This interview with Earnest Hart is one of the best there is. It really get’s the ‘Heart’ of kickboxing…
What Initially Drew You To The Martial Arts? Earnest Hart: I probably told this story a thousand times, but being from a religious background, my mother was a Jehovah Witness, she wanted to raise me to be non-violent. Being in the toughest are as down in the projects, you got tired of running or people taunting you without fighting. Now I was a big Batman fan. In fact my nickname was Batman back in “the hood. “Then the Green Hornet came and fought Batman in one episode and I was for Batman but Kato looked so good, I had tore-think things so I started watching the Green Hornet and that made me get interested in the martial arts. I basically just started teaching myself because I couldn’t afford to go to schools back then. I would just go to karate schools and watch them and come back and teach myself. When I was fourteen I joined a school. When I went into the school was so focused that everybody thought I had taken karate before.
It’s just that if you never done anything in your life and you just do this one thing and you focus on what you’ve always wanted to do, and you get the opportunity to do it, you pick it up. I pretty much whizzed through it right off the bat. After about a month I went to another karate school, a Yoshi-Kai school, but then I went to a Shorin-Ryu school and they had Jujitsu and Judo, so I was doing all three of these at the same time. That same year I went into high school and went into wrestling so just by luck actually I was doing what Bruce taught. Then, Bruce’s book came out, THE TAO OF JEET KUNE DO and I read that and I started boxing. This was before martial artist started boxing. I was working out with Leon and Michael Spinks, both future heavy weight champions and I started training in the same gym with them down at twelfth and Park down in the projects.
Some pretty tough guys came out of there and since I was a karate guy they would taunt me at first and I had to back myself up. But, it’s funny that how you train is how you react and a guy came in on me and I hit him with a hook kick that dropped him. Everybody in the gym wanted to jump on me then because guys were pulling their gloves off, others were going back to their lockers and getting their pistols out. It was so funny. The coaches had to cool them down. They took me in the back and told me I had to keep that karate stuff out of there, these guys would kill me, if not in the gym, they would do it outside, which they would have. So, that’s how I got started in boxing. They trained me for about a month. They just put me in there and let me learn the basics of boxing. I learned to keep my feet on the ground.
What Other Styles Of Martial Arts Have You Studied? EH: Over the years I have worked out in Kajukenbo, Tae Kwon Do and I have Black Belts in them. Basically because I was able to do it. I have only tested for one belt in my life, the yellow belt. I have a silver glove in Savate. I was over in Europe and they told me I could make it work better than they could. Because I have fought. You see that’s the difference. That’s what shows you the style doesn’t make the person: the person makes the style. I can make it work, whatever it is.
I can decide whatever style I want to be. That’s the fallacy. A lot of people are caught up in the old days, “This style is better than that style. “I would fight in Tae Kwon Do tournaments and these guys were traditional, well I still could out kick them and out score them because I was a different character of fighter. That’s why it’s so important to do it for real. You have to know now what really works, so you don’t hesitate. As they say, “He who hesitates meditates in a horizontal position. “So, over the years I have taken different looks at styles. I was always experimenting, always taking what I liked from different styles. My library is extensive. I have thousands of books on fighting. I’m always at bookstores looking for boxing and wrestling books or any book on fighting. As I’ve gotten more mature, I have gotten into Zen philosophy and things of that nature. I think it’s important to do full circle in life. First I started with the fighting and wanted to prove myself or whatever, then you get back to the peacefulness, where you started off where you were before you were fighting, but now you feel more at ease because you know how to fight. It’s very interesting how that happens.
After Beginning Your Martial Arts Training, Did You Feel The Need To Test Your Skills In Actual Street Confrontations? EH: Unfortunately, yes. I hate to say that because I’m always preaching to kids that you don’t have to prove yourself and once you know the martial arts you don’t have to fight. I think I was in a different situation because of the environment, the way I was raised, being taunted all the time, being humiliated one way or another. I would go places where I know there would be a fight. In the early years I was able to find out what worked and what didn’t. During those years I’ve been shot once, stabbed three times, been hit by a baseball bat once, a brick once.
