Gene Lebell did NOT teach or fought with Bruce, here is the proof

[Wing Woo Gar]

I kinda want buka to adopt me

Same. Sit on his lap and listen to stories.

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

False. Students, friends and others have stated Bruce learned judo from Gene. John little is speculating that Bruce did not largely based on it being absent from a day-timer.

Joe Lewis:

JoMM: Did Bruce do any grappling?

Joe Lewis: He was going down and working with 'Judo' Gene LeBell. If you look at Wing Chun they have sets where a guy comes at you, you trap and sweep the guy to the ground. What Bruce learned from 'Judo' Gene he used in the movie 'Game of Death' where he put a crank, or I think it is called a guillotine, on Kareem Abdul Jabbar. Bruce was starting to get into it.

Roger Kay:

"From my classes in Seattle in 1962 much of what was being taught still focused on "headhunting"...but when I saw Bruce again in 1966 after he moved to California and came back for a visit...it was clearly evolving more to trapping and grappling. He had already learned much from Judo Gene LeBell and Jhoon Rhee and incorporated their knowledge into his new ...soon to be named JKD.

Fortunately for me he always remembered to show his gratitude and pay his respects to my family by tutoring me under his wings whenever I showed up on his doorstep...(which I always made sure to do). He always had No qualms about showing me how he was evolving. That was important.... for I too was stuck in "His" old traditional method, and only his Lifepath was centered on breaking out of this paradigm with MMA and new innovative combat techniques...(not mine). I was always his student ...but had my own goals of spending more time studying the internal Chinese energy arts and other Asian Healing Arts."

Larry Hartsell:

BB: When you went to Parker’s, did you have to drop things you learned from Lee?

Hartsell: Yes, I did because Bruce had adopted boxing by then. He [mixed] it with wing chun kung fu. Also, there were grappling techniques he picked up from Gene LeBell and some stuff from Wally Jay’s small circle jujutsu, which he added to jeet kune do.

BB: What interest did Lee have in grappling?

Hartsell: Before his death, he had added 33 grappling moves to the jeet kune do concept.

BB: He got those from Gene LeBell and Wally Jay?

Hartsell: Wally Jay, Gene LeBell and Hayward Nishioka. And he had some chin-na and silat. He would mix the arts. He would enter to trapping and take down into a submission. If you read Tao of Jeet Kune Do, you’ll see those grappling [techniques].

Shannon Lee:

"Sifu lee vs Gene LeBell-TV Show Ironside. 'Tagged for Murder' an episode that aired on September 14, 1967, Bruce Lee played a martial arts gym owner who inherited a clue to a gang of evil doers whatever evil doers do.

LeBell would teach Lee much of the grappling that later became an integral part of Jeet Kune Do, both on screen and in Lee’s own teachings."

Bob Wall:

MPM: So, when did you first hear of Bruce Lee?

Bob Wall: ... Two time judo national champion, Gene LeBell, a real tough old man, later on, Gene was one of the few guy that Bruce would take lessons from. Gene LeBell is former world heavyweight wresting champion, a two-time champion, I mean he is a phenomenal man. Never lost a fight in his life… You know a REAL fight.

Van Williams:

“Bruce ended up kicking them [stuntmen] or hurting them or doing something. They [stuntmen] did not want to work on the show anymore… the tension grew and it grew and it grew to almost a point where they [Bruce and Bennie Dobbins] got in a fight almost.”


Because, they worked together, were acquaintances and Gene was more experienced and accomplished in grappling.

Top 6 Bruce Lee Judo Moves

1. Ashi barai - Foot sweep 0:18
2. Morote Gari - Two hand reap (Double leg takedown) 0:52
3. Kosoto Gari - Small Outer Reap 1:17
4. Kata Guruma - Shoulder Wheel AKA Firemans Carry 1:54
5. Kata Gatame - Head & Arm Triangle 2:17
6. Osoto Gari - Major Outer Reap 2:41

Wow! Well done!

 

[Buka]

False. Students, friends and others have stated Bruce learned judo from Gene. John little is speculating that Bruce did not largely based on it being absent from a day-timer.

Joe Lewis:

JoMM: Did Bruce do any grappling?

Joe Lewis: He was going down and working with 'Judo' Gene LeBell. If you look at Wing Chun they have sets where a guy comes at you, you trap and sweep the guy to the ground. What Bruce learned from 'Judo' Gene he used in the movie 'Game of Death' where he put a crank, or I think it is called a guillotine, on Kareem Abdul Jabbar. Bruce was starting to get into it.

Roger Kay:

"From my classes in Seattle in 1962 much of what was being taught still focused on "headhunting"...but when I saw Bruce again in 1966 after he moved to California and came back for a visit...it was clearly evolving more to trapping and grappling. He had already learned much from Judo Gene LeBell and Jhoon Rhee and incorporated their knowledge into his new ...soon to be named JKD.

