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Here's an enlightening article about Villari and the original USSD. Turns out that Black Belt Magazine has all of it's issues scanned on Google in a searchable database.
http://books.google.com/books?id=Z9...+villari+markets+the+martial+arts&output=html
P.S. - Just for fun, find the biggest 'whopper' told in the article!
Yep,
I remember that article and have a copy of it.
What Fred did back then today most everybody is doing or trying to do now.
Why bang on just Fred?
:idunno:
P.S. - Just for fun, find the biggest 'whopper' told in the article!
hard to say... some of these might be true
"While in the islands, Villari studied under a Chinese-Australian instructor, Soo, and gained his third and fourth degrees. After working with another master, Len Chou, Villari received his fifth degree and soon decided to open his own school."
This was the first time I had ever heard of Mr. Villari having any rank between 2nd and 10th.
Gotta love self promotion.
Good point. And it wasn't like they each gave him a 1st in their arts, they just kept promoting him up the ladder one stripe at a time. Hmmmm...
Which still goes on with high rankers, organizations, etc....
Something that most if not all of our pioneers were/are guilty of.
Very interesting perspective, LD. As I apply it to the people I know, seems pretty accurate.Being a legit 10th dan is subject to biased and non-biased opinons. If a true span of control exists than who can point a finger.
There are many "legit" 9th & 10th dan's out there who do not have their own student base, school, or are one of those "instructors at large" types.
It comes down to this in many cases, who are their friends.
Judge a senior rank by the quality of thier own student base.
Okay, I am not trying to be controversial or ruffle any feathers but is it not true that when a style is developed that the originators/creators would be considered 10th Dan or 10th Degree? (taking it that 10th Dan or 10th Degree is the highest rank one can achieve) In self defence systems, they are referred to as being the founders of the system which equates to this dan ranking.
Fred Villari created SKK from various styles of martial arts so therefore he could be considered a 10th Degree. Some other examples of this would be...EPAK is made up of various martial arts and SGM Parker was a 10th Degree and he created the system. This would be the same for Kajukenbo, JKD, Hapkido or Tae Kwon Do. If I am wrong here, please correct me as I may misunderstand the process and would like correction if this is so.
Great to start a thread and get the conversations going with some great martial artists...many thanks for your contributions.