# Chuck norris & tang soo do



## suicide

does anyone know the history of this ?


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## GINGERNINJA

He then joined the *United States Air Force* as an Air Policeman in 1958 and was sent to Osan Air Base, South Korea. It was there that Norris acquired the nickname _Chuck_ and began his training in Tang Soo Do (tangsudo), an interest that led to black belts in that art and the founding of the Chun Kuk Do ("Universal Way") form. He eventually created the education associations United Fighting Arts Federation and "KickStart" (formerly "Kick Drugs Out of America"), a middle school and high schoolbased program intended to give at-risk children a focus point in life through the martial arts. When he returned to the United States, he continued to act as an AP at March Air Force Base California. Norris was discharged in August of 1962. He worked for the Northrop Corporation and opened a chain of karate schools, which Chad McQueen, Steve McQueen's son, ................. just a very small snippet from wikipedia please take a look at the page there for lots more info , fight records , movies , n more 

taken from ,  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/*Chuck*_*Norris *


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## karatemom

His book "Against All Odds" also has a lot of history in it about his MA career.


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## foggymorning162

Although I don't know his whole story I do know that he studied with my GM (Robert Cheezic) under Jae Shul Chin in Korea.


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## seasoned

karatemom said:


> His book "Against All Odds" also has a lot of history in it about his MA career.


There is also a second book out there called "The secret power within"


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## Gordon Nore

Norris failed his black belt test the first time. According to one of his books, the dojang was outdoors, and it was very cold that day. If I recall he forgot everything during his forms.


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## Raynac

Global warming isn't real! Chuck Norris was cold so he ordered the sun to turn up the heat XD

well Im glad im the only one to make a joke so far. Actually this is pretty intersting stuff, I never realised chuck did so much. How did he get into doing movies.


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## Tames D

Raynac said:


> Global warming isn't real! Chuck Norris was cold so he ordered the sun to turn up the heat XD
> 
> well Im glad im the only one to make a joke so far. Actually this is pretty intersting stuff, I never realised chuck did so much. How did he get into doing movies.


Steve McQueen's son became a student of his and eventually Steve helped him get his start in movies.


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## astrobiologist

Chuck Norris does not get wet.  Water gets Chuck Norris.



I've heard a lot from TKD and TSD practioners about Norris' background, but I really don't know anything about the matter myself, just thought I should chime in with a Norris 'fact'


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## seasoned

Chuck Norris, was urged to get into acting by his friend and student, Steve McQueen.


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## Gordon Nore

Chuck taught martial arts to the Osmonds. They incorporated it into their act until one of the brothers got his nose broken on stage.


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## seasoned

Norris studied grappling techniques for many years with Gene Labell, because, in his words, most real fights end up on the ground. He also trained with the Gracies for a very short time.


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## Stonecold

I have become a fan of Chuck Norris and his World combat league. 3 min's of fast action, lots of KO's and a good mix of sport Karate, Kickboxing, boxing &  thai boxing. the team concept is also a good idea. Keep Kicking Chuck...


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## GINGERNINJA

foggymorning168 , my Master also trained with Chuck , my masters name is GRAND MASTER KIM MALTAE , maybe if my master n your master old friends ,we could get them to exchange contact info ? 
Quick fact about Chuck , when chuck first started training his nick name was "skinny chuck " but if chuck asks i didnt say that ! 
some good chuck facts at chucknorrisfacts.com ! lol


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## clfsean

Fact about Chuck Norris... he is the only human being that can reverse punch you in your soul...


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## seasoned

As a young black belt Norris opened his first martial arts school in 1962 in Torrance, California.


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## Gordon Nore

seasoned said:


> As a young black belt Norris opened his first martial arts school in 1962 in Torrance, California.



Funny. Nowadays if a 22 y/o opens a school, it's called a "McDojo."


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## MBuzzy

I am amazed that it is so difficult to find information on who his REAL instructor was and what his true TSD history was.  My instructor has a picture of him as an Ee dan in the US at a US TSD Fed event.  But his time in Korea is pretty hard to get at.  If you talk to the older Koreans, I've found that just about every one of them says that they trained him or with him.  Especially those near US areas, such as Military bases.  I've seen plenty of pictures of Koreans standing with him that they use to build their credibility to Americans.


