SHADES OF ISSHINRYU
True Pioneers
THE CANADIAN CONNECTION
PIONEERS OF KARATE IN THE UNITED STATES
On October 19, 1963, in Toronto,
Canada, Masame Tsuroka, the Father of Canadian Karate, sponsored the
very first Canadian Karate Tournament.
How did we find out about his tournament? I’ll
leave that to the readers who have a better memory than myself. I do
know that we were hungry for competition and we trained very hard
for this tournament. This was long before Isshinryu’s William
Duessell, my first student in Pittsburgh, PA and now head of Kichiro
Shimabuku’s organization, ever thought of Isshinryu, and definitely long
before the Me-Mizu Gami Isshinryu patch was introduced to the
American public. I am not exactly sure when Don Nagle held his first
tournament, but I do know that if he held one we did not know about.
This tournament in Toronto was held
long before the introduction of all the protective gear which
produces sloppy techniques, and no control, much less forcing a
student to be aware of his actions, and long before a student could
hide behind the protection of five judges. I am not sure if we even
had rules to follow. I do know that there was no such thing as too
much contact. Most important to me at that time was that then, and
should be now, no one hid behind his rank. You taught, you
fought.
HOSTED BY MASTER MASAME TSUROKA
Front row: Third from left, Sam
Pierson, the Marine Corps representative at the time
Front row: Fifth from left, Masame
Tsuroka, Father of Canadian Karate
Front row: Sixth from left,
Isshinryu’s Harry G. Smith
Front row: Seventh from left, James
Cheetham, Head of Black Panthers
Front row: Eighth from left, John
Keehan a.k.a. Count Dante, mercenary and Dim Mak expert
Second row: Third from left, Ralph
Lindquist, very first student of Harry G. Smith
Second row: Seventh from left, name
unremembered, broke Don Bohan’s nose at later tournament
Back row: Seventh from left, Artis
Simmons of Erie, PA
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