Hey Folks,
IÂ’m new to this forum thing and I just came across this thread. I realize these are old postings but since itÂ’s about MEÂ… And, there are some nice things said, I thought I would respond in general.
ALSO, I see that some dude named “Wade” took it upon himself to spread a load of LIES about me, so I guess I’m compelled to respond to those. Because, the Truth is the Truth!
First Re: WADEÂ’S Comments :
We are still laughing about it. Years ago a young man showed up at a tournament in Portland, Or. that was being put on by "Super" Dan Anderson. He had about 8 stripes on his belt. Of course we all wanted to know what his style was and how he got to be such a high ranking master at such a young age. He informed us he was a black belt in multiple systems and had decided to start his own. He took the the words Hand Foot Way and dropped the last letter to become Han foo Wa. He then added up all his BB's in the different systems together to determine his rank. IE: a 1st Dan in Karate and a 2nd Dan in Kung Fu equals a 3rd Dan in Han Foo Wa, get it? He had studied quite a few styles and had a BB in all of them. A very talanted young man, eh? Anyway, there was a really big argument that day on who would get to fight him first because none of us had ever fought some one of his caliber before. Unfortunately, once he found out what we were arguing about he left and no one ever did get a chance to find out how good this Grand Master really was. Never did see him again, damn!
IÂ’d like to give this guy the benefit of the doubt, butÂ… His lies are just too blatant. If he thinks IÂ’m all wet, thatÂ’s fine, just say so. But donÂ’t make up such false and libelously assertions. HereÂ’s the rundown:
- NO! I never had that kind of conversation with anyone!
- NO! IÂ’ve never given myself a rank in my own styleÂ… really, how dumb would that be?
- NO! IÂ’ve been a Black Belt since 1971 and never wore stripes.
- TRUST ME, From as far back as 1980, IÂ’ve won my share of tournaments.
- PROOF :
http://www.Hi-Impact.com/ratings
Here’s the thing... I'm guessiing he won't, but if “Wade” wants to post his apology here, I supposed I’d look pretty bad if I didn’t accept. But STILL, Dude! Really?
NOW the POSITIVE more plesent responses:
YES, that was me with the Video Tapes in the magazines. They did very well and IÂ’m still getting thank you messages from instructors for setting them off in a good direction. After all, that was the idea!
Yes, HanFooWA stands for Hand Foot Way. In 1980, I wrote a Black Belt magazine article (issue date Feb 1981) on “Combining Martial Arts”. In it I dealt with the whole "Name Game" thing. Basically, as far as a name goes, with decades of training & multiple black belts... if you teach a blend of your total knowledge - what do you call it?
YES, I’ve got an ego, and it’s full of confidence! No apology for that! In fact, I encourage you to get one as well. I doubt I’d have achieved half as much without it. Mike Stone used to do a whole seminar on this topic. However, if you’re talking about being obnoxious, pretentious, or condescending – that’s a different matter and I certainly hope I haven’t ever come across that way to any of my students or customers.
Finally a small clarification, Re: ShihansmurffÂ’s post. He and I have never had any conflicts, personal or otherwise, He is speaking of an instructor other than myself when I was no longer at that school. Hey Mark, howÂ’s the knee these days?
Thank you for the indulgence, my new friends.
:asian:
Bill
