May - June  2001

WORLD GRANDMASTER'S COUNCIL


Editor: Soke Frank E. Sanchez / Layout: Sensei Matthew Sanchez

Ph: 904-745-6019 6035

Fax: 904-744-4625 (24hours/day)

Ft. Caroline Rd. Unit 22 Jacksonville, Fl 32277


 

Soke Keido Yamaue of Denmark

SOKE KEIDO YAMAUE, an ordained Japanese Priest, Soke of YAMAUE AIKIJUTSU and European Representative for our Council based in Denmark, held a special ceremony appealing for unity between North and South Korea at his family’s Temple in Japan. The ceremony took place on May 25th at the Daishoji Temple with 10 of his International Bujutsu University – Scandinavian Budo Association members taking part. The event which was a combination of Budo Gasshuku and Flame lighting ceremony was covered by several newspapers and TV Stations from Japan, including the Yomiuri News. As a part of the ceremonies, two individuals from North and South Korea were flown to the Temple courtesy of KAL-Korean Airlines carrying a Flame of Unity from North Korea’s Mountain Temple to Seoul and than to Japan. Each also brought earth from their perspective areas which was mixed with the earth from the Daishoji Temple over prayers and kilned into ceramics with the symbol for "Unity" engraved on them. These were then sent to the two leaders of North and South Korea. Plans for a follow-up Gasshuku at Daishoji Temple are in the process of being made by Soke Yamaue.

GRANDMASTER GARY ALEXANDER of New Jersey reports that his recent excursion/ seminar in St. Petersburg, Russia was a grand success…..ISSHINRYU’S greatest fighter received a beautiful molded bronze statue to commemorate his visit and some grand memories of the people and places that make up spectacular St. Petersburg.

While we are on the topic of New Jersey grandmasters, GOJU GRANDMASTER BUDDY AMATO’s recent martial arts benefit to raise funds for ailing child Ricky Ashmore brought in more than $50,000.00…..Our Council helped with a small donation and Ricky’s letter arrived just the other day thanking all of our members for the contribution….. Bravo BUDDY for the time & effort you put into this very worthwhile project!…..

GRANDMASTER JIM ARVANITIS , the "Father of Modern Pankration" from New Hampshire is moving permanently to Florida soon….Jim was also recently inducted into Manchester, New Hampshire’s "13th Annual Queen City Athletic Hall of Fame" becoming the first martial artist to be inducted there for his numerous achievements in reviving the Hellenic (Greek) combat system of Pankration……CONGRATULATIONS JIM!

From Puerto Rico, PROFESSOR JEDAN FIGUEROA reports that he is busily preparing for his 2nd International Ju-Jitsu Hall of Fame to take place November 10th at the Diamond Palace Hotel & Casino…..If you are a Ju-Jitsu stylist & would like more information on this event, you can contact PROFESSOR FIGUEROA at: P.O. Box 203, Vega Alta, P.R. 00692 or you can e-mail him at ritav@coqui.net

SHORINRYU GRANDMASTER GEORGE ALEXANDER from Tennessee reports that his new magazine, FIGHTING SPIRIT OF MARTIAL ARTS is receiving rave reviews for its "traditionalist" approach to the martial arts. For a free copy of the magazine you can e-mail GEORGE at alexyama@mindspring.com The magazine is available both in hard copy and e-magazine format (sent as a PDF File).

PROFESSOR GARY "THE ENFORCER" DILL from Oklahoma celebrates his 30th year in JEET KUNE DO…..GARY who trained directly under James Lim during the "Oakland Years" has one of the largest JEET KUNE DO Organizations in the country. His new website is located at www.jkd-garydill.com

PROFESSOR DILL’S SOKE DAI HENRY BLANKENSHIP (one of several Soke Dai under him, following the lead of WHFSC Member, PROFESSOR WALLY JAY who also has several Soke Dai) was also recently featured in Fairfax Journal Magazine with a nice interview piece on himself, describing his philosophy for training, his Federal Government background and his development of a "Safe Education Environment" for a large Mid-west school system.

Black Belt Hall of Famer, PROFESSOR EDWIN MALEY was honored on April 27th in Disney’s Wide World of Sports Auditorium with a LIFETIME OF SERVICE AWARD by FLORIDA JUDO INC. The special presentation took place during the National Judo Championships held there…..CONGRATULATIONS PROFESSOR!

