new to me, Ed Parker breaking

[Twin Fist]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-3ZyQBCIUo&feature=share<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-3ZyQBCIUo&amp;feature=share">

see the guys holding for him?

billy blanks and tokey hill

 

[Buka]

I spent some time on a team with Tokey and Billy (back in the day). Those boys could punch and kick.

 

[Twin Fist]

i got to see billy blanks fight alot, and man, that guy was FAST, and TOUGH.

 

[Yondanchris]

when have you ever been attacked by a tree? lol great stuff

 

[Doc]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-3ZyQBCIUo&feature=share<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-3ZyQBCIUo&amp;feature=share">

see the guys holding for him?

billy blanks and tokey hill

Mr. Parker hated breaking, and thought it was stupid. However in the making of a promotional video for his 1984 IKC in conjunction with the Olympics in Los Angeles, no one else was better qualified to "sell" and promote to the public. Thus board breaking was included in a short promotional film that not only introduced the general public to the IKC Event, but also highlighted and interviewed members of the Budweiser Team, that included my black belt Tommy Chavies. Harry Krebs and Bob Perry shared announcing and interviewing duties and it was an entertaining short subject to be aired on local TV, and later sold at the tournament. I was the tournament director, and was responsible for the logistics to make filming at the tournament possible. I had to essentially "decongest" one of the most congested events in the arena that included 25 rings 25'X25" as well as a center stage platform. Van Halen was in attendance along with Enter The Dragon Star John Saxon who gave an interview to the crew for the short film.

Although I was not present for the footage in the studio, when I came over to Mr. Parker's house later that evening, I noticed that his knuckles were swollen red and badly bruised. I asked him what happened, and he told me how the director had him re-doing takes of the breaking. He said to me, "You know how I hate that [stuff]." No, he didn't say "stuff," and Mr. Parker only cursed when he was seriously emotionally invested. The film was by KB Productions, (which stood for Harry Krebs and Ken Bloom), whom I worked with to make it happen. Don't know where Ken is but Harry now lives in New York. Anybody want to know, I'll ask him the next time we talk. Now you know - the rest of the story.

 

[Doc]

i got to see billy blanks fight alot, and man, that guy was FAST, and TOUGH.

Sir, I find your avatar interesting. You know Obama inherited the bad economy - from his first three years in office.

 

[Doc]

i got to see billy blanks fight alot, and man, that guy was FAST, and TOUGH.

He actually still is, and I was the referee for his and the rest of the Budweiser Team Fights on the film that was shot.

 

[Twin Fist]

i remember he was the first guy that was able to consistantly hang with Nasty Anderson

 

[Buka]

I'd like to tell you guys a story of Billy Blanks, because it's pretty inspiring. I was his sparring partner for five years, worked his corner when he won the Golden Gloves in New England (novice division in the 80's) and he was the best man at my wedding. He grew up in the poorest section of Erie Pennsylvania, one of fifteen kids. I went there with him when he lived here in New England, and it was a really small house.

Billy is severely dyslexic, but it wasn't diagnosed until he was almost forty years old and living in California. Because he couldn't learn to read as a youngster, they put him in special needs class in school and he rode the little bus to school each day. I can't even imagine what that must have been like for him. He started martial arts when he was about twelve or thirteen. But he was completely uncoordinated and his hip structure was so narrow he couldn't raise a kick higher than mid shin. (If you've seen him kick as an adult, that's hard to imagine, but it's true)
His first Sensei wanted no part of teaching him, the school had a lot of good athletes and all Billy did was slow down the class. So they put him in a corner, with a different white belt every night, and had him do reverse punches. They told him to quit, but he wouldn't, he loved Martial Arts. He quit school at 16 and went to work in a chemical factory, working long hours, six days a week to help support the family. After work he went to class every single night. After class he went home and stretched, many times falling asleep while stretching. He did this every single day. He started to improve in the arts. (Gee, ya think?)

Let's fast forward a bit. He wanted to create an exercise program to help people. It was first called "Karobics". His goal was to help people who would probably never set foot in a dojo. He taught an aerobics instructor we knew, Michele, how to do, and teach, Karobics. (this was around 1985) It was first implemented in in my dojo, on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at eleven o'clock. It lasted about a year before it quietly died. He realized he needed to organize it better.

In the late eighties he moved to L.A. where he and his family were dirt poor again. He taught part time in the garage of his rented house in Reseda. He did birthday parties, dressed in the costume of the teenage mutant ninja turtles, to make money so they could eat. His wife at the time, used to shop at a warehouse that sold dented canned food with no labels. She told me that after a few weeks she could tell what veggies were inside by the sound made when she shook them. Eventually he scraped up enough money to open a small school. Then a bigger one.

He started Karobics again, and it started to take off. I never saw anything like it. He eventually had six classes a day, with fifty people in a class.
So......a Hollywood power couple started to work out at the dojo in the Karobics class. They approached Billy and wanted to go into business with him to take Karobics national. He agreed and was pretty excited. A week later that power couple came in, and told Billy that they had just trademarked the name Karobics and he would now take orders from them. (can you imagine?) He threw them out. He did this politely, I'll never know how he kept himself in check. So now he needed a new name for his exercise program. We started to think up names.

A week later he called me and said he had thought of a new name. "Tae-bo". I said, "Billy, that's the worst damn name I ever heard. Don't do it, it's not marketable and it's just not a good name. (Boy, can I call them, or what?)

The country went nuts for Tae-bo. After a few years he sold the name/franchise of Tae-bo. They wrote him a check for forty million dollars, with a contract for a hundred million dollars over the next seven years.

Billy was the hardest working Martial Artist I've ever known. I'm glad for him. Especially how hard it was for him growing up.

 

[Em MacIntosh]

My first memory of Billy was in a bad movie called TC2000. I always liked him though I never knew much about him.