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## GINGERNINJA

This maybe due to the training center being on a airbase n most of TSD practitioners Being in active military service , so maybe Master / student turn over was high due to field exercises 
And such like , if Chuck was M.P I would image he would have been one of a hand full of staff who was pretty much static to the base  ,  

But it does seem hard to get two storys of chuck which are the same maybe the governments have designed it that way , I would image a lot of  black ops would of went on around that time ,
Just a guess as I am not involved in the armed forces


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## MBuzzy

GINGERNINJA said:


> This maybe due to the training center being on a airbase n most of TSD practitioners Being in active military service , so maybe Master / student turn over was high due to field exercises
> And such like , if Chuck was M.P I would image he would have been one of a hand full of staff who was pretty much static to the base  ,
> 
> But it does seem hard to get two storys of chuck which are the same maybe the governments have designed it that way , I would image a lot of  black ops would of went on around that time ,
> Just a guess as I am not involved in the armed forces



Not exactly.  I am in the Air Force and was stationed in Korea for a year.  He was up at Osan and I was down at Kunsan though - 40 years apart of course, but things haven't changed much.  There was a single instructor who taught on base even then, just as now.  Right now, it is Ee, Hon In, Sa Bom...it has changed many times over the years though.  Kim, Song Ki has had the Dang Soo Do alliance right outside the gate of Osan in Songtan for over 40 years now.  I would imagine that Chuck trained at least at the Dojang if not with Master Kim.  There were of course many higher ranked Koreans who moved in and out who may have "taught" him over the years, but his primary instructor would have been one man.  He was also only about 1.5 hours from Seoul and the Central Dojang, being at Osan, so I am sure that he visited there and trained with Hwang Kee at least a few times.  There would be turnover of the Americans, but the Koreans who trained locally were probably there to stay.  Koreans don't move around much.  My instructor has been teaching at Kunsan AB since 1978.

He was normal Security Forces.  Not too much has changed in that regard, plus he was at Osan and not the JSA, so he would have been static base personnel, but certainly not one of a handful.  The Security Forces Squadron at Osan at that time was MASSIVE.  Their responsibility is Air Base Security....basically making sure that no one can penetrate the perimeter.  So no special forces or black ops kind of stuff there.  As for Field Exercises, the exercises there (and have been since the Korean War) are done on base.  You don't leave the base for exercises, although you are "locked down" on base, no one in, no one out during an exercise.


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## GINGERNINJA

All right Mbuzzy  there maybe a few minor details wrong in my otherwise flawless theory !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL 

So do you find your military training helps you learn martial arts ?


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## MBuzzy

GINGERNINJA said:


> All right Mbuzzy  there maybe a few minor details wrong in my otherwise flawless theory !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL
> 
> So do you find your military training helps you learn martial arts ?



hehehe, hey, very close!

  I'll tell you all about it in another thread if you like!    The military discussion is drifting a bit.  There are plenty of military and martial arts thread out there that we can build on.


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## seasoned

Gordon Nore said:


> Funny. Nowadays if a 22 y/o opens a school, it's called a "McDojo."


At lease he didnt claim 8 dan when he did open it up. Also in his case, he backed it all up very effectively. You are correct, it may not fly in this day.


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## jks9199

seasoned said:


> At lease he didnt claim 8 dan when he did open it up. Also in his case, he backed it all up very effectively. You are correct, it may not fly in this day.


Actually, a 22 year old can open a dojo/dojang today, if he does it the same way that Norris did.  He started part-time, and it was only after he had enough students and a track record that it could support him that he went full time.

A 22 year old today opening a school the same way wouldn't have a problem from the "serious martial arts community."  But he'd have a hell of a time competing with the martial arts day care and activity programs.


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## seasoned

jks9199 said:


> Actually, a 22 year old can open a dojo/dojang today, if he does it the same way that Norris did. He started part-time, and it was only after he had enough students and a track record that it could support him that he went full time.
> 
> A 22 year old today opening a school the same way wouldn't have a problem from the "serious martial arts community." But he'd have a hell of a time competing with the martial arts day care and activity programs.


For sure, for sure.