Fighting became like eating to me. There weren’t as many guns back then, only once in a while. When I was shot it was from a project window. So, I went through a stage and I caught myself. I saw where I was going. I became above the law and I didn’t want to go that route, so I had to channel my energy. For a while I did a little bare-knuckle fighting. What happened, I was going down the street one day and we saw a crowd of people and these two guys were duking it out and beating each other to death. I was like a brown belt at the time and the one guy knocked the other out and he was hollering at the crowd, “Anybody else,” and this dude said, “You-karate man, “and I didn’t want to fight because I didn’t have no money but my partner had the money so I told my opponent, “you know I’m going to kick,” and he said it wouldn’t work on him.
We put the gloves on and I gave him a Thai kick and pretty soon he’s just got this look in his eye and then I did a spinning wheel hook kick and he never saw it coming. I remember, very vividly when those tennis shoes hit and cracked his jaw, his eyes rolled up in his head and he fell down. So, I kept fighting and probably had about forty, fifty fights like that. Then a couple Italian guys from “the hill”
How Has Bruce Lee Influenced You? EH: Bruce Lee was so far ahead of his time. He’s always been an influence on me. Of course you see the visual. I worked in a movie theater downtown and they would have a Bruce Lee week every three months. And they would pack them in. At the time there was just “The Chinese Connection,” and “Fist of Fury. ” The same people would come to see them over and over, so you know there had to be something to it. I watched that guy and had everything down pat. I worked in the show and when they played it eight times a day, seven days a week, you start to know when to come in for the fight scenes.
You could do nothing but be influenced by him because he was the only person around. He had a little Ali; he had a little bit of everybody. You could see the boxing style in him; you could see he was so talented. I knew what he was doing but I couldn’t put it in words. I my own young mind, I knew he had something going on. When his book came out, I kept reading it over and over. Now when kickboxing came along, I said to myself, “who is going to teach me kick boxing. “Now I knew how to box but this was different. And all the karate guys were standing in front of the bag and threw these typical punches (demonstrates punches thrown from the hips) and I said no, no, no – that’s not how it’s going to go. And I read Bruce Lee’s book.
He talked about putting the strongest hand forward. I was left handed, so instead of turning southpaw, I stayed with the left hand lead. Lee said develop the strong side. So, I kept reading his book, and discovered footwork. It took me several times to articulate it. It was really heavy back then. I waited till I got it right; got the combinations together and little by little I was adding on and adding on. When my first fight came, I was boxing, bobbing and weaving and all the guys were laughing at my style. Well, our team won their fights, but they had black and blue marks and I was pretty. They all came to me and wanted to know what this boxing stuff was. So, that book helped me a lot. I started understanding what he was doing. Even with street fighting I understood. That’s why I did the wrestling, judo and jujitsu. I started understanding from a self-defense prospective. Bruce’s influence helped me so much. I remember when Bruce would talk about classical styles that he put everyone in an uproar; everyone thought he was crazy and now look. Anybody who’s going to be realistic about the martial arts will say that Bruce was right and he was ahead of his time.
The Latest Craze Is “The Ultimate Fighting Championship” Which You Recently Resided As One Of The Judges. Explain Your Feelings On Why This Tournament Has Become Such A Phenomenon And What Do You Feel Are The Pro’s And Con’s Of Such An Event? EH: I feel that most the people who watch the UFC aren’t martial artist. Probably about a fourth of the people are martial artist. I think the viewers are wrestling enthusiast or just people who like that type of fighting. I think martial artist don’t want to see that. They have been taught to have style and grace and when you see how the UFC is so brutal, that contradicts everything they have learned. Although street fighting is like that.
A street fight is not a pretty sight, it’s ugly. People get hurt, people get killed and this basically takes you back to the barbaric days of the Gladiators. I look at it the event two ways. I feel that it wakes up martial artist. It helps them realize that there is more to fighting than just punching or kicking. The UFC shows that the gap can be closed. Fancy kicks are not always going to work on the street. If Mike Tyson was going to fight a top grappler, when that fight is going down everyone is going to be a lot more careful. The other side of the coin is, I think it has taken away from the invincibility of the martial arts. Some of the guys who are not willing to accept the fact that they need to learn how to grapple. Instead of saying they need to get someone in here to teach our people how to do it they would rather down play it and it has hurt the invincibility of the martial arts.