Fortunately for me he always remembered to show his gratitude and pay his respects to my family by tutoring me under his wings whenever I showed up on his doorstep...(which I always made sure to do). He always had No qualms about showing me how he was evolving. That was important.... for I too was stuck in "His" old traditional method, and only his Lifepath was centered on breaking out of this paradigm with MMA and new innovative combat techniques...(not mine). I was always his student ...but had my own goals of spending more time studying the internal Chinese energy arts and other Asian Healing Arts."

Larry Hartsell:

BB: When you went to Parker’s, did you have to drop things you learned from Lee?

Hartsell: Yes, I did because Bruce had adopted boxing by then. He [mixed] it with wing chun kung fu. Also, there were grappling techniques he picked up from Gene LeBell and some stuff from Wally Jay’s small circle jujutsu, which he added to jeet kune do.

BB: What interest did Lee have in grappling?

Hartsell: Before his death, he had added 33 grappling moves to the jeet kune do concept.

BB: He got those from Gene LeBell and Wally Jay?

Hartsell: Wally Jay, Gene LeBell and Hayward Nishioka. And he had some chin-na and silat. He would mix the arts. He would enter to trapping and take down into a submission. If you read Tao of Jeet Kune Do, you’ll see those grappling [techniques].

Shannon Lee:

"Sifu lee vs Gene LeBell-TV Show Ironside. 'Tagged for Murder' an episode that aired on September 14, 1967, Bruce Lee played a martial arts gym owner who inherited a clue to a gang of evil doers whatever evil doers do.

LeBell would teach Lee much of the grappling that later became an integral part of Jeet Kune Do, both on screen and in Lee’s own teachings."

Bob Wall:

MPM: So, when did you first hear of Bruce Lee?

Bob Wall: ... Two time judo national champion, Gene LeBell, a real tough old man, later on, Gene was one of the few guy that Bruce would take lessons from. Gene LeBell is former world heavyweight wresting champion, a two-time champion, I mean he is a phenomenal man. Never lost a fight in his life… You know a REAL fight.

Van Williams:

“Bruce ended up kicking them [stuntmen] or hurting them or doing something. They [stuntmen] did not want to work on the show anymore… the tension grew and it grew and it grew to almost a point where they [Bruce and Bennie Dobbins] got in a fight almost.”


Because, they worked together, were acquaintances and Gene was more experienced and accomplished in grappling.

Top 6 Bruce Lee Judo Moves

1. Ashi barai - Foot sweep 0:18
2. Morote Gari - Two hand reap (Double leg takedown) 0:52
3. Kosoto Gari - Small Outer Reap 1:17
4. Kata Guruma - Shoulder Wheel AKA Firemans Carry 1:54
5. Kata Gatame - Head & Arm Triangle 2:17
6. Osoto Gari - Major Outer Reap 2:41

What a great post. Spot on, too.

Joe Lewis told me the same thing. We spoke of it several times.

And so did Wally Jay. Wally’s wife, Bernice, carried a photo in her purse. Her and Wally were living on the west coast and had a really nice gym downstairs in their basement.

Notable martial artists would come to their house frequently and Wally and them would head downstairs to work out.

Bernice told me, “Except for one, Bruce. Oh, my poor house. Bruce would come over and he and Wally would shove the couch against the wall and pile all the chairs on top of it. Then roll up the rug and start training right in the living room.”

Then she opens her purse and says to me, “wait, I have a photo.”

She shows me a black and white photo that she took. Wally and Bruce, drenched in sweat, smiling at the camera. All the framed pictures on the wall are crooked, the furniture is piled up, a lamp’s knocked over, there’s an end table on its side. It’s one of the greatest photos I’ve ever seen.

She said, “They liked working out in the living room because it’s next to the kitchen. I’d cook for them but wouldn’t let them eat until they straightened up the living room.”

Wally Jay and Bernice might be the nicest people I’ve ever met in the arts.

 

[Sammy Naur]

False. Students, friends and others have stated Bruce learned judo from Gene. John little is speculating that Bruce did not largely based on it being absent from a day-timer.

Joe Lewis:

JoMM: Did Bruce do any grappling?

Joe Lewis: He was going down and working with 'Judo' Gene LeBell. If you look at Wing Chun they have sets where a guy comes at you, you trap and sweep the guy to the ground. What Bruce learned from 'Judo' Gene he used in the movie 'Game of Death' where he put a crank, or I think it is called a guillotine, on Kareem Abdul Jabbar. Bruce was starting to get into it.

Roger Kay:

"From my classes in Seattle in 1962 much of what was being taught still focused on "headhunting"...but when I saw Bruce again in 1966 after he moved to California and came back for a visit...it was clearly evolving more to trapping and grappling. He had already learned much from Judo Gene LeBell and Jhoon Rhee and incorporated their knowledge into his new ...soon to be named JKD.

Fortunately for me he always remembered to show his gratitude and pay his respects to my family by tutoring me under his wings whenever I showed up on his doorstep...(which I always made sure to do). He always had No qualms about showing me how he was evolving. That was important.... for I too was stuck in "His" old traditional method, and only his Lifepath was centered on breaking out of this paradigm with MMA and new innovative combat techniques...(not mine). I was always his student ...but had my own goals of spending more time studying the internal Chinese energy arts and other Asian Healing Arts."

