Miyazaki sensei

OFFICIAL

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Tong Dojo's lst0pen Karate Championships

by ,41 Weiss The rvorrl rvas out long before the tournamer)t u as hdcl. Tbis eventwould be the top one of the season.It would bethe Tong Doio \ first. but thatreally -lhe\ didn t nrntter. had l)lfticipatedin : \ o n r a n y t o r r r r r a n r e n ll\n l h e p a s t f e w years, hacl fielded so many fine players and produced so many great demonstrations (rvalking off with more tro.

phies than an-v other doio). that they would be assured of the necessarycooperdtion of the top senseis in the area. And being they hacl been in so many tournantents. they had obviously learned, by the mistakes of others, just whal not tndn.An,lDamonrnd Pythias EDterprises were the prodtrcers. Ob. viously, they hacl learned what not to do at their first tournanrent at the Hilton and would not make the sanre mistakes ag4n.

Yep! The Tong Dojo's lst Open Karate Championships held at \,lanhattan

Center on June lst was going to be the top tournament of the season. The greatcombr'nationof CeorgeCofield and Thomas LaPuppet would make sure that it was the best, the biggest,the greatest.They told us that, and wehad faith enough to believe it and even say so in a previousissueof this magazine.Well, it wasn't thebest.. . .though it may well have been the biggest and longest ever held. And the mistakes others had made In the past were made here...only they seemedlarger in size because of the great scope of this event. What should have been an enormoussuccessprovedto be a great di salpointment.

Oh, there were fine moments.There were magniffcent demonstrations by lUosesPowell, Ronald Duncan, Peter Urban, Jerry Thompson, Bob Engle and the Tong Dojo. But thesemoments could have beencondensedintoaperiod of about one hour, while the tournanrent lumbered along for over5Yzhours.

Even the bouts, the main features , of any toumament,wereslow and uneventful. We were sure we would have the opportunity of seeing the best of the East Coast talent. Instead,except for Toyotaro Miyazaki, who is always a joy to watch, we saw contestants who exhibited very little, if any, karate talent. Perhapswe expectedtoo much. But we can't be fully blamed for that. Lfter all, we were led to believe that it would be "too much."

The tournament actually began on the eveningof May 23rd at a meeting held in the Presidential Suite of the New York Hilton, whereCeorgeCo0eld and Thomas LaPuppet presentediihe tournament rules to the senseiswho u'ould be acting as officials. The tone of the meeting made it obvious that there would be no room for discussion.

The top senseiswere being told what they would have to do and were not being askedfor their opinionsor suggestions, Questions could be asked, but only for clarification of points made. Suggestionswere discouraged.

It was emphatically stated that contact to the facewhere blood wasdrawn would result in immediate disqualiffcation. The same penalty would be imposed on anyone leaving the ring three tr'mes in a bout. These were perhapsthe two most important points made at the meeting....two points that resulted in a great deal of con. troversy at the ehminations a bit ovet a week later.

The eliminatjons on June lst were scheduled to start at about 8 AM, Becausethe hall was not in proper condition, they had to be ddlayed a couple of hours. One sensei,who arI5

rived at 7 AM, had to wait outsidethe Center with contâ‚Źstantsfor well over an hour before he was allowed in. He told us he was refused admittance, even though he was an official.

We arrived at 10 AM and canhonestly say that those at the door were underwhelmed to see us. We were immediately told we would not have the freedom of the floor and would have to remain either in the balconyor in a small area at'the foot of the steps leading to the balcony. We could ob. serve and take photos from that area ....no place else. If we sat down on the step!, we couldn't view the proceedings.If we stood, we were in the way of contestantsmovjng in and out of the eliminations. We well understood the reason for keeping contestants and senseis off the floor unless they were officials or actually competing. It was obviously done to avoid the arguments and confusion that we usually ffnd at eliminatjons. We cannot understandwhy these restrictionswere applied to the press.

We are not claiming we deservespe. cial privileges. But to do our job properly, we must have the freedom to view what is happening so that we can report it objectively. We are certainly experiencedenough to stay out of the rings and out of the hair of contestants and officials alike. And being there were only threemagazines present, we certainly would not have "mobbed" the floor. Of course, we were assured we'd have freedom of the house at the tournament (which we did), but we were also led to believe our presenceat the etiminations was undesireable. We were told, not asked,that "you really don't want to watch this mess." We definitely did want to watch it.

The preceeding is to explain why we will not be able to effectivelyieport on the eliminatr'ons.What we observed ftom our confined area was the usual amount of rough-housing,though there were perhapsfewer argumentsbecause senseiswere kept off the floor unless they were working. We saw Aaron Banks, Rex Lee, Sgt, Donald Bohan, Chuck Merriman,Lou Lizotte, Ralph Chirrico,Mr. Klein,Ed Mcciath, FraDk Ruiz, Albert Cotay. . .all acting as officials. We saw facial contact take place without the promisedpenalty of immediate disqualificatjonbeing imposed.

There were men acting as Sgt.at-A^rms walking around ordering people off the floor. We questionwhether or not these stringent restrictions were necessary.

Could men have beenkepl in line in a lessmilitaristic fashion?We're inclined to think so.

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ToyotoroMiyozokimel GonzolesErodfordfor the Grond Chompionship title. He took it in "sudden deolh" period with roundhouse.

there was a great deal of unecessary contact. There seemed to be a great deal of anger....but becausewe were viewing ftom a distance, we couldn't discover the reasons for it. We must admit there were no displays of disrespect by contestants that we could see....but we were told later,by men of top rank, that there was very little respect shown to them by the men patrolling the floor,

In both the green belt and brown belt rings, we did see some fine tech. niques. ..some excellent fighters. Most of there men u ire obr ioudy eliminated because the talent displayed later on at the tournament left a qreat deal to be desired.