I’m sure there are Tae Kwon Do schools across the country whining and going crazy because all of a sudden the Gracie’s have been taking everybody down and beating everyone. Does that mean you have the best people from every art who are in their fighting? No. But, you do have people in their who are supposed to represent the art. The Gracie’s have opened up a whole new door as for as the martial arts are concerned. Anyone who is really teaching the martial arts and they want to teach it correctly has to add grappling to their repertoire. So I think it has helped in several ways and hurt also but we always have to get hurt to get helped. Whatever doesn’t destroy us will help us. It’s part of the learning process. So, that’s what I see for the UFC. People ask me why I back it. It has it’s own spot. It’s not martial arts. It’s a whole different identity, you got guys who are ready to fight but it still has value if you look at it.
The Ufc That You Attended Broke Out In Quite A Fiasco Over A Decision You And Three Other Judges Handed Down To The Sitting Champion. Please Describe What Happened. EH: Marco Ruas, who had won the previous UFC, was coasting and Oleg was pushing the fight. I look objectively at the fight and I saw what everyone else saw. He didn’t push it. The Russian fighter pushed a little more, and he got enough to win the decision. Of course the trainers and a few others didn’t agree after it was over. After it was all said and done they came back and said he didn’t do as well but initially they were pissed off. But that doesn’t bother me.
Lee’s Philosophy And Genius On Intellectual Matters Has Been One Of The Most Ignored Aspects Of His Life. After Reading “The Tao Of Jeet Kune Do” Did You Come Away With Any New Insights Towards Life And Yourself As An Individual? EH: I’d have to say that besides all the physical attributes that Bruce had and he portrayed and taught me though I wasn’t able to train under Bruce Lee, I was able to see, he was like poetry in motion. He left enough material behind so you can learn from him. I think he taught me in all aspects of my life, to continue to learn. To stay open and not to set any boundaries on yourself. Don’t limit yourself and that means every aspect. With me being an Afro-American, the negative that goes along with a lot of Afro-Americans, saying that they don’t get certain things in life.
I never used that; I never said that because I have always believed I could be just as good as the next man. Not a black man, white man, whatever and so forth. From that stand point he has helped me because he was a minority himself. So I looked at him being a minority and said he’s doing it, he’s not bitching and moaning. I know despite whatever happened to his people in the past, he still came over to America and proved a point. I said I could do it to. They say luck is when preparation meets opportunity. Bruce was always ready. He had the hindsight to say “I’ll be ready when the time comes.” And he had enough faith in himself that he knew his time would come. My gosh, if it wasn’t for him my fighting ability, ah, I couldn’t even start. He said look at Ali, so I saw the Ali/Frazier fight and I had previously never watched boxing. After I watched that I said I was going to be a champion.
That made me think about being a kickboxing champion. Now kickboxing wasn’t even out, but I was boxing and that got me ready for the sport. Realistically, I think he has all these guys (anybody making movies now) beat. I kind of hate it when guys down play Bruce and say he wasn’t a fighter. So, what if he wasn’t a fighter. He never trained to be a fighter. He wasn’t a professional fighter. If he had trained to be a fighter, he would have excelled in fighting. But that wasn’t his thing. He had a plan in mind that he went after and fighting was not it. People like Don Wilson, Chuck Norris, Van Damme, Seagal – these guys owe all of what their getting now to Bruce as far as popularity. Now I don’t know of anyone else who did what Bruce did and had such an impact on the martial arts.
What Is Your Favorite Bruce Lee Movie And Why? EH: You know it’s kind of funny; I liked THE CHINESE CONNECTION because it was automatic. He was crazy, a lunatic. But I liked ENTER THE DRAGON because he showed so much versatility in that movie. He was at a pentacle there. That was the last movie he had out really. You could find something good in each of them but those two were my favorites. He was suave, plus it was an American made movie. So, he was like a martial arts James Bond (in Enter The Dragon) and then in THE CHINESE CONNECTION they made him out to be like he was crazy.
You saw that in him, you saw that rage. People don’t realize there’s so much racism in that movie. If Americans would have seen that from a Chinese perspective, the Chinese versus the Japanese, they don’t get along. People don’t realize that’s racism. He showed from his perspective how to deal with racism. He dealt with it the way he felt was the best way. He dealt with it with violence. Now should you always do that, in this day and age, it’s not always good to do it that way, but if you have no other way, especially back then, now Americans, back then deal with violence the best way you know how to. In this day and age we can do it on a little more different terms. We’re a little more advanced. But that movie wasn’t meant to be a modern day movie. Right after the Boxer Rebellion.