As for YOURS TRULY, I recently received word that my SAN-JITSU Schools are to be awarded a "TOP 200 SCHOOLS" Award by Century Martial Arts Supply in conjunction with MartialArtsBusiness.Com. The special awards banquet is to take place July 27th in Haines, Florida….Since I will be in Campbell, California doing a seminar for the KILOHANA there with former dojo mate and President of Kilohana, MASTER RUSS COELHO and OLOHE SOLOMON KAIHEWALU, my students at the Jacksonville school will be representing me during the presentation…. I was also just recently made a "FOUNDING MEMBER" of Grandmasters Chuck Norris & Bob Wall’s new WORLDBLACKBELT.COM Website …..Grandmaster Bob Wall (from "Enter the Dragon" Fame), Master David Krapes, OLOHE SOLOMON KAIHEWALU, as well as other members of WORLDBLACKBELT.COM (some of the names "dropped" to me have been GRANDMASTER BILL WALLACE & Master Eric Lee ) will be making an appearance at our upcoming 7th ANNUAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS/ SEMINAR SYMPOSIUM on August 31st – September 1st in Orlando, Florida. …..If you haven’t made your reservations for this great event , you’d better do so now….If you haven’t nominated anyone, you’d also better do so now before its too late!…..For more information access our WHFSC Website at http://bushido.org/~whfsc, fax to (904) 744-4625 or e-mail me personally at san_jitsu@yahoo.com ….Also on hand will be boxing Hall of Famer & martial arts Black Belt, Chuck Wepner, who’s fight with the great Muhammad Ali is considered one of the Golden Classics of boxing. He was the inspiration for Sylvester Stallone’s "Rocky". Plus other guest celebrities (in the past we have had surprise appearances by DON "THE DRAGON" WILSON, Kathy Long, JEFF SPEAKMAN, Frank Dux, etc.) . As well as the largest gathering of KNOWN (as opposed to "unknown") grandmasters and masters in the world….That’s people like SAM KUOHA, BRUCE JUCHNIK, SOLOMON KAIHEWALU, GARY ALEXANDER , RON VAN CLIEF, JOHN PELLEGRINI, ERNESTO PRESAS , GLENN WILSON, GARY DILL, IAN CYRUS, JIM ARVANITIS, LOU ANGEL, ERNIE CATES, BILLY DAVIS, CHAKA ZULU……YOURSELF ;o) and the list goes on and on……No "fluff" or "hype" just the "real thing" in a great atmosphere of martial arts togetherness……Having allot of people in one place is one thing….Having the greatest assortment of martial arts talent in one place is another….We will NEVER sacrifice "legitimacy" for numbers….."’Nuff said"…….Also being previewed at our 2001 Annual Achievement Awards/ Seminar Symposium will be a video-tape of the recent 10th dan promotion of PROFESSOR CHAS GAVEN in South Africa (50+ years in the martial arts with former 9th dan ranking) sanctioned by our Council. Representing the FIRST authorized awarding of rank by the WHFSC. Sensei Nigel Sessions, Vice President of the SOUTH AFRICA JU-JITSU ASSOCIATION will be making the video presentation at our business meeting that weekend.

THE LEGENDARY, GRANDMASTER SID CAMPBELL of California reports that he and some of his students at Hombu Headquarters were recently featured in a new movie being made by Dr. Zee Lo entitled MARTIAL MEDICINE. It stars Dr. Zee Lo with SID taking co-star credits. The movie is set to have a premiere showing in San Francisco, California in November.

In our new MASTERS DIVISION, MASTER JOHN GEYSTON’s vide-tapes on PROGRESSIVE KENPO have been bought by Century Martial Arts Supply & he is presently touring the country doing seminars to promote them. JOHN will also be doing a seminar at our upcoming 7th Annual 2001 Annual Achievement Awards/ Seminar Symposium in Orlando, Florida.

The GOSPEL MARTIAL ARTS UNION under DR. KENT HARALSON is planning a group trip to Hokkaido, Japan on July 10th-12th . For more information you can contact trip coordinator, Dr. Michael McClure at westpark1@juno.com

In Hawaii, good friend and colleague, OLOHE SOLOMON KAIHEWALU is presently "holding court" with a Lua seminar in Kailua Kona, Hawaii….

New member, DR. TED GAMBORDELLA of Texas would like to invite all our weapons specialists to contact him regarding his new MARTIAL ARTS WEAPONS ASSOCIATION. He is looking for contributions to the site. You can access the MARTIAL ARTS WEAPONS ASSOCIATION Website at http://www.martialartsweapons.net , e-mail him at drted@wwwin.com or write to him at: 9109 Cochran Heights, Dallas, Texas USA 75220. TED has authored 14 books on the martial arts, selling over 100,000 copies through Paladin Press with 5 new titles in the works!