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## GINGERNINJA

MBuzzy said:


> hehehe, hey, very close!
> 
> I'll tell you all about it in another thread if you like!  The military discussion is drifting a bit. There are plenty of military and martial arts thread out there that we can build on.


 
if you can bump another thread then Yes please do tell me about the  military n the martial arts and is there any who has learned martial arts then joined the armed forces ? of course please reply in the other thread !


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## B.Redfield

Here is an interesting link for you chucksters

http://budget.net/~dnolan/Articles.htm


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## suicide

clfsean said:


> Fact about Chuck Norris... he is the only human being that can reverse punch you in your soul...


 
FOR SOME REASON I BELIEVE YOU :whip1:


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## Spartan 117

Check this out: http://www.mookas.us/media_view.asp?news_no=1502

Chuck Norris for WTF president!! :ultracool


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## JT_the_Ninja

Chuck. Norris.

I've said enough.


...so how about getting this thread back on topic? There were some interesting responses earlier.


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## FieldDiscipline

Google the words "Find Chuck Norris", and click I'm feeling lucky. :ultracool


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## fightingpower

Chuck Norris is the only man who can slam a revolving door!

I read his book.  Was actually really insightfull and I gained alot of respect for him as a Martial Artist!


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## Hyper_Shadow

Chuck Norris doesn't have a chin under his beard, he has another fist and the credits at the end of each episode of Walker Texas Ranger are a list of people Chuck has mawashi geri'd in the face that day.

Check this out guys....

http://www.screamingpickle.com/humor/legends/ChuckNorris/

I don't have many facts about Chuck other than what's already out there. Needless to say the guy had a profound influence on me as a a kid. My grandad had a bunch of his films on cassette and I'd borrow em. First film I ever saw was Braddock: Missing in Action 3. Awesome film. I got hooked after that.


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## IcemanSK

seasoned said:


> Norris studied grappling techniques for many years with Gene Labell, because, in his words, most real fights end up on the ground. *He also trained with the Gracies for a very short time*.


 

Was it the Gracies or the Machado brothers? My understanding was he trained with the Machados until brown belt.

Yeah Chuck actually does have two autobiographies. One written in 1986-ish & one a few years ago. But then, he is Chuck Norris.

In the recent book "A Killing Art" the author says that General Choi (of ITF Tae Kwon Do fame) gave Norris his 9th Dan in ITF TKD. That's the only place I'd heard that.


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## Omar B

Sometimes people take him as a silly joke, but I would love to train with him, the man's an icon.


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## Dave Leverich

IcemanSK said:


> Was it the Gracies or the Machado brothers? My understanding was he trained with the Machados until brown belt.



He got his black under Rigan Machado. Rigan himself told me this, but I think it's also on Wiki as well.

He also trained at Osan under H.U. Lee (rip), in the HU Lee memorial articles there was a letter from Master Norris stating his training and thanks. That's not to say he hadn't trained under a few masters there; if there's one thing about Norris, it's that he seems to be a human sponge for all kinds of martial arts, a true inspiration to me.


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## Hudson69

Chuck Norris is an all around great guy, MA icon and someone that has earned tremendous respect from around the world.  I ran into a TX Police Officer at some training who had worked some extra-duty where he was at and just said that he is very approachable and seems to be very LE friendly; +2 points just for that.


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## JohnASE

Dave Leverich said:


> He got his black under Rigan Machado. Rigan himself told me this, but I think it's also on Wiki as well.



As I understand it, Chuck Norris also integrated it into his system.  I haven't spoken to anyone in his organization (CFAF?) for a while nor seen the Wiki, but I'd heard Machado BJJ had been required training once you hit a certain rank.

We're in the West San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, and we're surrounded by schools run by former Chuck Norris students or their students, most of whom are not affiliated with Chuck's organization.

Coincidentally, I saw Pops Krasnoo today, and if I remember correctly, his old school, Sherman Oaks Karate, was owned by Chuck Norris decades ago.  Something like that anyway.  We talked about cars, not martial arts.


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## Twin Fist

you saw Bernie?

wow, I havnt seen him in like 15 years.


