Combat Sports Historian and Martial Artist
Theodore Roosevelt served as the twenty-sixth President of the United States from 1901 to 1909. TR is famous for the “Strenuous Life”. He practiced boxing and wrestling through his twenties and thirties. What is not as widely known is that he practiced Judo around 1904, when he was in his mid-40s. Roosevelt would eventually earn a brown belt in Judo. Yoshiaki
Huo Yuanjia was a real-life hero, who inspired mythic tales about his life. His life and exploits have been the basis of films starring Bruce Lee and Jet Li. The real Huo Yuanjia defeated foreign fighters when other countries were exploiting China in the late 1800s and early 1900s. His exploits were a source of pride at a time when
The deadliest incident in St. Louis Police history was not a shootout, natural disaster, or act of terrorism. The deadliest incident in St. Louis Police history occurred on the night of Monday, September 3, 1900. Electricity was the assailant as a power line with 3300 volts of electricity fell onto the telephone lines, at Eight Street and Carr Avenue. The
In a previous article, I talked about field trips and how they enhance a homeschool education. Today, I will recount a “field trip” that I took with my daughter Caitlin, when she was three years old. I subtitled it “How to Leave the House with $25.00 and Come Home with $0.75.” In the late 1990s, the St. Louis Zoo had
My Grandpa used to tell me that Mom and Great Grandma were close. Great Grandma could be very stubborn, so Grandpa used to send Mom to talk to her about going to the doctor, etc. I will let Mom tell you about her grandmother in her own words. Caroline better known as Lee was a woman before her time. In
My great grandmother, Caroline Leah “Lee” Ellis nee Johannpeter was born to Frederick William August Johannpeter, 1839 – 1903, and Joanna Grieve, 1843 – Unknown, in St. Charles, MO on June 13, 1881. She was the second youngest of six siblings, Gustav, Anna, Amalia “Marie”, Julius “Jules” and Charles Frederick. Great Grandma was said to be a very strong-willed person.
On Friday, April 24, 1953, three men and a getaway driver tried to rob the Southwest Bank on the corner of Southwest Avenue and S. Kingshighway Boulevard in St. Louis, MO. The St. Louis Police foiled the robbery, which became the focus of a 1959 movie, The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery. The film is now in the public domain. Fred W.
This is a story about 1942-44 Hebert Street, which is in the Old North St. Louis neighborhood of St. Louis, MO. Like its neighbors, this structure has seen better days. I became interested in the building because my great grandmother lived at this address in 1930. My maternal grandfather’s family lived in the northern part of St. Louis during his
William P. Ellis was my great grandfather. Unfortunately, he passed away when my grandfather, Gilbert P. Ellis, was only two years old. My great grandmother did not know much about William’s family. The actual information Grandpa had on him was sparse, so William was the real mystery man in the family history up until 2006 or 2007. Grandpa had a
The idea for this post began germinating in my brain a couple of weeks ago, when I was in the store to spend my birthday money and found an article about self-defense positions. Taekwondo is my base style although we add lots of Judo, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and cane techniques into our system. I expected to see realistic self-defense but found