Speaking Of Movie Roles, Let’s Discuss Your Movie Career, Past And Present? EH: I was originally supposed to be in a Jackie Chan movie called THE PROTECTORS. I was going to go to Hong Kong for three months. Pat Johnson got the role for me. Then he called me up a month before I was going to go and said he was going to do a movie called TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. So, he said you I can go on to Hong Kong or I can get you this smaller role in this other movie. It would have been nice to go work with Jackie Chan but I’m glad I did what I did, because it was a smaller part and gave me a lot more exposure, I worked with good people. It was kind of like I got that acting bug in me.
One time was all I really needed. Now, Pat Johnson is choreographing the upcoming BATMAN movie and he makes sure he gets the best people for every role so I was chose as one of four people who he wanted to work with Arnold, which is great because everyone wants to work with Arnold. Of course he is the big star. Arnold is Mr. Freeze and I am one of his henchmen. We wear uniforms that resemble hockey uniforms and I am supposed to have white dread locks. My scene will be when Arnold faces off with BATMAN for the first time and I’ll hop on a couple of guys and then Batman and Robin will come in and thump on me and the other guys. It is a great opportunity. This will probably be the biggest movie next year. But I’ve been working on my acting all this time.
I had my first starring role in a movie called THE LAW OF DIVORCE, which was done back in May. It was the first time that I was in a movie from beginning to end. It’s about some people who are mad at a lawyer who later kidnap him. It’s low budget, which will probably go to video and cable, but it was a good opportunity. I have a contract to do two more movies from that. I watch how martial artist jump so fast to get in front of the camera. They don’t realize they’re biting off more than they can chew. It’s a lot harder than they think. Acting is totally different. It has nothing to do with your martial arts. Everybody thinks they belong on the screen because they’re in the martial arts. So what I have done over the years is take my time and worked on my acting.
Of course I could move out to Hollywood if I wanted to, I get offers to all the time to move out there, but I like St. Louis, I have personal goals I want to finish like working with kids, things of that nature. I feel that, especially in this area, there is a high amount of black on black crime. Black kids killing each other, which I’m sure, you read about all the time. I feel there’s a need for more Afro-American role models who actually get out and do things. Don’t sit there and just say it or only say things only when the cameras are around. Do it because you really believe it. I had opportunities to move out to L.A. and get cranking right away. But I decided to stay here. But over the years I have closed down crack houses, marched across St. Louis. I have actively went into the underprivileged areas and worked with the Afro-American kids using marital arts as a catalyst teaching discipline and self esteem, things of that nature.
Meanwhile, I have been going to different schools in the last eight years. I’ve probably been to over 200 schools and I have learned how to teach martial arts with in the school system as a curriculum. I’ve helped put that program together at the Parkway School system. Once we get it full time, this will be the first time it’s happened through out the whole school system. No one has ever done that in the country before. I got the idea from Chuck (Norris), because he does the KICK DRUGS OUT OF AMERICA but they use fifth and sixth graders where I’ll be doing the whole school system. I’ll have a program that will go into part of the P.E. curriculum. Meanwhile, I am still doing my acting because I feel a time will come that Hollywood will wake up and see that black kids need to emulate something. When they see other whites, it’s hard for them to see themselves doing that.
Now we as martial artist, because most my instructors were white, and they were my role models, I never had that problem. Because we had something in common. When you have something in common, it’s pretty easy. But when you have a kid who at a young age has seen death and drugs, and doesn’t feel they have a way out, most black kids are raised in a one family household, mostly by their mother raising them and their scuffling to eat or whatever, it’s hard for them to think that they can be something when know one has been there to teach them taught or gave them guidance. So, if you want to see black kids think different, they need to see positive role models. That’s common sense. So, when Hollywood opens up their minds and say, ‘Okay look, we need to put some heroes in there, “but when you start using black heroes, you want to send a message. TV is very strong; it’s the most powerful tool. You start showing black role models deal with violence, with more than their hands or feet. You give them a situation where they can use their common sense or whatever it is they want to show. It may not work all the time but at least there’s an alternative to violence.
