Ed Parker BYU Judo DojobyAl Tracy & Will Tracy with Comments by Jim Tracy June 10, 2009 Ed Parker was a Judo Sandan and captain of the 1956 Brigham Young University Judo club, Officially Y Judo Dojo. The 1956 BYU Banyon (yearbook) page 242 has the above picture, with Ed Parker in the top row, far right next to Dr. Wayne Wright, who was the faculty advisor for both the Y Judo Dojo and Hawaiian clubs. Read the text from the 1956 Banyon carefully because this club was organized for the first time in the fall of 1955, not 1954 as Mills Crenshaw claims. "Y Judo Dojo was organized for the first time during fall quarter of 1955. At first, membership was limited to advanced "judokas," but beginner's classes for men and women were started winter quarter. This year, judo contests were an intramural sport at BYU, but the club is planning to become a member of the intercollegiate tournament. Sponsored by the Extension Division, Y Judo Dojo offered instructions to law enforcement agencies in Utah County and representatives from the Provo Police Department and the Utah State Highway Patrol. Membership is open to all BYU students and faculty who accept and maintain the Judo Honor Code, which pertains to correct conduct and the use of judo knowledge in necessary situations." (Emphasis added) |
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"FRONT ROW: Howard Shurtleff, Yosh Miya, Bonnie Reide, Nobuyoshi Tachibana. Edmund Ramones. SECOND ROW: Donald Hamling, Reed Phippen, Le- land Thomas, Eugene Thorne, Kent Butterfield. BACK ROW: Paul Hansen, Leon Larson, Thomas Tucker, Roger S. O'Brien, Edmund Parker, Dr. Wayne Wright."
To understand the place and time: Ed Parker had attended BYU from 1949 to 1951 at which time he enlisted in the Coast Guard. He was not drafted as the Coast Guard has never been part of the draft. After discharge from the Coastguard in 1954 he returned to BYU for the 1954 Fall (September) Quarter.Ed Parker wrote in Inside Elvis (1979) Rampart House, Ltd. Page 23: "In September of 1954, I resumed studies at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. It was difficult to readjust. Self-discipline now had to replace regimentation. There were some rough moments but I managed to weather the first few months before finally getting back into the swing of things.Then on page 24 Ed Parker writes about his "Kenpo" classes that were not open to the public and states that he was asked: "...to demonstrate at the B.Y.U. vs. U.C.L.A basketball game. The success of this demonstration launched an entirely new dimension in my life. Law officers witnessing the performance requested that a class be taught at B.Y.U. The university agreed and suddenly I was both a faculty member and student...."Then on page 25 he writes:NOTE: The B.Y.U. vs. U.C.L.A game was played December 2, 1955. It was only after this game that Ed Parker began teaching law officers"As interest in the martial arts blossomed, I re-examined the policy of confining the class to the select group from Hawaii and law enforcement officers.... I began to accept the fact that there were other deserving individuals who needed self-defenses kills. As providence would have it, I met Roy Woodward.... He owned a gymnasium in the heart of downtown Prove.... It was soon ageed that a Karate class would be offered along with body conditioning...."NOTE: It was only after Ed began teaching law enforcement officers that he began teaching "outsiders." In other words Ed did not teach Mills Crenshaw until after the Winter Quarter began in January, 1956. That makes 5 months the maximum Mills Crenshaw could possibly have trained with Ed Parker. However, Ed graduated in early June 1956, making the time even shorter. "Interest on campus increased as well. To satisfy the demand a Judo club was organized on the B.Y.U. campus...."NOTE: The Judo club was not formed until Winter Quarter (January) 1956 and Ed graduated 5 months later in early June 1956. This of course was written 23 years after the event and is not quite correct as the Banyon states, the Judo club was actually formed during the Fall Quarter, but only open to beginners in the Winter Quarter. Ed Parker relates a similar chain of events, although putting the date of the B.Y.U. and U.C.L.A. a year earlier than was possible in his 1982 book, Infinite Insights into Kenpo: Mental Stimulation (P. 26-27) "While completing my education at B.Y.U. I formed a closed club teaching only students from Hawaii...I was asked to put on a Kenpo Karate demonstration during the basketball half-time intermission (early in December 1954) between B.Y.U. and U.C.L.A. The success of this demonstration launched an entirely new dimension in my life...In a matter of weeks I began teaching commercially in downtown Provo...."Ed Parker's wife, Leilani Parker, confirms the BYU/UCLA game but also gives the year wrong in her Memories of Ed Parker, Delsby Publications 1997 (page 27) and stated of Ed Parker, "...He started to teach a select, closed group of interested fellow students from Hawaii....Ed was invited to demonstrate his skills during intermission of a basketball game between BYU and UCLA early in December 1954...."Although written many years after the fact, there are several indisputable facts,
Mormon Churches (Wards) have a cultural hall, which usually has a full size basketball court and a stage. The Polynesian Ward had a large stage for its elaborate production, and they trained behind closed curtains.It was not until the following school year, (September 1955) that they went into the BYU wrestling room where they could play (practice) Judo mat work. However in order to do this as a group they had to have a BYU sponsored club with a faculty advisor. That advisor was Dr. Wayne Wright,who was also the faculty advisor for the Hawaiian Club. Ed Parker was a Judo Sandan (3rd Black) not a Kenpo Sandan because there was only Shodan in Kenpo until 1961. What is beyond dispute is that Ed Parker only taught Island boys for the first year (1954-1955); and Ed claimed it was only after a demonstration Ed put on during half-time at a BYU, UCLA basketball game that he began teaching Haolies. Infinite Insights into Kenpo : Mental Stimulation (p. 23) "Having learned Judo, I could see that handeling two or more men was not a problem utalizing the Kenpo methods taught me." "There were two crests (patches) designed during these two periods. The crest for the K.K.A.A. was a fist encircled in red (see illustration 1-14). It was basically designed as a club patch or logo..."That patch was NOT created while Ed was in Utah as Mills Crenshaw claims. Not only does Ed state it was created after the KKAA was formed in September 1965, but there is not a single picture of Ed Parker or anyone in Utah wearing the patch while Ed was in school there. Ed Parker had no money in Utah. The Patches were manufactured in Ohio and cost over $400 for less than 150 patches. We know, because Al Tracy ordered new patches for Ed in 1959, and we knew the price and where they were fabricated. A WORD OF ADVICE: Do Not Think Dishonestly; neither seek wisdom nor Kenpo knowledge from those who present imagination as reality. * "You shall know the truth, and the truth will make you mad." Aldous Huxley ©1996, 1999, 2006, 2015 by W. Tracy. All rights reserved. No portion may be reproduced without permission. |