On Saturday evening, July 15, 2006, Grandmaster Byrne sat down with the ATA summer training camp attendees to follow the Masters Demonstration with a question and answer session. On Friday evening, he had announced that he would take questions, and answer them. With no subject matter limitations. People wrote and submitted questions over the course of the next 24 hours. When the Masters demonstration completed, people gathered around on the picnic tables as Master Penny Mitchell read them to Grandmaster Byrne, and he responded.

Transcript:

Master Penny Mitchell: OK, Spencer from Cape Cod Health and Self Defense. Spencer asks how old are you, and when is your birthday?
(laughter. "Someone put him up to it, sir.")
Grandmaster Richard Byrne: I'm 55. I'll be 56 August 13th.

MPM: Eric Van Kelsch, Metro West. Would you demonstrate your favorite move on Mr. Mike Follo?
(laughter)
GRB: I think I demonstrated my favorite move out there (makes gesture of downward punch, with which he'd just broken 10 boards) that I would like to do on Mike Follo.
(more laughter)

MPM: Erik Van Kelsch, Metro West. What is your 2nd-favorite martial art?
GRB: That's a hard question. If I had to pick it and if it was considered a martial art, I would say shoot-fighting would be my 2nd favorite. I like the combativeness and using the locks and everything, which is something that we miss a little bit in Tang Soo Do and we try to add in. So I think that's what I like, I still like getting in the ring even at my age...

MPM: Foley, Metro West. What is the secret to the Iron Palm?
GRB: I don't know how many people even have seen it. If you've seen it, raise your hand...there's a lot of people who haven't seen it so they don't know what you're talking about. They're talking about, on occasions, I'll take a cement slab and just put my hand on it and break it by putting my hand on it. Not leaning on it - I just sit back and put the energy of my body into the cement slab and it'll just crumble. It's a hard technique to do and I've got to do it when I'm really feeling - remember in my seminar how I was talking about your aura? I've really got to feel very, very strong in order to do something like that. It really saps everything out of you. I was thinking about trying it at this camp, but I've got a shoulder injury that's nagging me - I haven't been to the gym in a month - I've been trying to let it heal. It actually feels a lot better since Dr. Theokas took care of me.

But there's no secret to it. You learn about internal energy, like we were talking out there in the seminars, and you have to learn how to somehow channel it and bring it out. It's almost like when you walk on a carpet and then touch somebody and they get electrocuted. I mean, we have that ability within our systems to do it. Some people ask, "how do you train for it?" I was lucky that it came to me pretty well. I probably trained 20 years before I did it. But it came to me pretty easy. If somebody was to train, you'd have to get very thin cement slabs. Maybe cut 'em off of a cement block. Some kind of cement saw to cut the end off so you have a one inch cement slab. You start with something like that first, and you try to channel your energy into the object. It doesn't work with wood, because wood is pliable. So you could be sitting there all day long trying it, and the wood is just absorbing the shock. But cement is brittle, so anything that it absorbs, it starts to deteriorate.

But there's no big secret to it - it's just something you've got to develop.

MPM: Mr. Follo, from Metro West. What is your favorite pizza?
GRB: Plain pizza. That's all, just plain. I know it's dull, but plain pizza.

MPM: This is from Peter Borey from Metro West. What has kept you motivated to continue the martial arts in your capacity as an instructor?
GRB: You know, when you have some talented students. I mean, they inspire you by the talent they show you and wanting to learn, and it just makes you appreciate them and want to continue teaching and teaching - give everything that you have so that they can become the best that they can be. And it's really great to see how some of them can do these fantastic things, like [Master] Eric [Hill] jumping over that table. If I had a little bit of a hand in that, helping that along, then I feel honored, and the least I can do is be dedicated to continue teaching these fine athletes who have devoted themselves to me. So, that's basically how I do it. You guys keep showing up every year, I guess I got to keep showing up.

MPM: This is from Jane Allwine, Fort Wayne Tang Soo Do. Will you please do a form for us?
GRB: I already changed. (laughter) I'll tell you what - next camp, I'll do a form. How's that? Since I promised, now I've gotta do it. I just said it in front of all these witnesses.