After two hours of watchinq from our area of confinement. u'e decided to l e a y e . W e w e r e r ( c o n r l , l i s l r i n g\ e r ) Ilttle.

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have been called upon to judge these contests. This satne complaint was voiced bv three other senseiswe met in the stieet.Obviously,it was legiti mate. We also heard, but can't confirm, that ToeHayes,a fine competitorand one who could haveaddeda greatdeal of excitementto the tournament, also walked out because he was unfairlY treated.

We also met Cary A.lexanderwaiting in the street,He explainedthat he was upset because of a situation that occuredover which, he said, he had no control. He had wanted to support George Cofield because Mr. Cofield had been so good about supportinghim and others at their tournaments. He had asked his men to register as contestants, but as far as he knew, only three had shown up. He did not believe in forcinq his men to compete, was his comment.However, becauseof this failure of his men to appear, he would not be called upon to act as an official. In fact, though he had shown up to personally lend a hand, he would now become just another member of the audience. Again, what we hoped we would not see at this tournament,was running rampant.. . . dissension, misunderstanding, anger.

The tournament finally started at 3:35PM...one hour and thirty-fiveminutes late. Ed Nlccrath, the Voice of Karate, served as commentator and introduced Mr. Cofield and Thomas LaPuppet. Mr. LaPuppet and Ed lvlccrath then gave public recognition and trophii:s to the many senseiswho ;,: had helped with the tournament. It was an impressive list, and certainly one that proved the karate community thought a great deal of Cofield.

LaPuppet and the Tong Dojo.

Mr. LaPuppet explained as the very .qqi* capable Hawk Frazier and Panama Jones demonstratedthe point system, The toumament finally got underwaY with Ntr. Nakamuraas Chief Referee of the Under.Creen Belt bouts. The GeoroeCofieldtokesout one of the Wilderlwins duringTong first was a slow, uneventful match that o bit too long.

Doio'i demonstrotion. li wosexcellent...but was won by Jon Jones. Sgt. BPhan, as a corner judge, could only shrug his shouldersas commenton the techniques and talent shown. 'i he secondbout in the division was betweenBob Foster and DougBennett.

Both men moved slowly and weakly and shorvedvery poor technique. The bout ran two minutes with nothing happening.Bennetttmk the matchwith a half point he collected sornewhere alongthe line.

The bout to decidePositionin this rlivision was betrveenW lr'lolina and Uob Foster.There was one extla con' testant - five insteadof four. Molina openecl quickly with a fast, welleiecutedreversewheelkick. It was the first good move of the evening A se' cond reversewheel kick by ltlolina was perfecttit caught Foster in the stomach and gave Molina ,l Point. A clumsy one of the best of ihe evening's demonslrotionswos given by senlei Ronold Duncon' flying shuto by Fosterfell short and \lolina finally took the bout with a l7

At I:,t5 PM, we joined the crowd in fiont of Manhattan Center. Perhapswe were naive. but we thought this touF namentwould start fairly closeto the scheduled2PN{. We stood for about an hour in the middleol this growingmass of senseis.contestants and fans. We didn't particularly like it, but it gave us the opportunity to speak to some senseisand get their reactions to the eliminations. Becausewe couldn't report for ourselves,we had lo gel the of others or experiences ooinions ^ The first man we spoketo wasChuck Merriman, &h dan, who was morc than just a bit angry. In fact, he was furious about somethingthat happened to one of his students.

"My student,CharlesAnderson,was fiehtinqin the blackbelteliminations." he told us. There were four judges and a referee.So...the rulesweremade beforehandthat if there was facial contact made and blood \^/as drawn, it would meanautomaticdisqualificatron The rule was reitterated here in front of my studentwilh a bleedingmouth.

Thev thev turned to the other man and'eave him a warning and said if he hits asain he would be disquali fied....no[ withstandingthat my stu' dent is standinq there with a bloody mouth, How and wh1 he got his is immaterial.. . .he got hit So then' he fousht asain and qol hit in the cv< anlsot knocked down cnd PossiblY knocked out. . .we had to Pull him off to the side....Now he can no longer contestbut he ffght. He's still in the ' can no longer fight.

"But th; disqualification occurred, didn't it?" we asked.

"A.fter the secondfacial contact"' was Mr. l{erriman'sanswer."Had the man been disqualified after the first contact, my man could have goneon.

Now I won't allow him to fight. His eveis closed." trlr. Merriman also had a complaint about the kata eliminations. He, as a fourth deeree black belt, objected to being judged by shodans (lst degree black belts). He felt there were many high'ranking sensei3presentwho could

round house kick to the chest.

The bout for first and second places between Jon Jones and Doug Bennett was another example of poor fomr and clumsiness. Molina. who had to settle for a lesser position, was farbetterthan ejther of these men. The expressionson the faces of the judges showed what they thought of the abilities of these contestants. Because no Fojnts were scored in the two minutes alloted for the bout and because lhe judqe' couldn't honestly decide a winner, a one-minute "sudden death" periodrvas required. Lgain, the judges voted a tie Chief Referee John Kuhl broke the tie with a half-hearted vote for Bennett He won the title, but certajnly didn t

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prove an,vthing b-vit. lr'tolinafought Dobbin todecidethird and fourth places. ivtolina again sho*'ed he was better than all the others and almost immediately took hjs first 7, point with a purch to the midsection.

There was no offensive action bY Dobbin, and lvtolina easjly took the bout and third place.

The Under.GreeD Belt kata was won b!'James Williams. His sensei, Fred llamilton. \r'as one of the judges.

Though we agree that Williams desewed first place, we question the practice of senseis judging their own students.

Had the original rules been used. scofing from one to ten by each judge, with the highest and lowest scores

being discarded...there would be no reason for objection. If a senseiscored high for his student, it wouldn't count anyway. But this wasn't the case.

WilUams won with a score of 26points.

