My next exposure to martial arts was in 1973 when I studied Isshin Ryu karate from my roommate, Bill Woodland, who was a brown belt at that time. Bill had studied in the Baltimore, Maryland area. Bill was adept in kumite, nunchaku, and sanchin kata.
After graduating from college in 1974, I began studying Tang Soo Do under Ed Meech and Kyu Bong Yim for a short time before joining the Marine Corps.
In the Marine Corps from 1977-78, I studied Tozan Ryu@ Shorin Ryu under the tutilage of Bobby Joe Blythe, then a 6th Dan. Mr. Blythe was the only American Instructor representing Shinsuke Kaneshima of Okinawa. Mr. Blythe taught kumite, various open hand and weapons katas, and he was small aircraft pilot instructor. Mr. Blythe spent about 12 years in Okinawa and married an Okinawan native, who was instrumental in the introduction to Sensei Kaneshima.
After several moves I postponed training until 1985, I met Mr. Takao Nakaya, also a 6th Dan in Shuri Te. Mr. Nakaya was a Japanese native, who had studied Wado Ryu and Shotokan in mainland Japan. He spent a short time in Okinawa and trained with Mr. Chozo Nakama. Mr. Nakaya taught his grandchild in Sunday school. While in Okinawa, Mr. Nakaya had learned both shorin and shorei katas. Mr. Nakaya would rarely demonstrate katas, but when he did he seemed to favor the kata Gojushiho.
Mr. Nakaya had authored the book, "The History and Philosophy of Karate-do". In the book, he suggested that one sometimes has to look outside their own system of martial study to validate their training as being truthful. I took him literally, and began investigating other Okinawan systems.
Those systems including Matsumura Seito (Orthodox) Shorin Ryu Karate under Kyoshi (8th Dan) Ron Lindsey; Shuri Te under Mr. Bill Mueller: Isshin Ryu with Kyoshi A.J. Advincula; Shobayashi Shorin Ryu with Eilene Smoger; Shihan Larry Isaac, 8th dan Okinawa Kempo and/or Shorin Ryu; Shihan Nicodemus Flores, Okinawa Kempo; and Ryukyu Kempo with Mark Stapleton and Richard "Gunner" Benge. Not to mention a shelf full of books and videos.
In 1989 I was teaching at two recreation centers for Mr. Nakaya. When I met Gunner Benge, of the then "Ryukyu Kempo", now Ryu Te Renmei [TM ]; I left Nakaya and studied with Gunner Benge. After Sensei Benge transferred to Washington, D.C. in 1991; I took over the dojo with the assistance of Mr. Richard Garcia as a brown belt. In 1992, Gunner's instructor, Kyoshi Greg Lindquist recommended me for promotion to black belt (Shodan).
Later that summer I tested before Taika Oyata (10th Dan)and in subsequent years I was promoted to 4th Dan (Yondan). Soon thereafter I was given membership in the exclusive Oyata Shin Shu Ho(TM ) group. This is an honor reserved for selected advanced black belts to carry on the teachings of this rare art of life protection ( Ryu Te (TM) ). The crux of this promotion was to represent the style based upon traditional means which includes the practise of moral character development.
As a final note, I would like to apologize for all of the other instructors I may have left out.
The article is not written to brag or boast about my accomplishments. My accomplishments are only important to me and not intended to impress anyone else. This website was built for me, but was also built as a courtesy to my students and other interested parties.