MPM: This is from Master Costantino. In your own words, given your extensive life experiences, how would you describe the warrior spirit?
GRB: I think it's the ability to...there's different warrior spirits amongst, I think, difference athletes, not just martial artists. Some, like football, for instance, that can be a very destructive sport. But the way to describe it is the ability for one to shut off worrying about your own well being when you go in to do something, and just take care of the job. And that's the worst person in the world that you ever want to deal with, you know, because they're not afraid of being hurt. Not afraid of the consequences. They're just going to square off and they're going to give it to you, and they'll take anything you want to give back, but they're going to keep going until you put 'em down for good. And that's what I get from people like Bill Wallace, Joe Lewis, some of the top professionals that just happen to be friends of mine. Each one of those individuals, as well as like Chuck Norris - Chuck Norris, a lot of people don't know, he wasn't just in "Walker, Texas Ranger" all his life. He was 6 years undefeated in the United States in point tournament fighting. He beat Joe Lewis twice, you know, and if anyone's been in a seminar with Joe Lewis, you know damn well that's a pretty tough job when you step in the ring with him. So even Chuck Norris I would include in that, had that ability to just walk in and just shut off whether you're nervous, whether you've got an injury, or anything, just shut it off and take care of business

I've had people tell me, probably the time it was most obvious was at [Master Mitchell's] father's event. In Andover. Your father ran an event in Andover and I had just had surgery on Tuesday and we did the event on Friday. And they had cut my whole jaw open and taken out this cyst that had grown because somebody did a bad root canal. I looked like the elephant man - it was unbelievable. So I was on these antibiotics, and I went in, and I used to do a section of the demonstration where I would do probably 15 minutes just myself. And I'd do a lot of - some of the things that you see the Masters do, I would do all of those at the end of the show. And when I was done, and the curtain was shut and I was talking to a few people, my dentist was there, who was with me with the surgeries and everything, came up and said, "you know what? Nobody here knows just how sick you really are, except for me. Yet you went on stage and performed like you were perfectly healthy and there was nothing wrong. I just don't know how you do that. You've still got the stitches in your mouth. You're still not 100%." And I said, "well, there's something about when it's time to perform, or it's time to do something, you just put your mind to it and block out everything else and just go and take care of what you've got to take care of."

So I think, that's kind of like the warrior spirit that you're talking about. A lot of guys talk a good game, but let me tell you, it's the guys who don't talk about it that you've got to look out for, because you can't see what their heart is. You may find out, and you may not want to find out. But the guys who talk all the time, they're the ones that you usually don't have to worry about. The ones who just kind of keep quiet, like Professor Castoldi, had a traffic altercation, got out, grabbed the steering wheel, ripped it off the car and gave it to the guy. As soft-spoken and as wonderful as Professor Castoldi is, when you get him mad to a point, rather than take the guys head off, he just decided to hand him the steering wheel.

MPM: Rosa Discipio would like to ask what made you start in martial arts?
GRB: Believe it or not, when I was a young man, about 13 years old, I started being an usher in a movie theater. Most of the kids don't know what an usher is. People with flashlights, whatever, sweep up the popcorn, check the balconies all the time. I was working since I was 13 since everybody thought I was 15, so I could get a job - so I started working at 13 and I was forced to watch movies over and over again. And in the old days, they would show two movies, sometimes a cartoon or what they'd call a travelogue. Travelogues were like a documentary about another country, sight-seeing, and one of 'em was one on karate, where they were in Japan and they showed these karate masters breaking stacks of roofing tiles and boards and everything else, and that stuck in my mind. I said, "boy, that's incredible," and I always thought about it, but back then, there were no karate schools around. There were a couple of Judo schools, but there really was no karate school then at all. So even if I'd wanted to find a karate instructor, I would have had to look hard and wide to do it. But when I was older, the interest stayed with me. A friend of mine became a black belt in Judo. I went with him to a Judo meet but I still wasn't involved.

And then I went into the military and was sent to Korea. In Korea, the first day that I got there, a black belt in Tang Soo Do, a guy named Zeke - a big bodybuilder, half Japanese, half American - took me and said, "I'm going to bring you to meet my instructor tomorrow." So I said, "OK." So I went to meet Master Kim and Master Yu, this little assistant instructor walked up and said, "oh, you tall man - you good, we take care of you." I mean, they were great salesmen. Actually I talked with somebody about doing Hapkido, so I said to him - this is typical Master Kim - "well, I was thinking about learning Hapkido." And he said, "You want to learn Hapkido? I teach you Hapkido." So I said, OK, what the hell, Zeke's a student, so that's what made me join. It was a 13-month tour, you could stay there and become an alcoholic, or go into the nightclubs and catch all sorts of diseases and do nothing with your life for 13 months over there, or you maybe you could put your mind to something, and that's what I did.