Do You Think Being An African-American Has Helped Or Hindered Your Career? EH: I hate to use color as an excuse. Like in fighting with all the things I had to go through just to get a title shot cause back in those days I was brash and bold and had this big fro and talked a lot of stuff and certain people told me I would never make it because they’re not going to let another black champion like Ali in there for whatever reason, they told me I had to cut my hair down and be more quiet and that’s just their way of thinking. All my life I have never used color as an excuse. That’s why I tell all people once you get a crutch then you fall back on it every time something gets rough. I teach all the inner-city kids the same thing but I am realistic, I know that Hollywood has not been breaking down the doors for Afro-Americans in movies. It’s kind of weird because you have to understand something. There more black on black crime than, mostly teenagers killing each other.
These teenagers are influenced by what they see. TV is a powerful tool. So, if you show African Americans in certain areas, they show him as the pimp, the drug dealer, etc. He is dealing with his problems with a gun like they do in movies such as BOYZ IN THE HOOD. What do you think they’re going to do? Their going to emulate what they see. So, why not show an Afro-American who is strong, who can kick butt, but he can deal with his problems in another way then just by violence. Cause TV is so strong these kids need to see this type of character because then they will start thinking the same way. I have found it to be hard, I been in this ten years. I have had people pull out of a project because they found out I was black. So there has been some temporary setbacks but I feel Hollywood is changing. I feel I am in the right place at the right time and sooner or later someone will get smart. The good thing for me is I have been working on my acting. That is going to give me a big advantage. I can carry different roles; even roles that I wouldn’t even need my martial arts.
Regarding Racial Issues, Please Explain The Story About A Militia Group That Had Accidentally Hired You For A Seminar. EH: Yeah, that was kind of funny. It was back in the eighties, I was still fighting but I was just beginning to do seminars and stuff. I got this call for a training seminar; they mailed the tickets, everything. So, I flew in to Atlanta, Georgia and when I got off the phone I spotted a guy in fatigues with a sign with my name on it and I walked up to him and told him I was Ernest Hart and his eyes became the size of half dollars. I was wondering if I had something wrong with me. And so we jump in his camouflage truck and it seemed like we were driving forever.
I was thinking the whole thing was kind of interesting and it didn’t even register yet what was going on. I thought we were going to a dojo. We drove about eighty miles and were going back in these woods, deeper and deeper and I’m thinking, “Where am I going.” I thought I was in a bad movie. People had guns and they were shooting at targets, there was hand-to-hand combat. So, I go in and the guy takes me into this building and there was all this memorabilia, guns on the walls, and pictures of guys in uniforms. So I sit down in this office and this guy comes in and he looks like a dictator, he was all dressed up in this tan suit with one of those beret hats and I still didn’t catch on. The first thing he said was, “I’m sorry, I don’t know how this happened but we don’t want no colored teaching us here.” And I said, “Beg your pardon.” He talked about their beliefs of purity and so on and I was thinking this was no time to be bold here. I remembered my old Dale Carnegie course about “how to make friends and influence people,” and I was influencing and I was making friends. So we talked and I gave him some ideas of some things to work on, trying to keep his mind off this colored thing. As we were talking he was writing everything down and pretty soon he was relaxed. So, he gave me the money to get back on the plane on the same day and I was out of here. I was already thinking about how I would get out have there if something went wrong. I made it through there. I know for sure that these people were racist.
What Are Your Views Of The Current Crop Of Action Stars Such As Steven Seagal, Jean Claude Van Damme, Etc.? EH: I personally know Chuck Norris, and Don Wilson; I’ve been in a couple of his (Don’s) movies. Guys, who have fought, such as them, are at ease with themselves. They don’t have problems. There not worried about the martial arts guys out today. With Van Damme, he ends up negative, and with Seagal guys are always challenging him. Why, because these guys have never really done anything. It’s not their fault. We all can’t be a fighter, that’s just how it is. Now, I have met all of them. I have just noticed a difference in the people who have done it and who want to do it.