Obviously, all scores were counted A frne demonstration byJerry ThomPson followed, but like most of those we \!'ould see this day, it was far too long. As we have said before, we think a long demonstration, no matter how well il is done, i\ not near as effective as a good short one.

The first of lhe bouts in the Junior Division \r'as between K. Cooper and Djck Stewart. Cooper received the first Ui point wi th a perfect roundhouse that the audience really appreciated. Cooper

turned his back for a fraction of a second, and Stewart took advantage of the situation and scored y2 point with a punch. Both boys worked fast and hard, and Cooper took the decision with a clean, hard shuto.

In the second match, G. Williams faced Dwayne Mariani. Williams moved fast and furiously and seemed to be getting at the smaller Mariani, forcing him from the ring. However, he didn't wr'n any points because of lack qf verification. Williams finally took the match with a half point he rvon with a shuto as time was called.

Mariani met Richard Stewart to decide third and fourth places. An almost immediate attack by Stewart with a

reverse wheel kick won him the first 7: point. l\'lariani evened the score with a strong punch. It was still tied as time was called, so a 3O-second"sudden death" period rvas necessary.

Though both contestants worked hard, neither could score in this short, extra period. A call for judges flags produced a tie. The Chief Referee broke it by a w a r d i n gt h e d e c i s i o nt o B e n n e t t .M a r i ani had to settle for 4th place.

It might be wise to mention, at this point, that the early matches were completely confusing. No one seemed to know who was fighting who for what spot. If we had trouble keeping up with the action, the audience must have found it r'mpossible.

K. Cooper fought C. Williams to decide first and secondplaces.Cooper opened fast, charged with a shuto and rvon the first score. However, the larger Williams forced the ffght, scored twice and won the JuniorDivision title.

The first of the Pee we; Division bouts was belween Larry Thornton and Charles Long. A side thrust kick

by Thornton took Long off his feet and gave him the first 7z point. This half point was enough to give the bout to Thomton.

Teddy Taylor easily defeated Tal Donaldson in the secondbout, which meant Donaldson had to meet Long to decidethird and fourthplaces.

Long, though much smaller, moved in fast l9

lechniques of mini-korolekos. and won the ffrst 7r point with a Theoudiencereollyopprecioted fast puflch, He was then floored by a kick to the head, but returnedto take ' the bout and third place with another r I tJlllt&i L rlu'l,i|"{!?!w stinging punch to the body.

Larry Thornton then met Teddy Taylor to decide the first two spots.

A side kick brought Thornton his first r/.rpoint. and I his was enoughto win him the PeeWee Division title.

Peter Urban followed the small karatekas with a demonstration.He led off with some slow, ftee sparring that seemed to wear him out. But he finished magnificentlyby breakingflying oire-inchboardswith punches.His studâ&#x201A;Źnts then . demonstrated take-down techniquesthat were fastand exciting.

Katas by Al Cotay and Mr. Orange endedthe demonstrationwhich, though good,was also a bit too long.

Nick Adler won the questionable honor of refereeingthe Woman's Divi' sion kumite. He certainly didn't seem overjoyedby the assignment.Annette Cranston, who had injured her ankle wasautomaticduringthe eliminations, ally awarded fourth place. Only three of the contestantswould compete on stage.

The first bout, if you can call it that, was betweenDebbie Ferrar and Rosetta Smith. It was an uneventful match that went well into overtime.

Miss Ferrar won the decision,and the audienceseemedoverjoyed.... that it Miss Ferrarthen fought...or met...

April Holmes. Again, we witnessed nothing that resembled karate. It's N

UlyssesEdwordsfinollybegonto showold form in bout for lhird ploceogoinstKhoito.

enough to say Miss Holmes took the decision of the bored judges and ffrst place.

A demonstration by Bob Engle fol lowed. We saw some excellent kata and the application of kata. It .vas a goocl performance and certainly enjoyable.

One of the high points of the day was next on the program. It was a truly nagnificent demonstration of devarious techniques *ith fensive riveapons by Ronald Duncan. l{r.

Duncan's fast, fabulous performance brought the audienceout of their seats.

We'd also like to compliment Mr. Duncan'sassistant...whotook all his senseithrew at him and kept coming back for more.

A judo dentonstrationby Elliott Farrell followed. and though he pery ell. it uas hi. nrisf o r m e de x t r e m e l w fortune to follow NIr. Duncan.This ts ljke having Ed McCrath follo*- Bob Hope.

Thoughit was gettinglate and there

Peler Urbon, Bob Engle ond Jerry Thompsongove line demos. Ihe o u d i e n c ec h o s et h e b e s t w i t h t h e i r o D o l o u s e . . . . w i n n ewr o s U r b o n .

were still many bouts to bc fought, Moses Powell and his students rvere called upon to put on their dcrnonstration. If we groaned a bit \'\,hen jt was announced, we immediately chirrrged our mind. It was just about the best we've ever seen. Nlr- Porvell is a superb technician and his students, from mini karatekas up. shorve'l abilitier we've rarely witnessed. It's io l\{r'.

Powell's credit that all his strdents showed signs of excellent training. We have to echo the words of one senieJ sitting near us; "I never realized just how good he was."

Sgt. Don Bohan rvas Chief Releree for the Creen Belt Di-visioa bouts.

Steve Thomas met an aggressive,cd. pable Emesl Devoe. * ho mo\ ,'d in constantly with leg s*'eeps, punches and high, well-executedkicks. Henever stopped moving and rightfully uon ihe decislon of the judges.

The second bout, between Barry Hansen and Mike Barbi, started quickly. Hansen rushed into a punch thrown by Barbi but quickly' evenerl the score with a rharp. fr\l .lrulo.

In a "sudden death" periocl. neither could score or win the call of the judges. Additional time had to be allowed, and it was in this period that Barbi took it with a punch t,) the body.