We trained 6 days a week, 3 hours a day. Twice a week I went twice a day, and every other week a black belt would open up on a Sunday and we'd go in on Sunday and work, so it was just constant, constant working out. But, and I know that most of you, you can't fathom that, but try to understand that we had no other responsibilities except for our job on the base. We had no boyfriends, girlfriends, parents to worry about - I mean nothing. All we had to worry about was taking care of ourselves when we'd get up every day. So we didn't have a lot of the things - we didn't have cars, motorcycles - nothing. So it was kind of easy to focus in on something when you don't have any distractions. And that's why they do with football and baseball players, they take them away from their wives and say, "you've got to come to training camp." Get 'em away from their easy living and back to serious training. It's easy to do if you remove them from all the outside influences.

So that's what got me started. Then, when I got back from Korea, I knew I wanted to teach, but I had to find a karate instructor. There were no Tang Soo Do people around. I studied Shotokan for about 6 months and after that I found a Tae Kwon Do instructor who happened to be originally Tang Soo Do. He came over, and became Tae Kwon Do because Tae Kwon Do brought them over. But I eventually found a guy in Connecticut who started training me, then I went back to Master C.S. Kim when he started his own organization. Master Kim was my first instructor in Korea, so that's why I went back to him.

So that's what got me started, that foolish travelogue when I was 13 years old in the movie theater.

MPM: Rachel from Malden wants to know how old you were when you started doing karate.
GRB: I was 19. 19 years old. So, some of you kids, I just sit there and say, "Oh my God, you just don't know how lucky you are." To start at a young age, and some of you even become black belts at a young age. God, you know, I was 19 before I even started - that's sad.

MPM: This one reads "Is it true that Master Discipio is your favorite Master?" (laughter) That was from Master Discipio. (more laughter)
GRB: In some ways he's my favorite Master, yeah. Well, he takes care of doing all my tailoring, my trimming and patches and everything. If I need him at the last minute, to go somewhere, instead of me doing it, he'll come in and slap it on for me. So, I thank him for all he's done in that way.

MPM: This is somewhat of a similar question from earlier. Allan Wheeler from Metro West asks do you plan on demonstrating the Iron Palm technique at some point, and could you explain how it works?
GRB: Yeah, I hope to, but it has to be at a special time, and when I'm feeling really strong. I've got to get ready for it. It's not something that I can do - like I said, it really saps the energy out of you when you're done with it, and if you don't have full loaded with energy when you start, it can be really draining, and it probably won't work either, 'cause I won't have enough to put into it to make it work.

MPM: Maya Johnson from Metro West asks, as a gup member, what was your hardest form to learn and why, and what was your favorite form?
GRB: I shouldn't say this, because it's going to give everybody..you might take after me and this is not a good idea - I didn't like forms. I had no favorite form - I hated them all. I was 6 foot 5, I weighed 182 pounds (if you can imagine that - I'm 280 now, so take 100 pounds off this frame) and I didn't look pretty doing a form no matter which way you cut it, you know, and I knew it. It wasn't until I became probably like a 3rd degree black belt that I really started to appreciate forms and start working with them. It's a shame that I had a bad attitude, but I did. I'm just being honest with the questions here. Forms are important and they do have their purpose. I think part of my problem was that for so long I was without an instructor, I was never moved on or corrected in my forms, so they kind of just stayed stagnant, and I think that was a problem, too. That's why you always need an instructor to help you, guide you through things. You can't do it yourself. If you've got yourself for an instructor, you've got a fool for a student.

MPM: I think your Masters are having some fun with you tonight, sir.
GRB: I'm sure.
MPM: Is it true that the boogeyman checks his closet for Grandmaster Byrne?
(laughter "Is there a name on that?")
MPM: Master Driscoll.
(Master Driscoll, from the audience: "I'm sorry sir - I knew the answer.")

MPM: Peter Arno from North Attleboro wants to know what is shoot-fighting?
GRB: Shoot-fighting's what you see in UFC. It's mixed martial arts, so people who do kicking, punching, knee techniques, jiu jitsu, ground techniques, arm bars, leg holds, different things like that. It's what they call mixed martial arts. It's not defined by any one thing. The guys that tend to be the best at it are the Olympic style wrestlers, who get into shoot-fighting now. They seem to be strongest people, like Matt Hughes. He's one of the finest shoot-fighters around, and one of the strongest. But his background is basically wrestling and he's got just tremendous strength. I know he took apart Royce Gracie in the last pay-per-view - this last one with Matt Hughes, I told everybody, I said, "if Matt Hughes doesn't beat him within the first round, it's a bag job." Matt Hughes, I guess, just took him apart.