Lastly in our International news…..New member, DR. SONG SWEE HEE of the MARTIAL ARTS FEDERATION OF MALAYSIA is producing a book entitled MARTIAL ARTS PERSONALITIES OF THE WORLD. This particular book will be housed in leading national, public and institutional libraries. Copies of this publication will also be supplied to the British Library of Scotland; the National Library of Wales; the Library of Congress, Washington D.C.; the National Library of Scotland; the National Library of Ireland; the Cambridge (England) University Library; the Bodleian; Oxford University, England; the National Library of Malaysia and to each state library in Malaysia, as a permanent record of the world’s outstanding martial arts leaders and exponents. To apply, send your bio with photo to: MARTIAL ARTS PERSONALITIES OF THE WORLD BOOK c/o MARTIAL ARTS FEDERATION OF MALAYSIA, P.O. Box 786, 93716 Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia

AND NOW TO OUR LATEST MEMBERS……From Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, we have 1991 World Karate Champion, 9 time USA National Karate Champion & 5 time North American Cup Champion, SHIHAN GRANT CAMPBELL . GRANT is Leader of the RYUEI RYU KARATE KOBUDO ASSOCIATION – USA DAIDOKAI and Inheritor of the Okinawan family system of RYUEI RYU…..From Dallas, Texas, we have well known martial arts author & 9th dan Black Belt in JUKORYU JITSU, DR. TED GAMBORDELLA…..From jolly old England, we have the Head of TY-GA KARATE INTERNATIONAL, 10th dan world karate master, GARY WASNIEWSKI….and finally from Malaysia, we have DR. SONG SWEE HEE, Head of the MARTIAL ARTS FEDERATION OF MALAYSIA and Inheritor of NANYANG WUSHU.

WELCOME GENTLEMEN to our elite world family of martial arts leaders and grandmasters!

IN THE MEDIA THIS TIME AROUND……The 40th Anniversary edition of BLACK BELT features mentions of the tragic death of MASTER RICKSON GRACIE's son in New York, MASTER JACKIE CHAN, MAESTRO PETER URBAN, GRANDMASTERS GARY ALEXANDER, GENERAL ALEXANDER RETUINSKIH, GLENN WILSON, YOURS TRULY & GRANDMASTER BILL WALLACE’s monthly column……The August issue of BLACK BELT features articles on GRANDMASTERS JIM ARVANITIS & JAMES LACY with mentions of PROFESSOR WALLY JAY, MASTERS JEFF SPEAKMAN, ED PARKER JR. & column by GRANDMASTER BILL WALLACE …… The July issue of INSIDE KUNG-FU features an article on MASTER JACKIE CHAN….The August issue of INSIDE KUNG-FU features a cover story on MASTER JACKIE CHAN…..The July issue of MARTIAL ARTS & COMBAT SPORTS carries articles on GRANDMASTER BILL WALLACE & MASTER JACKIE CHAN as well as a mention of the GRACIE JIU-JITSU CHAMPIONSHIPS held at the 13th Annual Arnold Scywarzenegger Fitness Classic…..MARTIALARTSBUSINESS.COM features GRANDMASTER JOHN PELLEGRINI on the front cover of its e-magazine…..and lastly, MARTIALINFO.COM features YOURS TRULY on the cover of their June e-magazine.

Well this concludes our edition of the WHFSC Newsletter for this bi-monthly period……Remember to send in all your newsworthy items for publication so that we can tell the rest of the world what you are up to and don’t forget that even though we have discontinued listing seminars in our newsletter because of space limitations, you can still go to our website and list them there,. This goes for all our friends out there as well who are not members of the Council…. ‘Til next time, don’t forget our International Achievement Awards/ Seminar Symposium on August 31st – September 1st and stay "AGGRESSIVE" and "FAIR" in all you do!

 

Sincerely yours in martial arts brotherhood,

Grandmaster Frank E. Sanchez

10th dan (Judan)

Founder/ Executive Director International

NOTE: The WHFSC has been in existence since May of 1993 and is a private enterprise of Soke Frank E. Sanchez in service to its grandmaster membership. Any additions or deletions to its membership must be in writing. All 2 year membership certificates are not automatically renewed and MUST be renewed by written request to our Headquarters.