I've been a Tracy student for about six years now, and before that I've studied American Kenpo and various other arts. I've known Mark Tracy, Al's son for almost 15 years. To clear one thing up that I've read on this thread, Al Tracy's first degree black belt promotion was NOT done before any panel of blackbelts, there were only a handfull of blackbelts at the time. His 3rd degree was before a panel and signed by Ed Parker. His first promotion was listed in Ed Parkers original "Infinate insights into Kenpo." Mr. Parker had 30+ years to dispute Al Tracy's status, but never did. It's a little disturbing to hear someone dispute wether Parker and Tracy remained friends, when I doubt the disputer was there or knew both men. I've heard first hand from Ed Parker's wife that the Tracy brothers both remained in contact with Parker, and had dinner with him and attended a ball-game only a few months before his death. It's easy to claim Ed Parker's thoughts about the Tracy's now that Mr. Parker is no longer with us. It's also strange to hear someone voice doubts about the Tracy system, when it contains nearly all of the techniques of American Kenpo, plus a couple of hundred more. Mr. Parker trusted Al Tracy enough to have him teach most of his beginning students, and perform nearly all of the breaking demos for him. This "stabbing in the back," and "breaking away," from Parker came about because Al Tracy simply wished to stay true to the original kenpo system taught to him by Parker. The same system Parker learned from Prof. Chow. Although I've heard Al Tracy speak of his system as the most complete authentic "traditional" kenpo, I've never heard him contend it was better, or say anything negative about Mr. Parker. There probably was some contentions between the 2 in the past, but these things are in the past. Mr. Tracy has a way of "calling out," people who claim a lot of things about Mr. Parker, and in doing so has been involved in a lot of nonsense and controversy. It sounds like the person who posted these things has had a bad experience with the Tracy organization, and that is unfortunate. Say what you will about the Tracy family, but I don't think it's fair to lay doubt about his credentials when you weren't there and don't know all sides of the story. With his involvement in the Gathering of Eagles 1 &2 events, Mr. Tracy has done a lot in recent years to try to end the "politics" of kenpo, and has done a lot for the promotion of the art of kenpo. With that said, I'm sorry to hear of your bad experience with the Tracy organization, and hope you don't have bad feelings toward all of the people involved in the organization.