MPM: Rachel from Malden wants to know, what is your favorite color?
GRB: Probably blue.

MPM: This is from me. What is your best or favorite memory of training at Osan?
GRB: Best means good.
(laughter)
MPM: Yes, sir.
GRB: I have a lot of memories, you know, like getting slapped in the face because I just happened to wipe the sweat out of my eyes. Master Kim just slapped me across the face and said, "Don't move." So I didn't move anymore.

I think the USO demonstration that we did was a real turning point. I was just a green belt, and there's an old video tape lying around that we occasionally show and it shows me breaking a stack of roofing tiles with my head as a green belt back then. And it just...OK, now we go back to what I said, why did I get involved with karate, I saw a travelogue with a guy breaking a bunch of roofing tiles. So what do I do when she says remember a time, I go right back to that again. So I guess it's a... talk about some psychology...

So, I think that was a good memory. I think I knew from that point on that I could really do this thing.

MPM: Jennifer and ... I think it's Lou, will you ever be a 10th degree black belt? Who will test you for that?
GRB: Well, first of all, since there's no 11th degree, nobody tests you. A board of Masters gets together and awards you that. But I've got to be 9th degree before that, so I've got to worry about getting to 9th degree first.

Yes, I hope someday, if I live long enough.

MPM: This is from the Dragon [Master Hill] - what percentage of students who put on a Do Bok make it to black belt?
GRB: I've said this in some speeches. Really, 1 1/2% to 2% make it to black belt who actually walk through the door. And then, take it again, and 2% of those people make it to Master. So the people that are Masters, it's really small, finite group of people, even though you see a lot of them now. Still, there were a lot of people who went through the doors to get those. I don't think that's changed much.

MPM: This is from Master Fernette. When and how did you meet Professor Castoldi?
GRB: I met Master Castoldi at Tahoku Judo, which was one of the greatest Judo places of all time, in Somerville. It was an old church that was made into a Judo school. It was a magnificent place, going in there, great atmosphere, big, matted floor that you could do all of these workouts and tournaments on. And I went there - this guy invited me to come there to participate in this seminar. So I said, "OK." I was young, I wanted to learn, so I went. And Dave Castoldi was my partner. And Dave loved to show me how to do his takedowns, you know, where he just doesn't take you down, he lands on you afterwards. So you go down hard first, and then ba-boom! him on top of you. So he loved doing that to the sad little karate guy. That was my first meeting with Dave Castoldi. And that was also the first time I met Killer Kowalski, was at that same facility, and so I remember that moment.

And by the way, what ended up happening was Dave Castoldi replaced John Wooten. He wanted me to take over Jiu-Jitsu America, Professor Wally Jay, and I refused. I said, "No, there's a much better man, that's qualified for it, and that's Professor Castoldi, because he's the one that's devoted to Jiu-Jitsu. I'm really a Tang Soo Do man. There'll sooner or later be a conflict between a Tang Soo Do event and a Jiu-Jitsu event and Tang Soo Do would always win out. Let me give it to somebody who's honest and forthright and can do the right job." And that was Professor Castoldi.

MPM: This is from Siraj Ier of Metro West. Will you please tell us how long you have held each of your world records?
GRB: Oh, God. I didn't realize I needed to do research before I did this. I don't know. (To Master Mitchell) You've been around for all of them.
MPM: I remember '78-'79, your speed-break. Kimmie's Disco.
GRB: '78-'79, right around the Disco era, and we're at a Discotheque and I'm breaking boards, setting a record. A discotheque - that oughta tell you what the hell everything was going on.
MPM: I don't think you did it after that.
GRB: No, but the chop I did...The chop I did before that. The chop I did before and the round kick I did after, in the 80s when I was competing in tournaments. So that's...other than the elbow, the records are pre-85 - that's safe to say.

MPM: Jim Robinson, of OnSite Martial Arts. What type of drills or exercises would you recommend for the overall improvement of hand's speed and striking power?
GRB: I think it's a mistake to just confine yourself to one thing. Like, in other words, some people...I can tell if somebody's been away from me like a couple of months and they've been working on the heavy bag and they come over and they start working out with me, I can look at them and see right away, he's been working on the heavy bag, and they're amazed that I can tell that. But it's like their whole way they punch, the way they kick, everything is...changes because of the bag. It's good to use a heavy bag, it's good to use a light bag, it's good to do just drills in place, do non-contact sparring, some contact sparring. The best thing to do really is to do different types of drills, because again, you might learn to kick hard on a heavy bag, but chances are, the guy ain't gonna be there for you to hit him, because you're going to wind up and always give it away by the big body motion. The bag doesn't kick you back, and it doesn't present a problem for you, so it's easy to do that. You start doing that fighting, you'll end up on the losing end of it.

