Combat Sports Historian and Martial Artist
Sam Hill, a Seattle businessman, brought Professor Yoshiaki Yamashita to the United States in 1902. Professor Yamashita intended to help spread Dr. Jigoro Kano’s relatively new martial art of Judo. Accompanying Professor Yamashita was his student Mitsuyo Maeda. Maeda would go on to teach Carlos Gracie in Brazil. The Gracies modified the techniques into the art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Over
I first read about William Muldoon in a biography of John L. Sullivan, the last bare knuckle heavyweight champion. Sullivan ushered in gloved boxing by refusing to take part in any more bare knuckle bouts. The last major bare knuckle bout was fought by Sullivan against Jake Kilrain in 1889. Odds were against Sullivan, a binge drinker indulging heavily between bouts. He was
On Thursday night, May 31, 1900, Albert Koenig, a strike sympathizer with a history of mental illness, shot and killed Patrolman Dennis Crane. Patrolman Crane and several other officers responded to the area due to reports of Koenig menacing other citizens. Koenig entered Eas and Sons Saloon at the southwest corner of S. Broadway and Osage Streets. Koenig may have
The 1900 St. Louis Streetcar Strike was a shooting war between the working class and the upper class. It started as a job action by streetcar workers of the newly consolidated streetcar lines. However, it quickly divided the city with the working class supporting the strike while the upper and professional classes defied the strike. The result was a deadly
When I was growing up, I often heard Grandma Ellis, Alvina M. Mosblech Ellis, talk about her two lost sisters. She lost her oldest sister Margaret and her little sister Loretta before her 40th birthday. Margaret B. Mosblech was the first of fourteen children born to Eduard and Magdalena Mosblech. Great Aunt Margaret was born on June 10, 1908. As
Spike TV began to broadcast a show that would put mixed martial arts on the mainstream map. 16 fighters lived in a house and competed in a tournament to see which two fighters would win a six figure UFC contract. The Ultimate Fighter would change television and the UFC for good. At one point during the Finale, ten million households
Jack Johnson has always been a tough subject for me. I admire his courage and strength in confronting hatred and bigotry in a time when doing so put his life in danger. He refused to conform and accept a position of inferiority to white Americans. Yet, like many human beings he was a flawed man. He beat his first wife
When I first started martial arts with a Shotokan karate class at our local junior college, the instructor handed out an article for everyone to read. The article covered a study with statistics. The study found that out of every 10,000 martial arts students only 100 would go on to earn black belts. Most beginning students quit after six months
Anderson Silva, widely recognized as the greatest mixed martial artist of all time, lost his rematch with Chris Wiedman for the UFC Middleweight Title on December 28, 2013. Wiedman had defeated Silva for the title on July 6, 2013. It was Silva’s first loss in seven years with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He was the middleweight champion for over 6
Sam McVey, who was considered the Idol of Paris, during his boxing career from 1902 to 1921, is largely forgotten today. One of the greatest black heavyweights of his time, he was frozen out of fighting for the world title even after Jack Johnson defeated Tommy Burns in 1908. McVey lost to Jack Johnson three times early in his career