I’m sure these guys are always on their guard about what people think about them, can they really fight, etc. And I respect them for what they have done. I mean there where I want to be from that standpoint of a movie action star. Chuck Norris has always been the same person. Bob Wall probably speeded up my career up by 5 years because he came to my second kickboxing match in St. Louis and went back and told everyone about me in L.A., and that’s how I got to fight Benny. So, he kind of helped advance my career. Fighters treat other fighters different. When I first came to L.A., Bob had already starred in ENTER THE DRAGON, he picked me up at the airport, took me down to Chuck. Pat Johnson was there. Now he has become my martial arts mentor. Pat took me to train with him and who was there, but Steve McQueen. It was like a big high for me working out with him. So, it has nothing to do with color because these guys took me under their wing. I was just a black kid, I had never been anywhere, but I could fight, that’s the one thing we had in common. That’s enough for martial artist. That’s what I like about it. There’s no color barrier there. Guys respect you. If you act like and asshole, they will treat you different. People who can fight, they’re going to respect you as a fighter but they may not respect you as a person. People like Chuck, Bob Wall and Pat Johnson treated me like a human being; they sort of helped me advance myself.
Being In The Movie Industry You Had Probably Heard Stories About Steven Seagal Being Choked Out On A Movie Set… EH: I’ve heard several versions of that, by Gene LaBell so what’s true? I can’t say because I wasn’t there. I’m sure you have heard versions of Bruce Lee fighting people. I here it all the time. Now which is right or which is wrong, it depends on the person who told it. So, for me I take it as a grain of salt.
You Have Trained Some Local Celebrities In Martial Arts. Who Are Some Of You’re More Famous Students? EH: I have worked with O.J. Anderson, who later went to the Super Bowl with the Giants, Ozzy Smith, Tony Twist (St. Louis Blues Hockey player), Dustin Gwen from 21 JUMP STREET. When I go visit Pat he has me work with different people. I like working with athletes. They are already championship material. They’re looking for an edge.
How Is Ozzy Smith As A Martial Artist? EH: In the first year I have taught Ozzie stuff that people who would normally be in a brown belt class could perform. Things like jump spinning crescents jump spinning heel kicks; jump front kicks ten feet high. His attributes are really good. You teach him and it doesn’t take him long to learn. He’s probably one of the easiest guys to teach.
Traditional Martial Arts Have Taken A Bad Rap Over The Years For Being An In Effective Means Of Self Defense. What Faults Do You See With Traditional Karate? EH: Well, every art has a value. Traditional martial arts can get you in shape and can get you started thinking about self-defense but it is not an end to a means. Remember, if people are practicing most traditional martial arts they are practicing the same way that people did hundreds of years ago in the orient. The problem is we’re in the future now. People are not attacking you with straight punches and karate stances like that in the street. If your training to learn an art against the same art, that’s all your doing. Your okay cause the person is using the same art your using.
Once they deviate form that your in trouble. If you have traditional martial artist who are just doing that and their kata’s, which I feel all are good, I make all my people do kata’s, I make them do everything because there is a discipline to it. The worst thing is an undisciplined fighter. I found guys who were really good that fall to the way side after awhile because they didn’t have the discipline to get to a certain point. That’s where the advantages of traditional martial arts are. But if you don’t have someone attacking you like a boxer or a wrestler, making it a little more realistic, you’re going to have problems, your tricking yourself, you’re tricking the people and you’re really not giving the people what they came there for. They came there for self-defense. If you go to a tournament, a tournament is a tournament. That’s what they are. It’s good for kids and people who want to have fun, but it’s not self-defense and that’s just the reality of it. I have seen top tournament fighters scared to go out to dinner because they may get jumped on. I have seen some top tournament fighter get in real fights and get their butt beat. Most guys who have been in traditional martial arts and who are good street fighters were good street fighters before they got into the martial arts. They had the attributes to make it work. Percentage wise most guys don’t get into martial arts to be fighters.
Describe Your Work In Helping Under Privileged Kids In Association With The Martial Arts? EH: The martial arts are probably one of the few things you can do that has several benefits to a person besides the physical side of it. People worry about getting beat up, dealing with fear. Most fears are getting beat up, dealing with any type of situation with another kid. If you can get a kid to show he has confidence in himself he can a lot of the times deal with the situations ever always without fighting. But if he doesn’t have the discipline he can’t do it. That’s what good about the martial arts, any martial arts. It teaches us discipline and self esteem. Everything we do is based around how we feel about ourselves. If we can’t start feeling good about other people, then at least we can feel good about ourselves. Martial arts does that. I know that most kids in the project areas have self-esteem problems. There’s no one looking out for them, they have nobody to talk to, they don’t have any focus.