MPM: This is from Steve Post, Cape Cod Health and Self Defense. Could you tell a little about your time in the army? I've been in for almost 19 years and would be curious to know your experience.
GRB: I was in the Air Force, so I can't tell you about the army. The Air Force - I was a graphics illustrator. I made maps, charts, book covers, things like that. That's what I was. I actually went to a technical school for it. When I entered the military, they sent me to basic, they sent me to a technical school, so when I got out, they sent me right to Korea as a graphic illustrator at a SAC base, a strategic air command base. We were there to prevent the North Koreans from coming over and taking over. We would usually have air raid drills every Sunday, which means we had to go to our post and wait to be called and told us we could go back now, because we expected the North Koreans to come over at any moment. I was over there during the time that North Korean was about to have, the President was about to have his 60th birthday. And in Korea, the 60th birthday is a very, very big birthday. You were supposed to have accomplished all of your life's dreams by the time you were 60 years old, your ambitions. And his ambition was to unite North and South Korea. So we all expected for some type of action to be taken, so we were on high alert at all times.

MPM: Adam Deperseo would like to know what made you open your own karate studio?
GRB: I hate to say it but you know, I knew it from the third class. I really did. The third class I went there. The first class, I felt like a buffoon, because I had a guy that was standing next to me, who joined with me, that smoked, drank, never did a damned thing in his whole life, looked like a bag of crap, and he walked out of the door knowing exactly what I knew. And here I was, the big basketball, baseball star, Richard Byrne, and I'm wondering what the hell am I doing, when this guy here knows exactly what I know? Is this bad, or what? Well, about the third class, things started to click and that was it. And I went right by this guy, this guy just barely got to green belt. But I just flew right by this guy after that. So, you know...what was the question?
MPM: Why did you open your own school?
GRB: Oh, OK. So I knew at that time it was something I really wanted to do. When I got back from Korea, I tried to go into art school so I could get a degree, so I could get a better job as a commercial artist, then come to find out that most art schools that give degrees do not take the GI bill, which we find out after we do our military service, not before. So the only place I could get in was BU, that taught a beginner's art program which had no credits at all, and I said, "I don't need a beginner's art program - I've already gone through schooling and been on the job and everything." But, at that time, if you looked in a newspaper for a job, like a commercial artist, it would say, "four years, or two years on the job experience, military not included." It would always say, "military not included" underneath. And that was because a lot of us were in the military back then. And I suppose that commercially they were right. A job in the military and a job in the commercial field are two different jobs. Most of the guys I found in the Air Force were just about how little can we do and how long can we do that, you know, whereas in the commercial field, you don't last very long if you do that. So I can understand the commercial field saying that, but I got very frustrated. So I went from the Japanese school I was training in to open up my own school, 'cause I had so many people were asking me to do it. And I started with five students and built up from there. I was driving cab 10 hours a day, along with some other jobs. Finally, after about three months of driving cab, walking in with splitting headaches from sucking in fumes all day, I just said, "you know, I'm going to do this full time and it's gonna happen or it's not gonna happen." And I was very lucky because I opened up my school in October of 1970, and then "Kung Fu" came along. And "Kung Fu" came along, people couldn't join my school fast enough or throw money at me fast enough. They would throw money at me for uniforms, classes, everything, take one class and never come back, a lot of times, 'cause they couldn't do what Kwai Chang Cain could do. But it was great for business, for a guy like me. If you were just trying to get started in the business, it wasn't as good for you, because I was there already planted, so it worked out really well for me. And it just kept going from there.

MPM: Who teaches you Tang Soo Do? Who tests you for all your black belt stripes?
GRB: Different people have tested me over the years. Grandmaster C.S. Kim gave me 6th and 7th. 8th came from Master Clingan. I have a 9th supposedly from German Tang Soo Do but I refused that. I refused to accept 9th, because I said, "it's too early for me." I said, "I'm not 9th degree material yet. I need more time." I believe that you should wait the proper amount of time for each rank, because I think you need to mature into that rank, and I think that's important. I could wear, you know, the 9th degree title, but it doesn't change who I am. That's something that maybe down the road. But in the future, you know, like I said, there is nobody over me, as far as our organization. So the future could be the ATA Masters get together and recognize that at a certain point I might deserve to go on to the next degree. I could get a next degree just by sending an e-mail to somebody, you know, they're easy to come by, but that's not what it's all about. It isn't just getting a piece of paper, it's putting your time in. That's why I refused the 9th degree. That was awarded to me three years ago and I still won't accept it until I feel that I've got the time and I'm ready for it.

