Tae kwon Do legends

[terryl965]

With all the hoopla around Olympic TKD who have been some of the true legends that have influence your training the most. The Lopez family is like a dynasty, but who else beside them and General Chow is truely spoken of with just about everyone in the room knowing who they are in TKD history?

 

[TKDmel]

Well in my neck of the woods (Syracuse, NY) it could only be David Bartlett. Funny how the Lopezs are one above and one below Davids weight class. As for influencing my training, I used to train him many, many, years ago. Who knew!!

 

[HKphooey]

My first introduction into the martial arts was wi[SIZE=-1]Grand Master Kwang Sung Hwang [/SIZE]

 

[matt.m]

Well let's see......To ME the true legends of Tae Kwon Do are GGM Lee H. Park, GGM Bong Yul Shin, and GM Charles Hildebrand and Master David LeGrand.

To me these people are the true embodiment of Tae Kwon Do in its purity. Nothing less than best effort, attitude and spirit. All of these men are ITF beginning and have adopted the WTF Tae Guek's. However, I will have to say that all of the above, including myself - although I am not a legend but am really rooted in hapkido and judo prefer the ITF poomsea above all.

The deep stances and power techniques are just "Hands and feet" no pun intended, better than that of the WTF Tae Guek's.

Just my .02

 

[terryl965]

Well let's see......To ME the true legends of Tae Kwon Do are GGM Lee H. Park, GGM Bong Yul Shin, and GM Charles Hildebrand and Master David LeGrand.

To me these people are the true embodiment of Tae Kwon Do in its purity. Nothing less than best effort, attitude and spirit. All of these men are ITF beginning and have adopted the WTF Tae Guek's. However, I will have to say that all of the above, including myself - although I am not a legend but am really rooted in hapkido and judo prefer the ITF poomsea above all.

The deep stances and power techniques are just "Hands and feet" no pun intended, better than that of the WTF Tae Guek's.

Just my .02

These are great men in TKD, excellent choices.

 

[Tames D]

The man responsible for my interest in TKD was Hee Il Cho.

 

[jim777]

I was going to say Hee Il Cho as well and of course, the man who wrote all the little books I have on my nightstand, the mighty Jhoon Rhee.

 

[searcher]

Ditto for me as well on Hee Il Cho and Jhoon Rhee.

 

[IcemanSK]

I hate to sound like a broken record (er, CD to you younger folks) but GM Park, Hae Man: GM Uhm, Woon Kyu: & GM Edward Sell would be big names on that list.

 

[zDom]

I second the nominations by both Matt and Iceman.

I also remember seeing pictures of Hee Il Cho busting a heavy bag with a jump backside kick, so I guess I might add him to my list as well

I've also heard some amazing stories about Pul Gil Gwon.

 

[IcemanSK]

I've also heard some amazing stories about Pul Gil Gwon.

I remember a tv comercial in Korean with Pu Gil Kwon in the 80's. I also have his book on the Tae Geuk poomsae. I don't know his background or stats. Can you tell me more about him?

 

[bookworm_cn317]

Herb Perez (to me, at least).

 

[zDom]

I remember a tv comercial in Korean with Pu Gil Kwon in the 80's. I also have his book on the Tae Geuk poomsae. I don't know his background or stats. Can you tell me more about him?

I don't really *know* much about him; I've only heard stories.

Off the top of my head,

• that he was a student (along with Park, Lee H.) of Kang, Suh Chong (who later went on to found the Kuk Mu Kwan)

• that he was some sort of special forces/assassin for the South Korean gov't

• that he once (or more that once? at least once) did a breaking demonstration when he broke a board, then took one half of that board and broke it, then took one half of THAT board and broke it so that there was only an inch or so of wood showing between the fingers of the holders and that he was still able to break it

• that he was a bit on the crazy side ... in that he was prone to violence such as:

• that he once had a disagreement with (the late) Terry Gibson (who trained with Dan Inosanto, I believe, after moving on from the Moo Sul Kwan) while at a party at Lee H. Park's home. His response was to pick Gibson up and slam him into Park's new dining room table, breaking the table in half

• that he would not hesitate to challenge other Korean grandmasters to fisticuffs over a disagreement, yet respected Lee H. Park due to Park's knowledge of and skill in the art of Hapkido

• that Park wouldn't teach Pu Gil any hapkido because he thought Pu Gil was dangerous enough just with his taekwondo and a bit on the crazy side

• that Pu Gil for awhile had a school out in California or somewhere out on the west coast

These are just stories, mind you but they come from reliable/multiple sources

 

[terryl965]

Master Jimmy Kim he won a gold at the 88 Olympics even though it really was not yet an official sport.

 

[newGuy12]

Of course all of my Teachers.

Also, Pu Gil Gwon -- his books are the best!

and, Master Hee Il Cho!

 

[Tames D]

Master Jimmy Kim he won a gold at the 88 Olympics even though it really was not yet an official sport.

Absolutely! Although TKD is not my primary art, I had the priviledge of working out with him once.