# Out of sheer and utter curiousity



## JasonASmith (Mar 20, 2007)

If Mr. Parker would still be alive today, who would be his most senior student? Mr. Planas? Mr. Tatum? Mr. Chapel? Who?


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## Kembudo-Kai Kempoka (Mar 20, 2007)

The erroneous assumption is that there would be only one. Mr. Parker liked exploring different ideas in different locations...plant a seed in kansas, what does it grow into? Plant a different seed in New York, what will it become?

Goes back to that protoge'/successor babble; he never picked one, because there wasn't a "one" to be picked.

Now, if you asked who he would be working with while exploring something specific, you might have a chance at a definitive answer.

D.


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## MA-Caver (Mar 20, 2007)

My guess would be Jr.!


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## Touch Of Death (Mar 20, 2007)

The question would be better stated as whom was Mr. Parker's specialist in any given area?
Sean


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## Ronin Moose (Mar 20, 2007)

JasonASmith said:


> If Mr. Parker would still be alive today, who would be his most senior student? Mr. Planas? Mr. Tatum? Mr. Chapel? Who?


 
In reading the question without adding any spin to it, I wonder, under the old IKKA who (today) would be the most senior student that he had promoted.  Period.  The question didn't refer to any specialties or other considerations.  I'm just curious myself, now.

-Garry


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## JasonASmith (Mar 20, 2007)

Kembudo-Kai Kempoka said:


> The erroneous assumption is that there would be only one. Mr. Parker liked exploring different ideas in different locations...plant a seed in kansas, what does it grow into? Plant a different seed in New York, what will it become?
> 
> Goes back to that protoge'/successor babble; he never picked one, because there wasn't a "one" to be picked.
> 
> ...


Geez, I didn't think that it would be this complicated....
I DON'T want to bring up that successor bollocks again, so maybe I could sort this by coast...?:uhohh:  
Who on the East coast versus Who on the West coast?


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## Kenpodoc (Mar 20, 2007)

Mr Parker threw Mr. Tatum out of the IKKA, he (Parker) was a good man with a long memory so I'm not sure he would have fully repaired that rift.  Judging from the Kenpo of 1990 he would have had some new proteges and remained close with many of his old proteges.  

Jeff


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## Rich_Hale (Mar 20, 2007)

Kenpodoc said:


> Mr Parker threw Mr. Tatum out of the IKKA.
> 
> Jeff


 
Mr. Parker didnt actually throw Larry out of the IKKA.  He did remove him as manager of his West Los Angeles School, but it was Larrys choice to leave the IKKA and start his own organization.

The only person I know of who Mr. Parker actually threw out of the IKKA was Jim Mitchell.

There may be others, I don't know of, but Larry is not among them.


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## Kenpodoc (Mar 20, 2007)

Rich_Hale said:


> Mr. Parker didnt actually throw Larry out of the IKKA. He did remove him as manager of his West Los Angeles School, but it was Larrys choice to leave the IKKA and start his own organization.
> 
> The only person I know of who Mr. Parker actually threw out of the IKKA was Jim Mitchell.
> 
> There may be others, I don't know of, but Larry is not among them.


Thanks,  It's always dumb to open your mouth when you weren't there.  i know better. 

Jeff


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## kenpotroop (Mar 20, 2007)

Rich_Hale said:


> Mr. Parker didn&#8217;t actually throw Larry out of the IKKA.  He did remove him as manager of his West Los Angeles School, but it was Larry&#8217;s choice to leave the IKKA and start his own organization.
> 
> The only person I know of who Mr. Parker actually threw out of the IKKA was Jim Mitchell.
> 
> There may be others, I don't know of, but Larry is not among them.



Why did he remove Mr. Tatum?

Unless it's none of my business


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## bujuts (Mar 21, 2007)

There would be just as much obscurity as there is now, I think.  There are seniors by rank, and seniors on the mats.  One doesn't always mean the other.  A kenpoist having trained to 5th degree from someone else could come under his tutelage, and get bumped to 6th after a short time with him, for whatever reason.  But is that person really "senior" to someone who's spent two decades with the teacher?  If a 3rd degree gets his hat handed to him by a champion MMA fighter who joined in and made it to yellow belt, is he that black belt's senior?  In short, all these complications would still exist if Ed Parker was still alive, and they are very likely the sort of complications that existed throughout his career.

Good question, but its a rhetorical subject in my opinion.

Salute,

steven Brown
UKF


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## Jonathan Randall (Mar 21, 2007)

bujuts said:


> There would be just as much obscurity as there is now, I think. There are seniors by rank, and seniors on the mats. One doesn't always mean the other. A kenpoist having trained to 5th degree from someone else could come under his tutelage, and get bumped to 6th after a short time with him, for whatever reason. But is that person really "senior" to someone who's spent two decades with the teacher? If a 3rd degree gets his hat handed to him by a champion MMA fighter who joined in and made it to yellow belt, is he that black belt's senior? In short, all these complications would still exist if Ed Parker was still alive, and they are very likely the sort of complications that existed throughout his career.
> 
> Good question, but its a rhetorical subject in my opinion.
> 
> ...


 
:asian:


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## Rich_Hale (Mar 21, 2007)

kenpotroop said:


> Why did he remove Mr. Tatum?
> 
> Unless it's none of my business


 
This is a somewhat difficult question to answer, but I will give you my opinion without any of the juicy details that enquiring minds may want to know.

I believe there comes a time when the manager of school has to ask themselves if they really want to be running a school for the owner, or would they like to become an owner.  

Larry was simply running Mr. Parkers school as if it were his own and that did not sit well with Mr. Parker.  

Larry was coming more and more into his own and (in my opinion) would have eventually left the West LA School on his own.  Larry was at the point that he really needed to go out on his own and build his own school and association  which he has done with a great degree of success.

I expect there may be other students (of Larrys) out there who could offer up more details, but most of us just care about all the good he has done.  Not only for us individually, but for the art of Kenpo as a whole.


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## kenpotroop (Mar 21, 2007)

Thank you Mr. Hale, I couldn't agree more.


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## Touch Of Death (Mar 21, 2007)

My very first instructor has a similar history.
Sean


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## Doc (Mar 21, 2007)

Rich_Hale said:


> Mr. Parker didnt actually throw Larry out of the IKKA.  He did remove him as manager of his West Los Angeles School, but it was Larrys choice to leave the IKKA and start his own organization.
> 
> The only person I know of who Mr. Parker actually threw out of the IKKA was Jim Mitchell.
> 
> There may be others, I don't know of, but Larry is not among them.



True. Larry quit on his own. There were others, and one quite prominent. Ask the "Golden Dragon."


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