# Bruce Lee's highest rank student



## James Kovacich

Who was Bruce Lee's highest rank student? Facts?


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## James Kovacich

I know that Taky Kimura was the first acheive 5th rank.


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## dubljay

I was under the impression that JKD was a "system" that had no ranks...


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## James Kovacich

dubljay said:
			
		

> I was under the impression that JKD was a "system" that had no ranks...


Bruce did give out rank but they were not instructor rank. No student ever completed Bruces program before Bruce closed his schools. 

I know the stories and have seen the certs. from all 3 schools. I want to hear the truth as taught from the differant schools.


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## Aikia

Exellent question. I have heard so much about ranks I have lost track. I was under the impression that Bruce issued the third level  in JKD (whatever that means) to  his student Dan Inosanto and the second level to Ted Wong. I know some say there were three certificates for student rank issued. As far as I know Mr.Kimura was in the Jun Fan Gung Fu art and not jeet kune do. James Lee was the teaching assistant in Okland, was he also issued a rank certificate?


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## James Kovacich

Here you go my friend. By the way I saw your name listed on a list I posted in the general martial art section. :asian:


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## Aikia

1964! Wow.The Ventures, the instrumental group out of Seattle, WA had the number one hit "Walk Don't Run" that year. And the certificate carries the name Jun Fan Gung Fu. So who has the jeet kune do certificates besides Ted Wong and Dan Inosanto?


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## James Kovacich

Aikia said:
			
		

> 1964! Wow.The Ventures, the instrumental group out of Seattle, WA had the number one hit "Walk Don't Run" that year. And the certificate carries the name Jun Fan Gung Fu. So who has the jeet kune do certificates besides Ted Wong and Dan Inosanto?


I would think Poteet, Bremmer, Hartsell, Tacket, even Coburn and some more. But all lower than Dan.


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## frankiefuller

What about Kareem Abdul-Jabbar?  What level did he get to in Jeet Kune Do?


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## Aikia

Mr.Poteet told me that none of the students really thought about rank. Poteet was already a black belt in Kenpo. And no one even thought about Bruce dying. So the idea of rank in JKD was only talked about. They discussed a system of rank by T-shirt color. Bruce had said JKD has no rank. Not sure where the idea of the rank certificate originated for JKD but I have heard that Ted Wong and Dan Inosanto have the JKD student rank certificates.


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## achilles

As far as I know, and I'm not the world's authority on JKD history, the only men to receive JKD certificates were Dan Inosanto and Ted Wong.  Others were given Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute certificates or Tao of Chinese Gung Fu (which is what I think Steve McQueen and perhaps Kareem Abdul Jabar received).


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## James Kovacich

achilles said:
			
		

> As far as I know, and I'm not the world's authority on JKD history, the only men to receive JKD certificates were Dan Inosanto and Ted Wong.  Others were given Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute certificates or Tao of Chinese Gung Fu (which is what I think Steve McQueen and perhaps Kareem Abdul Jabar received).


What the world really FAILS to to recognize is that Bruce did not found 3 martial arts. He founded 1 which evolved phylisphically. He changed his certificates. Thats all the proff that we really have except that Bruce Lee NEVER promoted anyone to instructor rank.


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## achilles

There are three different phases of Bruce Lee's art that are convenient to make distinct through the naming to the city he was teaching in at the time.  However, the three different certificates might be indicative of the type of training received by the individual.  Celebrity students seemed to get Tao of Chinese Gung Fu certificates while people affiliated with his kwoon got Jun Fan Gung Fu certificates.  As far as I know, only those who were doing lots of private training got Jeet Kune Do certificates.  While Bruce Lee may or may not have been teaching three arts, different certificates may have been made to indicate different programs with different purposes.


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## James Kovacich

achilles said:
			
		

> There are three different phases of Bruce Lee's art that are convenient to make distinct through the naming to the city he was teaching in at the time.  However, the three different certificates might be indicative of the type of training received by the individual.  Celebrity students seemed to get Tao of Chinese Gung Fu certificates while people affiliated with his kwoon got Jun Fan Gung Fu certificates.  As far as I know, only those who were doing lots of private training got Jeet Kune Do certificates.  While Bruce Lee may or may not have been teaching three arts, different certificates may have been made to indicate different programs with different purposes.



I agree. I have 3 phases and can understand that. One can only complete 2 phases and get a black belt with teaching credentials. At phase 3 a certificate will reflect the my arts true name Kempo Ju Jitsu but up to phase 2 it will read only Kempo. *(Quality control is in place.)*

But evidence does lead to that no students completed Bruces program. His schools were closed. Dan "today" is a master of masters but I beleive that under Bruce he was still "just" a student.


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## Hawkeye

Hello one and all.

As a Kenpoka who has studied the arts since 1970 - I don't know a lot about JKD. Never had an itch for "new arts" that sprang up. I was more a traditionalist studying Judo, TKD and now for a while Kenpo. 

I know someone will have a strong philosophical rationale how an art whose founder died prior to developing fully trained students remains to be taught by so many experts. Please tell me how JKD survived as a "new art" when the founder died so young without having passed on all or the majority of the nuances of the art? Thank you in advance for your edification.