Larry Hartsell:

BB: When you went to Parker’s, did you have to drop things you learned from Lee?

Hartsell: Yes, I did because Bruce had adopted boxing by then. He [mixed] it with wing chun kung fu. Also, there were grappling techniques he picked up from Gene LeBell and some stuff from Wally Jay’s small circle jujutsu, which he added to jeet kune do.

BB: What interest did Lee have in grappling?

Hartsell: Before his death, he had added 33 grappling moves to the jeet kune do concept.

BB: He got those from Gene LeBell and Wally Jay?

Hartsell: Wally Jay, Gene LeBell and Hayward Nishioka. And he had some chin-na and silat. He would mix the arts. He would enter to trapping and take down into a submission. If you read Tao of Jeet Kune Do, you’ll see those grappling [techniques].

Shannon Lee:

"Sifu lee vs Gene LeBell-TV Show Ironside. 'Tagged for Murder' an episode that aired on September 14, 1967, Bruce Lee played a martial arts gym owner who inherited a clue to a gang of evil doers whatever evil doers do.

LeBell would teach Lee much of the grappling that later became an integral part of Jeet Kune Do, both on screen and in Lee’s own teachings."

Bob Wall:

MPM: So, when did you first hear of Bruce Lee?

Bob Wall: ... Two time judo national champion, Gene LeBell, a real tough old man, later on, Gene was one of the few guy that Bruce would take lessons from. Gene LeBell is former world heavyweight wresting champion, a two-time champion, I mean he is a phenomenal man. Never lost a fight in his life… You know a REAL fight.

Van Williams:

“Bruce ended up kicking them [stuntmen] or hurting them or doing something. They [stuntmen] did not want to work on the show anymore… the tension grew and it grew and it grew to almost a point where they [Bruce and Bennie Dobbins] got in a fight almost.”


Because, they worked together, were acquaintances and Gene was more experienced and accomplished in grappling.

Top 6 Bruce Lee Judo Moves

1. Ashi barai - Foot sweep 0:18
2. Morote Gari - Two hand reap (Double leg takedown) 0:52
3. Kosoto Gari - Small Outer Reap 1:17
4. Kata Guruma - Shoulder Wheel AKA Firemans Carry 1:54
5. Kata Gatame - Head & Arm Triangle 2:17
6. Osoto Gari - Major Outer Reap 2:41

Exactly..

Sorry I don't have the energy to write a more verbose response but this was a great post.

Bruce died young, Gene was not so lucky, but as Gore Vidal famously said of Truman Capote dying young, it was a "wise career move".

Judo guys die old and broken, it seems. At least that's my destiny.

 

[Same Trick]

I'd say first and foremost, most people lie or at least embellish about their accomplishments, but this is especially true in martial arts, which are all about personal power.

Bruce Lee was well known for it, he was an actor after all, not an accomplished Shaolin warrior of any kind. Same for Gene, judo is a harsh sport and he was amazing at it but he still found the time to spin tall tales.

I think it's useful to examine these sorts of tall tales in order to keep them historically grounded, and you are right, without real solid evidence of this or that, who knows?

So to give you an alternate perspective, we know Gene was an able judoka. We don't know Bruce was. Just like we know Muhammad Ali was a great boxer, and Will Smith isn't.

“Muhammad Ali Reveals Where He Learned the ‘AccuPunch’”


The End of an Era: Muhammad Ali Scored His Last KO Using Bruce Lee-Inspired Technique | MiddleEasy

 

[Same Trick]

This may make some people uncomfortable because it goes against the popular notion of Gene teaching judo to Bruce Lee. The fact is that Gene is the only one who started this story and no one else, including the fact that his story has never been verified by anyone that was part of the green hornet crew especially Benny Dobbins the stunt coordinator . When John Little interviewed Gene throughout the years, he was contradictory to how the fight happened, Gene claimed he did a fireman’s carry on Bruce, another time he said he did a crouching Nelson, the next time it was an armbar. He never said he did all 3 techniques, only one and goes on to say that Bruce was impressed with Gene's judo skills and wanting to learn from him. Bruce learned judo from Jesse Glover years before being on the Green Hornet. Gene also claimed that after the episode showing that he was on (which aired about September 20, 1966) that Bruce invited him to the Los Angeles school. The problem with this is the fact that the school did not open until February 7, 1967. Gene continues on that he could not train at Bruce’s school because of the strong incense Bruce burned and recalled the floor had thin mats. He told Bruce to train at Gene's dojo instead. John asked Steve Golden who trained at the Los Angeles school and Steve said no one burned incense and there were no mats, just a concrete floor. Another important thing is that Bruce kept a meticulous daily schedule as to who, where and when he was training and meeting up with and not once anywhere in Bruce’s personal planner does it mention Gene or his school. (Before commenting, please read the article first)
Link to further information: Kato And The Judo Man

Link to other Bruce lee/JKD related articles: Internet Archive collection

It’s probably as true as the claim that Steven Segal was choked by this LeBelle