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## thardey

JohnASE said:


> As I understand it, Chuck Norris also integrated it into his system. I haven't spoken to anyone in his organization (CFAF?) for a while nor seen the Wiki, but I'd heard Machado BJJ had been required training once you hit a certain rank.
> 
> We're in the West San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, and we're surrounded by schools run by former Chuck Norris students or their students, most of whom are not affiliated with Chuck's organization.
> 
> Coincidentally, I saw Pops Krasnoo today, and if I remember correctly, his old school, Sherman Oaks Karate, was owned by Chuck Norris decades ago. Something like that anyway. We talked about cars, not martial arts.


 
Close, it's "UFAF" (United Fighting Arts Federation) -- No, the Machado training is not required, but highly recommended. A couple of years ago, he started a program for the instructors to be able to get training, working alongside the Machados. It does not give the UFAF instructors an "instructor" rating in with the Machados, but it does give them workable basics, that they can pass on under the UFAF umbrella.

It's a pretty smart move, actually, it opens the door for legitimate BJJ training, and integrates it into UFAF, but still very clearly keeps the credit where it is due.


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## Kwan Jang

Just out of curiosity, what dan rank did Chuck end up earing in TSD?


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## Omar B

Kwan Jang said:


> Just out of curiosity, what dan rank did Chuck end up earing in TSD?



What rank is the intestines of your enemies wrapped around you?


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## JohnASE

Twin Fist said:


> you saw Bernie?
> 
> wow, I havnt seen him in like 15 years.



Yeah.  He dropped in to pick up some boxing gloves or something.  Don't know what for.  I don't think he's really involved in martial arts right now, but last I heard, Mouse Krasnoo was teaching some kind of fitness program or something at a gym.  Could have been for her or something she's doing.



thardey said:


> Close, it's "UFAF" (United Fighting Arts Federation) -- No, the Machado training is not required, but highly recommended. A couple of years ago, he started a program for the instructors to be able to get training, working alongside the Machados. It does not give the UFAF instructors an "instructor" rating in with the Machados, but it does give them workable basics, that they can pass on under the UFAF umbrella.
> 
> It's a pretty smart move, actually, it opens the door for legitimate BJJ training, and integrates it into UFAF, but still very clearly keeps the credit where it is due.



UFAF?  Ha!  I rotated the U to make a C!

The only UFAF instructor I know of near us was training pretty extensively with Jean Jacques Machado. Well above and beyond what was required, if I remember correctly.


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## AmericanTangSooDo

MBuzzy said:


> I am amazed that it is so difficult to find information on who his REAL instructor was and what his true TSD history was.  My instructor has a picture of him as an Ee dan in the US at a US TSD Fed event.  But his time in Korea is pretty hard to get at.  If you talk to the older Koreans, I've found that just about every one of them says that they trained him or with him.  Especially those near US areas, such as Military bases.  I've seen plenty of pictures of Koreans standing with him that they use to build their credibility to Americans.



From what I've read in Black Belt magazine and in his own books, during his time in Korea, Norris' main instructors were Jae Chul Shin in Tang Soo Do Moo Duk Kwan and someone named Mr. Ahn in Judo. There are many publications that have written that Norris was a student of Jae Joon Kim, Chun Sik Kim, Ki Whang Kim, etc. But only Shin's name comes up during his interviews.

Years later in the mid to late 1960s, he would eventually earn his black belt in Judo under Gene LeBell. Norris has also written that he trained with Fumio Demura, Hidetaka Nishiyama, Tsutomu Ohshima, and Ed Paker to improve his punching and footwork skills.


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## AmericanTangSooDo

Kwan Jang said:


> Just out of curiosity, what dan rank did Chuck end up earing in TSD?



The last rank Norris tested under the Moo Duk Kwan was for his fourth degree black belt in 1970. From what I once read, something at that particular testing caused him and Pat Johnson to leave the MDK soon after.

He would go on to found the National Tang Soo Do Congress in 1973, then in 1980 founded the United Fighting Arts Federation. Since the early 1980s, Norris has been recognized as a tenth degree black belt in his system of Tang Soo Do. He would eventually drop the name TSD and in 1990 began referring to his art as Chun Kuk Do.

To this day there are still a lot of high ranking ex-Norris black belts who still refer to their style as TSD. Some of the highest ranking are ninth degrees Pat Johnson, Bob Wall, and John Natividad.


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