"Hawkeye" Steve Crain


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## James Kovacich

Hawkeye said:
			
		

> Hello one and all.
> 
> As a Kenpoka who has studied the arts since 1970 - I don't know a lot about JKD. Never had an itch for "new arts" that sprang up. I was more a traditionalist studying Judo, TKD and now for a while Kenpo.
> 
> I know someone will have a strong philosophical rationale how an art whose founder died prior to developing fully trained students remains to be taught by so many experts. Please tell me how JKD survived as a "new art" when the founder died so young without having passed on all or the majority of the nuances of the art? Thank you in advance for your edification.
> 
> "Hawkeye" Steve Crain


Basically, it grew from a seed into a tree with many branches. These branches have dropped their seeds to the ground and they now have grown to be fresh new trees ready to drop their own seeds.

*Heres a story of 1 seed.*
Click the adobe .pdf file near the top of this page.
http://www.scientific-streetfighting.com/SIFUSTORY.html


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## James Kovacich

achilles said:
			
		

> There are three different phases of Bruce Lee's art that are convenient to make distinct through the naming to the city he was teaching in at the time.  However, the three different certificates might be indicative of the type of training received by the individual.  Celebrity students seemed to get Tao of Chinese Gung Fu certificates while people affiliated with his kwoon got Jun Fan Gung Fu certificates.  As far as I know, only those who were doing lots of private training got Jeet Kune Do certificates.  While Bruce Lee may or may not have been teaching three arts, different certificates may have been made to indicate different programs with different purposes.


*If this article is original, as soon I verify it, * I will post the referance,then this is what Richard Bustillo had to say about the 3 differant certificates of Bruce Lees martial art.


Is there a difference between the three arts that Bruce Lee gave rank in and if so, please describe them.
I'm familiar with only one art and rank, which is Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do.

Be that as it may, Bruce gave out three certificates in his lifetime. They were: Jun Fan Gung Fu, Tao Of Chinese Gung Fu and Jeet Kune Do. Which certificate did you receive?I received the first rank certificate of the Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute, membership #203, on 9/23/67.

Why do you feel he only gave out two Jeet Kune Do certificates in his lifetime (to Ted Wong and Dan Inosanto)?
I had no idea that Bruce even gave out 2 JKD certificates in his lifetime.


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## James Kovacich

achilles said:
			
		

> There are three different phases of Bruce Lee's art that are convenient to make distinct through the naming to the city he was teaching in at the time.  However, the three different certificates might be indicative of the type of training received by the individual.  Celebrity students seemed to get Tao of Chinese Gung Fu certificates while people affiliated with his kwoon got Jun Fan Gung Fu certificates.  As far as I know, only those who were doing lots of private training got Jeet Kune Do certificates.  While Bruce Lee may or may not have been teaching three arts, different certificates may have been made to indicate different programs with different purposes.


And this is what Tim Tacket posted on the same subject.

http://pauljbax.forumco.com/topic.a...195&whichpage=2
In the Chinatown school Bruce Lee taught what he called Jeet Kune Do. This was at the Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute. We have 6 original certificates on my garage wall. 3 of Bob Bremer's. 1 of his brother, Fred. 1 for his son, Bill. And Jim Sewell's. The bottom of one of Bpb's says the following:
"This is to certify that Bob Bremer is a member in good standing and having fulfilled the necessary requirements, is hereby promoted to senior 2 rank of the Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute."
What does "necessary requirements" mean? If it means learning what was taught, then, in a way, isn't it a ranking in Jeet Kune Do as what they were doing was not called Jun Fan Gung Fu, but rather JKD?

*and*

To answer watchdog, the Chinatown certificates aren't in any art. They have Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute on the top, because that was the name of the Chinatown school. The school taught what Bruce called Jeet Kune Do, so it's my guess that's what the certificates were about. Dan has a level 3 and Bob has a senior 2nd. I know that it used to mean that Dan had 3 years of training and Bob had completed 2 and 1/2 years. Dan gave me a senior 1st after 1 and 1/2 years in the backyard where what we studied was called JKD. We didn't call until Jun Fan until the start of the Kali academy and the summer camps started.


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## Aikia

Incrediable! So, apparently no one has an actual certificate that states that the person has any sort of rank in jeet kune do? The certificates are from the Jun Fan Institute with no designation of art. It's up to the owner of the certificate to say what art  they beleive  the certificate is for.
 We are led to beleive that JKD started in 1968. Is it possible to find out what certificates are dated after 1968?
 The comment that level 3 refers to 3 years of study is very enlightening. A person could be a teacher after 3 years of study in many arts.


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## James Kovacich

You know where I'm getting these posts from. It's a matter of going through the forum and locating the posts with the original quoter. 

No matter what anybody says or wants to beleive. Theres no better truth than the word of those *(plural)* who were there.


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## James Kovacich

akja said:
			
		

> *If this article is original, as soon I verify it, * I will post the referance,then this is what Richard Bustillo had to say about the 3 differant certificates of Bruce Lees martial art.
> 
> 
> Is there a difference between the three arts that Bruce Lee gave rank in and if so, please describe them.
> I'm familiar with only one art and rank, which is Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do.
> 
> Be that as it may, Bruce gave out three certificates in his lifetime. They were: Jun Fan Gung Fu, Tao Of Chinese Gung Fu and Jeet Kune Do. Which certificate did you receive?I received the first rank certificate of the Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute, membership #203, on 9/23/67.
> 
> Why do you feel he only gave out two Jeet Kune Do certificates in his lifetime (to Ted Wong and Dan Inosanto)?
> I had no idea that Bruce even gave out 2 JKD certificates in his lifetime.


http://www.imbacademy.com/news-interviewRB102203.html
http://www.imbacademy.com/news-interviewRBPB102203.html
http://www.imbacademy.com/news-interview-32003.html


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