Because Hansen was irjured iir ilis bout with Barbi and could nc, ionge:' was autornaticdllY compâ&#x201A;Źte, he (Continued on page 25)

KUMITE CRANDCHAMPION

by 3rd don Elliot Forrell.

Therewosolsoo iudodemonstrolion Thereweretoo monydemos...ondmostof themron loo long.

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(Contlnued from Page 21) awarded fourth place.. .with the third position going to Thomas.

The bout for the two top spots betweenBarbi and Devoe openedwith Barbi moving in with a flurry of kicks and punches.But a near'perfectwheel kick by Devoe threw him off balance He was now open for a punch that drove him ftom the ring and earned the first /r point for Devoe. A roundhouse to the stomach gave Devoe another % point, the match and the Creen Belt title, The Green Belt Kata followed and then Lou Lizotte came on stage to act as Chief Refereefor the Brown Belt bouts. Walter JohnsonfacedWillie Winffeld, w-ho opened quickly with a roundhouseand a wheel kick, both of which were blocked. Johnson moved in with punches that fell short. Win' ffeld shot out a side kick that Johnson blocked. He then countered with a series of ineffective punches. Neither could score in the bout or in the addi tional "sudden death" period. A show of flags declared the bout a tie. Mr. Lizotte broke that by declaringJohnson the winner.

Thebout betweenJamesCooperand Lamar Thornton was a fast and furi ous one. Cooper was the more aggles_ ive, but both men displayed excellent form and abjlity. It went to Cooper, but Thornton deservespraise for his performance.

Thornton immediately had to meet Winffeld to decide third and fourth olace. He moved in fast. but Winfield iuccessfully stopped his drive until Thomton came up with a punch that broke through his defenses.It was the ffrst score of the match A reverse wheel kick by Thomton later in the bout gave him third place in the division.

In the bout for the division title, Cooper rushed in and scored imme' diately, A furious Johnson attacked and both fighters had to be separated They shookhands but were at it again a few momentslater...both throwing punchesto theface.Cooperwentdown, and a doctor had to be called. It was thefirst injury inthe finals.Thedoctor would not allow Cooper to continue, but he was awarded the match and the division title.

A demonstration by the Tong Dojo followed, It was preceededby an introduction of all the blackbelts connected with the school. It was an exciting and competentlyperformeddemonstration that includeddefensetechniques

by Mr. Cofield and Mr. LaPuppet, a beautifully synchronizedkata by the Dynamic Duo, the Wilder twins, and ddmosby Hawk Frazier, PanamaJones

and all the other students of Mr. Coffeld. As we said, it was good. But it was much longer than it hed to be' and much of the effectivenessof it was lost. The toumament had now been in progressfor over four hours, and most of us were just a bit too weary to be overly appreciative of the efforts.

We finally were presentedwith the Black Bett finals. Mr. Cofield was the Chief Referee.ln the lightweightdivi' sion, the first bout was between ToyotaroMiyazakiand ThomasLewis Lewis opened with two quick kicks that Miyazaki avoided by just backing away. As usual. Mr. Miyazaki movedonly when he had to. preferring to watch his opponent and wait for an opening. It was a slow, careful bout until the verv end, and then Lewis threw out a roundhouse that was beautifully blocked by Mivazaki, who countered with a fast, Perfect punch that won him the bout Monroe Monow then met Rayrnond Crump. A reversewheel kick byCmmp fell short.Bothmenmovedveryquickly, throwing a flurry of hcks andpunches.

Crump was particularly fond of the wheel kick and used it often. The bout ended with no score on either sideand both menconsiderablyslowed.

In the "sudden death" period, Crump seemedtobe "psychedout" by Morrow and as he came in cautiously, he was caught by Morrow with a punch to the head. Morrow took the bout with this only score.

Crump then met Lewis to decidethe two bottom spots.Crump seemedtobe very nervous. Lewis threw a reverse wheel thst made Crump bounce away.

Crump ffnally came to life and drove Lewis ftom the ring with a series of kicks. A clash in the middle ofthe ring didn't bring any score for eithet man, and the bout was forced into "sudden death." Lewis was made to "hit the deck" by a high wheel kick

by Cmmp. He moved quickly, but couldn't penetrate Crump's defenses.

The bout went on, with neither man being able to score. It was ffnally stoppedand a show of flags was called for, Two reds and two whites left the decision up to Chief RefereeCofield, who awarded third place to Lewis.

In the bout for first and second places, Mr. Miyazaki moved as cautiously and carefully as ever, A mag. nificent counte(-puncher,he is bestjust after his opponent commits himself.

The bout was slow becauseMr. Morrow wasn't about to commit himself carelessly. A "sudden death" period was necessary,during which time Miyazaki took the bout andlightweight title with a fast reversepunch.

The Black Belt Heaqrveight bouts saw Mr. Oyama as Chief Referee.

Ulysses Edwards squarcd off against

GonzalesRadford, Edwards, a usually excellentffghter, seemedtohaveslowed considerably. Both men proved to be fine technicians but not exciting fighters. Again, a "sudden death" period was necessary and Bradford finally took it with a punch.

The second bout saw a dull, formless ffght between Klentaki Raf and Khaifa. Both men were big, but neither seemedto have developedtechniques or'power. They made a lot of noise but produced very little action. They both thiew many clumsy, inefiective pu'nches.. .completelylacking in focus.

Raf was ffnally awarded a score and the match for a weak roundhoule.

The judges decision seemedtobemdde out of desperationrather than honâ&#x201A;Źst belief that the blow had connected.

We heartily supported the decision rather than see the match contrnue.

Edwards showed his old form in his bout with Khaifa by driving in with a ftont kick and punch immediately and winning his first point. A few seconds later, he won third place with a rcve$e wheel kick to the chest. This was the Edwards we remember.

Raf and Bradford then met to decide the top spots. Raf, a clumsy ffghter, was thrown all off balanceby Bradford.