That’s where the martial arts come in and help them and at least guide them. We can take the martial arts as a catalyst and teach all the attributes it takes to be a good citizen, someone who wants to go out and do his best and be his best. Everybody can’t be president, not everyone can be Michael Jordan. These other sports can’t create that but martial arts can create good citizens. You have to start when their kids. You can’t wait till they get older. It’s hard to change people when they’re in the teens; you have to get them when they’re young. That’s why I like to teach them when their young so I can mold them to think good about themselves an to be the best they can be and be whatever it is they want to be and realize that we are going to fall on our face in life. That’s where most people mess up. They are afraid to fail. So, instead of failing they don’t do anything, they just sit idle. If you teach them, your going to learn this front kick, they’re not going to learn it the first time. You have to go through stages to learn it. Then you go to a round kick or something.
Then when they go to a really hard kick like a spinning back kick or, and they say it’s so hard, you tell them to back up and remember that front kick, how hard it was, did you quit, no, okay well the same thing applies to this. Anytime you set a goal your not going to get it right the first time. So, you teach them by dealing with temporary setbacks. You only fail when you decide in your mind you fail. Don’t let anybody else tell you – you failed or your no good or whatever. You be the judge of that. You have that right to control your life and your destiny. Through the martial arts, that’s what I want to do. In Japan they do that, in the orient. All kids are learning martial arts in schools. Why do you think the discipline is so big there? Why do you think when these oriental kids come over to America, they excel in scholastics. They out do Americans. It’s when they become Americanized. So, why don’t we take the same principle and teach some discipline, teach them some respect. Start off with an early age and your going to get a different type of kid who is going to grow up to be an adult. It’s harder to help kids that are already teenagers. They’re already molded.
What Changes Do You See In The Attitudes Of Youngsters Who Train In The Martial Arts? EH: Because I have been fortunate to teach kids from every type of background, I always see that they trust the teacher. Everybody respects fighting. So, you have to tell them right off the bat that you don’t settle anything with your fist. That’s the big advantage I have. So, I’ve watched these changes. I’ve watched people who have been undisciplined who have become disciplined. I have watched adults who didn’t have any goals in life start setting goals. So, there are a lot of different things in the martial arts I have watched. I get a lot of self-satisfaction out of it because whatever they pay me (because I do a lot of private lessons), they could never pay the amount that I give them. See, I’m the kind of person that I make sure that I give you more that you pay for. Because the skills, the confidence, the things I give you are life long. I take pride in what I do so I know that when I teach someone I make sure they come out better than they did before and most time they even exceed more than what I had expected. So, that’s one of the biggest advantages I have in doing this, in molding people, so that’s how I know I am on the right track.
Any Final Words On The Legacy Of Bruce Lee? EH: Well, Bruce has influenced very top martial artist of today. If they don’t want to believe that than if nothing else he made the martial arts popular enough that they took a look at it and said, ‘hey, this is what I want to do.’ Any guy would have to say that over-all Bruce Lee was the greatest martial artist that made the martial arts grow. He had the most impact on society as for as the martial arts are concerned. That’s maybe good or bad. There’s always controversy of course. There always is when you’re on the top. I’m happy he came at a time when I was there so I could appreciate what he had to offer and be able to be open minded enough to partake in the knowledge he had. In fact in my own way I am doing what he was doing now except I’m taking it to another level by helping people. Bruce Lee wasn’t just a fighter. He was heavy into philosophy, he was into Taoism and him knowing that there is more to it than fighting. He probably sat there and figured people would take note of him because of the physical side, but there’s more to it than that. If you were able to workout with him I think he took you to other levels. But if you didn’t workout with him you probably wouldn’t understand that. I think a lot of guys out there are taking advantage of his name because he’s no there to defend himself. Realistically, if you are really good, you don’t have to capitalize on Bruce Lee’s name. You can use your own name. People respect you most if you use your own name. Just because people are learning Bruce Lee’s art doesn’t mean there going to be like Bruce Lee. You become a better person by focusing on yourself and being the best you can be, not what Bruce Lee could be because your not going to be Bruce. Nobody’s going to be Bruce. That’s where people mess up.
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