the age of 17 I set out on a journey that has continued to this day, I took my first Korean Karate class at the Burlington, NC YMCA. It was led by two green belt instructors, Lane Luper and Chuck Eddleman both around age 30. Lane and Chuck offered a 12-week self-defense class as an introduction to opening a branch of the Triad Karate Club. Lou Wagner, who soon became my primary instructor started a similar program at the High Point, NC YWCA at about the same time.

After about a year Lane left the program in an employment related relocation. Chuck and Lou carried on running the Burlington and High Point programs with Lou being the primary instructor in High Point and Chuck in Burlington, Lou kept a heavy presence in the Burlington program.

Each of these instructors were students of Jack Everette, a second degree black belt under Dr. Dae Shik Kim, a 6th degree black belt at that time. Jack had founded the Triad Karate Club and was a frequent guest in our school. He conducted all of our tests the first few years of my study. He passed away suddenly and unexpectedly when I was around 20 and Lou, Chuck, and Tom Sowers who ran another branch of Triad Karate Club inherited the entire program.

Lou and Chuck were tough men. Lou had grown up in Pittsburgh and learned to fight with brass knuckles and other weapons as a young man. He enlisted in the Marines out of high school and ran a branch of a finance company during my early years of studying with him. Lou hired me as a bill collector and repo man while I was still a red belt. Chuck had played college football and had been in his share of street fights. He worked in sales.

I grew up on a farm and was expected to work to help support the family. I was driving tractors by age 6 working the fields (hard to believe now but true and pretty common then) so I never had an opportunity to play organized sports like some kids. I participated in playground games and backyard sports, but nothing with a team uniform or strict rules. My experience with Karate at age 17 was my first venture into an organized athletic program. My family lost the farm when I was 16 so I was pretty much on my own then, working as a service station attendant and managing my own affairs for the most part. I lived with my mom and stepdad but was financially independent from them beyond room and board.

When I joined the Triad Karate Club I was hungry for something. I looked up to the instructors and wanted to emulate them. I wanted to be tough and knowledgeable and respected. Remember, these fellows were green belts, but in the early 70’s martial arts were still extremely rare, so they were the most knowledgeable people around that I was aware of, and they were superstars to me. They were tough, pushed us hard, and to my surprise I excelled. The jocks that came to class had nothing on me, and it seemed it was just another activity to some of them. To me it was everything and I was obsessive about training and learning. By the time I was yellow belt I was an assistant instructor and led classes when the instructors could not be there.

By the time I was green belt, which I was awarded when I tested for high yellow, I and my best friend Jimmy were the student leaders at the Burlington branch. Jimmy was a gifted athlete otherwise, a standout baseball player among other things, and was 1st chair 1st trumpet in our high school band, I was 1st chair 3rd trumpet, so we were pretty close and accustomed to working together. I was equal to Jimmy though in Karate, something I would never have dreamed of. Jimmy was my main one step partner and he and I sparred all the time. We eventually successfully tested for our black belts together.

I give all this background to show that I was very susceptible to be influenced by strong leaders who encouraged and supported my efforts. I had never accomplished, or even attempted anything athletically. I was the guy on the playground who, when teams were being selected, was the last pick. Other than high school band I had never experienced being looked up to, and now I was. I loved the respect I received, the encouragement of my instructors, and the skills I developed. The only thing I feared was that someone would pass me and I would lose that top student recognition. That led me to work and work to get better because I knew someone could take my spot if I relaxed at all.

After two years of training Jack Everette asked for me to visit his club in Winston Salem with Jimmy and another student, Jody. We were all purple belts at the time. Mine and Jimmy’s reputations had continued to grow, and Jack had observed us at tournaments and tests many times. We visited and trained as he asked. After a hard workout and much sparring Jack approached me and said “Son, I’m promoting you to red belt tonight, and if you were 21 years old, I’d make you a black belt.” Sounds like a great moment, right? He only did that for me, nor for Jimmy or Jody.

While I was honored and excited for the recognition, I was crushed by the reaction of Jimmy and Jody. They weren’t excited for me; they were hurt that I had surpassed them, and it strained our relationships for quite some time. Jimmy, being the close friend he was, eventually got over it, but I don’t think Jody ever did. Lou and Chuck saw what was going on and sat down with me to give me a serious talk. They told me I could not let something like that hold me back, I was their top student and Jack also recognized it. I had to learn to accept the benefits and rewards of my effort and skill or I would hold myself back in life in many things that lie ahead of me. It was a tough lesson, but one that I lived through many times in life when my successes were met with negative reactions by peers. The advice my instructors gave me prepared me to cope with those times.

So, after two years of training, I was the single senior student by rank in the Burlington branch of the school. About 20 months later Lou told me on the way to a tournament that I was then acknowledged by all the instructors as the top student in the Triad Karate Club (by then the name was changed to Triad Taekwondo Club) and was favored to win the tournament. The club had grown to 5 schools by that time and I trained often in 4 of them. I won 1st place in sparring and forms at that tournament and captained the sparring team (3 fighters, best two out of 3 win) that took first place. I was brown belt at the time.

In 3 years I went from being a total non-athlete to being somewhat of a star. It was definitely a big fish in a small pond status but still it was much bigger than anything I had ever dreamed of. You should begin to see why martial arts became so important to me. Through my study and hard work I learned I could accomplish far beyond anything I thought I could before. Instead of the last kid picked for a team, I was the first. I had my own demonstration team that was very active. I fought tough men and survived, and often won, I developed confidence in my ability to face challenges successfully. I didn’t forget then, and haven’t forgotten to this day, the pain of failure and of being last. I think that kept me always striving, knowing the pain and insecurity that failure brought. The bottom line was that my involvement in martial arts changed my life for the better in many ways. I began to approach difficult things knowing if I put enough into it, I could successfully deal with them. I still had failures in life, but they didn’t crush me because I knew I had experienced success and could again.

A few months after the tournament I just mentioned, I tested for and passed my black belt exam along with my best friend Jimmy. Jimmy chose not to pursue advancing further and in fact never submitted the paperwork and fees to become officially certified. I submitted mine one year later as it took me that long to come up with the $100 processing fee.