He moved his feet far more than in his previousmatch, but he wascompletely inefrective.Biadford, thoughmuchbetter, couldn't score with a clean blow and a "sudden death" period was neces$ary.Bradford finally took it with a fast, clean punch to the head.

Before the Grand ChampionshiP bout, Miyazaki cornpeted against Edwards to decide first and second place in Black Belt Kata. Both were excellent,but Miyazaki wasjust enough betterto win the top trophy, his second of the evenjng, Miyazaki made a clean sweepofthe top trophies by taking Bradford in the Grand Championship bout. Too LaPuppet served as Chief Referee in a fight that saw both Miyazaki and Bradford working very carefully. Tlrcy were so carefirl and cautious,'thebout was almost uneventfirl and had to go into "sudden death." Mtyazaki ffnally got his opportunity and ended it \tith a oerfect roundhouse. lnd so it ended. It was 9rl5 PM and we were completely &atned. It \ras u4doubtedly a financial success.

At least 70 percent of the auditorium was fflled (until about 8 PM, when people began wandering off), but it wasn't what we had hoped or expected to see.We had expectedto seea carefu lly planned, well.coordinatedexhibition of kamte. We didn't. We had hoped for a tournamentthat would be a model for those of the future. It rlasn't. Yep, it was the biggest and longest we had ever witnessed. It's too bad it couldn't have beenthe best.

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UiITTX.}AL ONT

RAT

1969 UniYer Karat 0pen

Ptoi

chirffish

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UniYers of Tourname nns Champ I

Grond Chompion,.loe Hoyer, flonkedby RichordChun (left) ond KoreonGenerolConsultoNewYork,KyuSupChung.(Below) Joe Hoyes'speedquicklyoverwhelmedthe veleron Bob Engle'

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by Marc Crand,all

One of these days there's going to be a miracle in the karate world. It's going to be greater than the parting of the Red Sea and more wondrous than water tumed to wine. It s going to be nrore incredible than reincarnation and therefore, Iess believable. But it toill be. For in the beginning will be the WORD, actually two words; ONTIME! And everytoumament thereafter will .trrt on lime, and all senseis rvill act like matrrre adult\, sctting healthy examples for their young students, They rvill display wisdom and patience, viftue and compassion, all which theoretically the attributes accompany the man with the black belt!

And also on this day of days, corner judges and chief referees will havebeen appointed earlier and will be seated in such a manner that they may reach the fighting area with no delay, and they will do this willingly, actually showing enthusiasm when calledupon.

And it is further written that on this day. karatekas, those about to enter into combat, will be waiting patiently in the wings for their names to be callei and will come at the first call, not be dil ly' dallying around. forcing the moderator to call them several times,

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ThemotchbetweenBob therelrr rlclaying the proceedings firrtirer. Ancl u'hen ther clo come forth. thev till at all times remember that the\. rlrc not engagingin mortal combar. thal il r\ roi rccc\\:rr) to leareone : opponent beaterl and bloody on the ftoor. B.ttrdint is the key word intour. nament conrbat. )ot mmpage!!! .\ll this rvill be on this great day. r\nd it rvill be arvesome and people 'nill nrarvel at it...and wonder why the hell it never happened sooner! \\rb). tournametrt directors will actualll bc consirilerate of ticket- holders, will sct' to it that as much as pos. sible till be ilone to see that they get their money-s wotth. ln the preliminaries at Richard Chun's tournament. (Julia Richman Auditorium. April 19. 1969) FredHamilton ancl Karriem Allah contestedthe judges (lecisions that their students had lost their respectivematches, Nlr. Allah even q,ent so far as to call the other sensâ&#x201A;Ź'is punks' and to throw up a luriversal challenge to all present.

This kind of behavior is inexcusable under llny circlrmstances,but is made more absurd by the fact that Mr. Allah is a black belt, a sensei, therefore a leacler. \Vhere will he lead his stude\ts with that attitude? Perhaps it is best not to speculate. It is certainly to the credit of the other senseisthat Mr. Allah s challenge was ignored.

A particLrlarly unfortunate aspect of the prelinrinaries..is that of allowing karatekas s ho arrive late to fight only once or twice as compared to those u'ho correctl) irrive on time and mtlst fight practic:rll-vevenone in sight before the,v cirn cor pete in the finals Either nrake the' latecomers fight an

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of rporlrmonshlp,retpod ond

T. louic foiled to brâ&#x201A;Źol boord leopingover 7 men {obove}.Bob Engleblockskick thrown by Eobrow(right).(Below)6th Don YomqmotoleodsChuckMe.rinron, 8ob Tobni, ChrisDeEogein kqto.

equal number of opponents, or drolr lhem cnlirely for arriring lale. A few enforced rule:.arourrd here miqht bring about some much-needed organization.

Okay, so the prelims here were like the prelims at nearly every other event.

L e l s g o t u t h e l o | | r n a m e n t .A n l t l r i n q different? Well, -vou tell us.

First of all, there was onl), one en trance for ticket-holders to pass through. *'hich of course created a bottleneck of sorts. (Jn top of that,

the table rvhere the ticket.s were being blocked that one sold partially entrance. N_o\r'why in the narDe of sanit)' couldn't that table have been placed to one side or else more en. trances made avaifablel' There were other doors, but they were all locked.

This. among other things, held up the start of the program which was supposecl to commence at 8 PM. It started nearly an hour late.

After the playing of first the Ameri-

can, therr the Korean National Anthen. there u'as a speech b) the honorarl, president ofthe championsh\). an irltroduction b)' tollrnament director Ilaster Richard (ihrn and severdl honora4 awards and flouers bestowed upon hinl by irttractive Korean ladies. \BC television cameras whirred away, taking fbotage of the events for ftrture telecast. The cameramen,by the way, d i d n n t m i n r l a t a l l h l o c k i n gt h e v i e w of those poor crrstorners {,ho paid $5.00 nnd $6.00 for their seatx. They simply took charge and no one ln authority rrsked them to use a little consideration. despite the fact some customers approached the stage and fairll threatened to throw the camerarnen off. Srrch is the strength ofNBC, I guess.

