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"It was all for this day."
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1954
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Ron started his long career (43 years, as of 2006) as a boxer at 9 years old, in North St. Louis city. |
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1962
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His love of the excitement he felt every time he entered the “Squared circle” continued in to his Navy days. At the tender age of 17 years and 5 months he showed his “No Fear” attitude by taking on a secret “POTUS”(ordered by Presidential directive) mission to Cuba in 1962.
Once there, he crawled behind enemy lines to get pictures of Nuclear Russian Missiles on the Island. This later became known as “The Cuban Missile Crisis” and Ron was decorated for his mission. He was awarded the “National Defense Medal” and the “Cold War Commemorative Medal.” His exploits are now part of the Library of Congress exhibit # 2003097542.
Ron began training in Martial Arts while stationed with Jim Hughes at New London’s Submarine base that same year.
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1965
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Ron left the service and went to work. He knew of no Martial Arts training facilities in St. Louis at the time so he trained by himself, with his brother Ernie and with anyone he could talk in to training with him.
There weren’t many “takers” back then because nobody really knew much about what Karate really was.
At least not until Bruce Lee became famous, then it broke out like a wild fire. (Thanks Bruce).
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Aug. 15, 1972
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Ron found a Karate School in South St. Louis, the N.K.A. and began learning their style which was called Shudo Kan. He trained under Master Sam Brock for four years. |
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Aug. 15, 1973
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Just one year later Ron earned his 1st degree Black Belt. He worked out five days a week, averaging seven to eight hours a day after the first 90 days. He would eventually be promoted within the NKA to a Masters Rank of 5th dan.
On June 28, 1975 meanwhile he broke the Guinness World Record for laying on a Bed of Nails for the longest time, 26 hrs, 15 minutes and 11 seconds and also in July 1976, for the greatest weight borne on a bed of nails, 1,510 lbs. He also began bare knuckle fighting and won his first Full Contact Karate Championship in 1975.
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1976
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Ron left the NKA and began teaching his own style derived from the NKA style and what Jim Hughes had taught him. |
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1986
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Ron developed an interest in Ninjitsu and went to study with Master Harunaka Hoshino. He fell in love with the style of Ninjitsu and has been teaching it ever since under his own style called Cobra Wind Demon Ninjitsu. This style encompasses every bit of knowledge Ron has attained from day one, from every style. |
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How successful has this been? There are not enough pages on this site to list everthing but thank goodness, Ron and his sister, Kay, had the foresight to maintain very good records of his accomplishments. Today, ALL of his records can be examined at his new school in Fenton, Missouri. They are in the form of CDs, VHS, pictures, newspaper clippings, awards, trophies, title belts and written documentation from others. |
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2003
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He reached the pinnacle of his career when, in July, he was inducted into the United States Martial Arts Hall of Fame under the prestigious category "MARTIAL ARTS LEGEND." Like Ron said: "It doesn't get any better than this." |
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2006
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Ron is working on opening his brand new Dojo in Fenton, Missouri, and hopes to be open by November. |
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Please feel free to visit the Photo Gallery for pictures of Events.
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