MPM: You wear a lot of American Indian clothes. Are you of American Indian descent?
GRB: Yes, I'm part Micmac Indian from Nova Scotia, which is where my mother's side of the family came from. A lot of the French men when they came over settled in Nova Scotia and they married the Micmac women. Micmac women were prized for their ability to be very good with handicrafts and things like that. I guess they were outstanding to the point where other tribes would come in and raid the villages just to steal the women because they felt the women were that valuable. So the French men married some of these Micmac women and that's how our bloodlines kind of mixed down. I didn't find that out, believe it or not, until about four or five years ago. Everybody used to walk up to me and go, "you look like a native American." And I'd always say, "no, I'm not." And then, one day I was at my uncle's, who is one of the few Canadians left alive on my side of the family, my mother's side of the family, and I told him a story about how I was in Sturges, South Dakota and I had my fringe jacket on, and I had a tan, and my long hair. And as I was walking out of this restaurant, this little blonde girl was looking at me. And she was staring at me the whole time walking down the hallway, and I don't know what she thought I was, but I just tapped her on the head and said, "hi." And she looked at me and smiled and turned to her mother and said, "Mommy, he's a nice Indian." Been watching too many cowboy movies where the Indians were all bad. So I told that to my uncle, that story, and he said, "well, you know, there's a reason for that." And I said, "what do you mean?" So he went in and came back with a folder and they were researching a family line, and he said, "this is why." And he started going back to all of these men that married the Micmac women. But somehow the supposed look has missed most of the people in my family and landed on me for whatever reason.

MPM: Master Boudrot would like to know how many people have you promoted to black belt level?
GRB: Oh, God. It's over a thousand. Unfortunately we have things, like even our manual. The manual gets printed what, three years ago. And it says I've promoted over such-and-such black belts. And then in three years, it's so totally outdated, because hundreds more have been promoted. It's kinda hard sometimes to put something down there, but you want to put something, but it changes year-to-year. It's really hard to say, but definitely over a thousand.

MPM: Matthew Deperseo would like to know what are your dogs' names?
GRB: They're both Boxers, and it's Nikki and Hercules. Hercules, when I went to the breeder, was the biggest out of a litter of three, he was this little roly-poly guy, and the breeder named him Hercules because he was twice the size of the other two pups. So I took him naturally, and I just kept the name Hercules. Nikki's the older one, but she's smaller, but Nikki's the boss. Nikki just puts her head down and looks at him and he just backs right off, even though he's twice the size of her. He wants nothing to do with her.

MPM: Is it true that Master Driscoll is your favorite master? (laughter) Is it true that Master Costantino is your favorite master? (laughter)

MPM: This is from Master Simmons. Was there any time in your career in which there was a more difficult or trying time because of a family sickness or personal crisis or even a serious problem?
GRB: I've had my share of 'em. If he talking about...you know, he doesn't necessarily say Tang Soo Do. A lot of people don't know when I was seven years old I was going deaf and blind and I was operated on to fix it, so they restored my sight and my hearing. At the time of my operation I could just see images of people - I would know there were people there, but I couldn't tell you who you were, and my hearing was going as well. It was all due to a very bad sinus condition that they said really only attacks people who are much, much older, but for some reason I had gotten it. So I was operated on at Mass. Eye and Ear - I had a bit of a trying time getting myself out of that. Beyond that, probably when I was 29, I opened up my school in Malden, my first school in Malden on top of the Granada Theater and while I rented the place and started to paint it, my mother came down with terminal cancer. And every day I was spending in the hospital to see my mother and then every other moment I was working at the school trying to get the school going, and of course, it lasted like two months before she passed and that was a very difficult time. And probably the passing of my father. Those were probably, to me, the most difficult times of my life. Other than that, everything else, to me, is normal.

GRB: Thank you all. That was very interesting. I actually learned something about myself, when you asked me about that, what got me started in Tang Soo Do, the travelogue, and about a time in Korea that, that was very revealing. I'm very pleased to have found that out.
(Applause...)