The first rnatch pitted Wiiliam Doyle against Ceorge walker (white belts).

It was a slow. drrll. rrneventful match that went into overtime. during which lUr. Doyle rnanaged to win. This and

imost of the other lnltches betq,eeD.:i:i.:, lesser belts n ere irlrout ils exciting to i;li watch ns grass gro\\'illg in Cerltral ParL. Thel all corrld have taLen a lesson fiorrr t\'!o contestirnts in the 7-10 Iear'old tge bracket. Junior A Di 'l-hese vision. kitls corneredthe marlet on ..nrrir{r. desire Lrnd enthusirsnr.

Cilberto \{cFarlane and George Velez went at each other like seasoned pros. There were flying side kicks. spinning back kicks. shuto chops, reverse punches ancl a *hole seriesof audience-pleasingclashes. There was very little contacl. rahich in itself is a major achievement at these events.

And what little thcre uar lacling in technique. and I assure you it was very little. was made up two-fold by heart and courage. Thesetwo boys were well-matched and though one of them had to lose. they eqtrally deser"epraise and encouragement for their excellent showing. Thel are a credit to the sport. NlcFarlane finalll turned the

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tables on a very determined Velez with a spinning bacl Lick to the stom' ach area.

And wouldn't you know lt, right on the heels of this very rvonclerful bortt came a match of such opposing values as to shower discredit upon the sport and the participants. ln what was listed as the Junior B Division ll!.4.years-old bracket, Roberto Rerrewas pitted against Edward Cunningham.

What made the match absolutely ridiculous was that Rene was a "black belt" and Cunningham a white belt.

Adding absurdity to ridicule. Cunning' ham showed better form, if you want to call it that and probably would have won the match except for too much contact which caused his disqualification. 4nd to top everlthing ofr, no one, not one solitan Person in authority on that stage challenged the fact that a black belt ua\ fi'thling a white. Sensei John Kuhl at ringside called the attention of a sensel on stage who said someihing about it being alright, that it was Junior Divl' sion, (whatever that meant!). Four corner judges and a chief referee and a whole stage full of emincnt senseis failed to nullifo the bout or at least explain why it was allowed.

Well, it was a disaster.Neit her ftghter showed any real techniqrre. After an inconsequential clash or two. Cunningham lowered the boom like a woodsman felling a Redwood. FIe caught Rene with a shuto chop lo lhe [ace. breaking his glasses and dropping the black belt to his knees. Broken glass lay all over the stage. No one came forth with a broom. Rather. they tried picking the infinitesimal pieces up by haud. It was just all too ridiculous.

Fortunately, for Rene- Sensei Peter Urban was on hancl to administer first aid until a nurse came along. The bout was held up for later continuance. at which time, Rene and Cunningham again clashed. Rene then leaving the stage with a blerding mouth lactually I thought he had bitten his tongue!) and Cunningham was disqualified. Mr. Urban again administered to the wound.

SenseiJohn Krrhl who hadwitnessed all and judged most of the preliminary bouts felt that there was a good crop of brown belts. In the finals. however, the bout between Lamar Thorton and John Ascencio left a little to be desired.

Mr. Thorton won the match but we didn't see too much in the way of finesse or focus.

Chlvin Wilder displayed excellent tecbnique in winning lst place in the nien's kata competition. FIis snap kicks and punches were especialll impressive.

Carlos Fanel, in taking lnd place through went in board-breaking. a series oi shuto chops, front kicks and

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The best bouf of the eveningwos tretweenMiyorokiond Hoyes.{obove)A very pleosecitournomentdirector, RichordChun, with hi5 trophy, o pot of flowers. eil;ov,, ienrpi) techniques to break five riifii'rari sets of trvo three-quarter inch boards. l. Louis took Ist place but Ieft his ii.st performance in the prelinli!\iiiFs, unfofiunately. He set up seven rrcii in a row bending over with ar':rs iriterlocked. at the end ofwhich lie had trvo men holding boards. Mr. Louis then went to the farthest end of the stage, ran and leaped over the men and struck the boards with a flying side l<ick. His first attempt caught the boards a little low and the second knocked them out of the hands ofthe holders. During the prelims, Ir'[r.

Louis hacil broken the boards on the first ar\.

In ? kata, kumite and board-breaking exhiLi'iron rvhich follot'ed, 6th Dan G. farnanroto rlisplayed studied concenirrticn and precise execution. He drew mrch cleserved and spontaneous ap_ plause.

In the middlerveight Black Belt Division there was sone confusion as to who rvould fight whom due to Hawk Frazier's insistencehe fight Joe Hayes. cle:jpite the fact that Frazier's right eye *'as bandaged shut and he was, in his og.n,,vor<ls.'almost intoxicated b . , a u ' e o f t h e p a i n - L i l l i n qd r u g r t h e <ioctor had shot him full of. Midway

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through the match, Nlr. Frazier requested and rvas given the micro. phone. He announced to the audience that he rlns in great pain, and was not supposed to fight...but was going to fight an1'wayl I then took it upon myself to ask \1r. Frazier why he insisted on fighting when he was in such obvious pain and serious danger of doing himself irreparable injury. He saidthat he had to prove something to himself.

Well, only the good Lord and Hawk Frazier know just what it was that he had to prove and maybe the Lord is wondering because there's certainly nothirrg N{r. Frazier had to prove tous.

We've seen him fight before. we'rewell arvare of his skill and courage, there. fore rr'e are in the dark as to this unnecessarl,clisplay of bravado. 'f he fight resumed. Hawkloughtwltn caution and good defensive work He didn't seem to be too adversely affected bv his injury. though he did wear a constarrt look of pain, After several clashes.blocked kicks and punchesby both contestants, Joe Hayes scored a half point o'ith a punch to the midsection and time ran out. The audience, appreciating Frazier'e courage and Hayes' win, applauded heartily, Joe Hayes then went on to show

Miyorokl,o fine lororekowho i: courious ond derrberotâ&#x201A;Źwith his mover, wos overrunby the quick, dfivingJos Hoyst. fantastic form for the rest of the even. ffi!1:? '...iffirr.c &!-rl$-I'

ing, actually getting better as the evening wore on. He decisioned Mr. Jones for lst place in theMiddleweight ,Division with a punch tothe midsection ln overtjme. During the regular match, Hayes had scoredwith a punch to the face and Mr. Jone.\with i,ide lick to the midsection.

In the Healyweight Black Belt Divi_ sion, Carlos Malina scorej with a re_ verse punch to the midsection over E. Mickens early in the match, then coasted along merely protectinq his lead. There were a few clashes,butl ittle actron or consequence. Time ran out with Malina ahead.

Ki Chung Kim and Bob Enqel squared ofr,in the Tournament of Chimpions fi. nals and lhe evening took on a whole new aspect. Tension and e,xcitement actually began to mount. Mr. Kim and Mr. Engel showed a great deal of re_ spect lor each othFr's talcnt. circling ano rookrng lor the right opening, con_ serving energy and making each attack precise and swift. Both men on of_ lense,and defensewere superb. Blocks and kcks were executed cleanlr. l\lr.

Kim scored first with a driving iound. house.kick to the stomach. Vr. Engel. roused now. swifil! countered with a last and turious barrage ending rvilh a tantastic side kick to the face. Tirnc ,dn out and the malch went inlo \udden death.

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MllchellBobrow,lry os he would, couldn,fcqtchlhe conslontly flying Hoyes.

Mr. Kim resumedthe attack,but Mr. Engel maintained his excellentdefense.

Al one point. it appearedfrom where I sat. that \lr. Engle had scoreoa point, a shuto chop that nearly took Nlr, Kim's head off, but no point was given. Mr. Engel also felt he should l1'q bi.n givpn the poinr. shaking his head as he walked a slow circle, then mumbling something to one of

the Korean. corner judge\. He never lost tus calm. however. Fighlinq resumed and both mcn again and;ked and defended superbly. Mr. Kim threw some perfect-form side kicks and Mr. Engel let loose with a few roundhouse beauties of his own, but all were blocked. Bob Engel finally won out on a rather interesting decision. He qor (Continued on page 4A)

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. body frve f€et in the air and a foot in your face. It's really a beautY! At one time near the end of the match, Hayes inched his way forward and (Continued frcm Page 33) Miyazaki inched his way backward the complete length of the fighting throush Mr. Ximls defensewith a force' area, always maintaining the samedisful side kick to the stomach,and two tance between them. Such was the corner Judges raised their flags. The confidence and respe,ct each showed two Korean corneriudges, on the oppo' the other. Tension built itrclf steadilv site side who actually had a slightlv as these worthy opponents clashed and better view of the clean shot, did not clashed again, fantastic defensescauscall the Doint. The chief referee exering the stand-off. Hayes finallv ended cisedhis powersand awardedthe point it all with a driving lunge Punch ard match to Mr. Engel. Mr' Engel to the midsection. Two white flags made a point of mumbling something and the chief referee'sdecision later again to the Korean judge. this time and Hayes had dispqsed of yet another with a smile of satisfaction. opponent.

It should be mention€dherethat in Bob Engel's bout with Mitchell Bo' the course of the evening, with rare was interesting in that Engel brow exception,the chief refereeswere mag' almost disdainful of Bobrow' seemed nificent, handlinq their bouts with the artPear to be fighting as He didn't ease and efficiency one automatically well as he htd with Kirn; his techattributes to black belts of such high off somehow. Bobrow, nique seemed standing, I wish the same could be contentto defend appeared meanwhile, judges who said for some of the comer mount a pto' than rather and counter play follow the leader when it comes There were several attack. lonsed upon to raising their flags instantly clashesof no consequence.Engelques' seeing a point scored. All too often refereeat one time judge will seeone flag raised, tionins the chief a comer Either Engelhad taken. with no action reflect upon it a moment then raise his or Bobrow was really lost his otecision groSsly own flag to coincide. This is more effective thsn he looked' but the unfair and I feel it is up to the chief match seemed to drag in frustration. refdreesto cancelthe decisionor make Enqel was working uP a lathering the guilty judge clarify it. Mr. George' sweatirving to qet through to Bobrow.

Cofield has done tlris any number of and Bobrow just kept fending off the times when he is chief refereeand it attacks in that deceptive' diffident certainly makesfor a fair match. These style of his. lle sometimes looked as cornerjudges areblackbeltswith sharp, if he's bored with what was haPPencat like reflexes,thereforethey should inc! Whereas Engel was red-facedand be able to call a point without hesitasweating, tiring somewhat. Bobrow tion. have put Katie Winten to shame could The 2nd match of the ffnals saw Joe ice-bluecool. Time was eventwith his very calm and a cool, facing Hayes and the match went into called ually deliberate Toyotaro Miyazaki MiovertinE. yazaki was a study in icy nerves as he Engle was beginninq to look a little let kicks and punches thrown by Hayes worsefor wesr, exasperatedthathis the he would before inches away skim by, weran't getting through, and ofienses step in and mount his own attack, well, Bobrow was just there.

Bobrow, to offense dehad shift from Hayes to all that can be said. He that's about fense with incredible sp€edin order to Engel threwat him, every{hing blocked There ceunterblows. thwart Miyazaki's asolid attack of to mount failed but were several clashes and a couple of what ultimately cost may be own.

It his kicks blocked by roundhouse excellent too content He seemed the match. him Hayes. Miyazski, his eyes never once it wasatired Finally, defend. to merely point on HaYes, fixed from a straying who leaPed in Engel impatient and , moved rery slightly while ffghting. with a tredown came and the air his oppodaring waited, almost He defied choP that shuto mendous nent to attack, and when he did, Bobrow's defense. The onlY Point moved just enough to get out of the way, no more than absolutely neces- scoredbut enoughto win.

Joe llayes was then called forth to sary,There wete a couplemoreclashes, fieht CarlosMalina.Hayes.showinqhe some flags raised. but.not enough,to warrant a declslon. llme was callecl had lost none of his dextedty, caught Malina's charge, a determined side and the bout went into suddendeath. kick, before it could be completed' Obviously both men were welljoy stepping in so that the kick went bY to see matched, and it really is a leaving him fret to throw a Punch to this kind of bout. It almost madethe Malina's back. Of course no Point much earlieratrocitiesbearable.Watchwas allowe.d (Korean system) but it ing Hayes executehis magniffcent!ly' joy was an excellent defensivemove. The itself. in ing side kick is another what first noint came about You can seldomcatch him preparingit; - 'Lduring threw , men like looketi sinewy lithe, tt's suddenly thzre; a

1969UniversolOpen €hompionships

almost simultaneous prnches, Malina walklng away thinling he had scored.

But the judges rul€d that HaYeshad scoredfirst with a punch to the chest.

Malina came right back with his own version of a flying side kick, and a beauty it was at that, but HaYes was right there one moment and gone the next. blocking the kick and throw' ing a tremendous spinning back kick that would have won the match had he not been out of bounds. It was one of the prettiest movesall night, and there had been some fantastic ones. As it turned out, time was called a few seconds later and Hayes, in absolutely great form, was declared the winner' A demonstration by the honorable Kae Bae Chun showing different forms of fighting techniques,karateandjudo, brodcht e,nthusiasticresponsefrom the audience and allowed for a bit of comic relie,f.Mr. Chun displayed tre' mendous versatility, toying with his "opponent" in such a way as to leave no doubt in anyone's mind that were he in earnest,he could have destroyed him in the wink of an e-Ye. Aaron Banksdid an admirablejob of moderating the full agenda keeping eventsrunning as smoothly as possible and injecting bits of wry humor when' ever the occasion permitted. It is not an easy task, and a too-often under' rated one. but Mr. Banks was equal to it.

The second-to-lastbout of the long evening saw the ubiquitous Mr. Hayes matchedaqainst Bob Engel. If it wasa long night for us, imagine if you can, how long it must have been for Joe Hayes who had been fighting most of the day. Despite this, however, he looked and acted fresh and readytogo, a tribute to his excellentphysicalcondition and his fighting techniquewhich allo!0shim to conserveenergy.

Bob Engel beganthe matchwithtwo quick side kicks which HaYesdeftlY blocked, deliveringa spinningbackkick of his own that was, in the opinion . ofthe judges,without focus Therewere a few tentative moves, a little faking here and thcre which evoked smiles from both combatants,and then Hayes moved in quickly to scoreffrst with a punch to the face. Engel came back fiercelywith two more quick sidekicks, parried expertly, however, by Hayes.

Enee-lthen delivered what looked like an excellentback kick,but nopointwas allowed; lack of focus again be,ingthe reason. Engel looked as though he disagreed,but said nothing. He might still have been dwelling on it, for almost immediately after, Hayes let flv with a punch to the ribs that scored point and match. Engel could only shake his head and smile wryly to himself. Thete was no disputing that call and he nodded in agree(Continaed on Page 5I) ment.

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1959UniversolOpen Chompionships

(Continued from page 43) But don't go away yet. Thâ&#x201A;Źre's one morematchbeforet he C randChamnion is recognizcd. thoughl m fairll certain that by then the audiencehad already crownedtheir favorite.PoorJoeHayes, becausehe had not foushi Mitc'hell Bobrow, despite the fact that Bobrow had lost to Engel and Hayeshadbeaten Engel, had to fight again. Don't ask what would havehappenedhad Bobrow won the match,becauseit would anrrear the evening would have gone on into infinity. Bobrow would have had to fight Engel becauseEnqel had beaten him earlier, and if Engil had won, he would have had to fight Hayesbecause of the same reason, and if Hayes had won. Bobrowwould have,..oh,what's the use?Fortunately, Hayes prevented all that by winning the match.

With not much time to rest be-tween bouts, Hayes squared off against a surprisinglyaggressiveBobrow. Unlike his last bout, Bobrow waded dght into Hayes with a sedes of side and back kicks. But Hayes was up to the attack with his excellent defense and after a couple of clashes,drew first blood with a swift punch to the midsection.

Bobrow retaliated with a punch to the chest at the same time Hayes was throwing another punchofhis own. The resultl a clash. Hayes put Bobrow on the defense immediately with an exciting reverse kick, but Bobrow defended against it with calm deliberation. Another clash saw simultaneous punchesthrown, and barely a moment passedwhen both men again attacked only to clash once more. Botb Hayes and Bobrow were emitting tremendous energy. At times, pure vibrations seemed to ffll the stage area where these determined combatants faced each other. A moment later, however, it was all over. Hayes. with almost blinding speed movpd in. catching Bobrow with his guard just a little bit down, and scoredwith a punch to the chest. Point and match.

And so, a smiling, happy, none-theworse-for'wear,Joy Hayes, who had raised the hands o( all his opponents in victory despite the fact that he had defeated them. now raised Bobrow's hand. But Bobrow raised Joe's hand and let him stand alone, centerstaqe, a most fftting tribute to a most exceptional champion. Joe Hayes was in what can only be described as superhuman form that night. There isn't much a poor mortal can do when someoneis really tumed on like that, Congratulations.Supermanl