karate.art.method.self_defense.nenad.downing.html
Rev 0, 2022-12-13
TEST TEST
THE CHATTANOOGAN MAGAZINE, AUGUST 1976 ISSUE, VOL 1, No.
An article on Karate, AN ART AND A SPORT, by NENAD DOWNING
The request for me to write this article followed the Chattanoogan Magazine interest in my teaching karate classes at the downtown branch of the Foreign Legion, Post 14, one of U.S.A. first legion branches.
Article includes brief description of work of Manho Chang who opened Chattanooga's first karate school in the early 1970s.
With crime seemingly rampant, people are increasingly turning to alternative ways in which to protect themselves and their families. One of the most popular forms of self-defense being taught today is the Oriental method called Karate. Brought to this country in the fifties by Korean and Japanese practitioners, Karate is experiencing a growth of geometric proportions. People by the thousands are turning to this thriving sport as a means of self-defense and body conditioning.
Karate, which literally means "empty hands", originated' as an organized system of self-defense, first in China, and then rapidly spread to Korea and Japan. No one country can lay claim to having originated Karate, since self-defense is as old as man. However, the Koreans and Japanese were the first to systemize the art of using the hands and feet in combat.
Present-day Karate in America is most closely aligned to the Korean system called Taekwon-Do, which places particular emphasis on using the feet. The many styles in Karate, Taekwon-Do seems to have the largest following. A most important difference between Taekwon-Do and other sports is the refinement of character that distills through 2,000 years of discipline and philosophy.
There are many "schools" of Karate such as Kung Fu, Kempo, Bando, etc.; however, these are actually borrowed versions of Japanese and Korean Karate. Although Karate is relatively new in Chattanooga, the city has seen the growth of several highly qualified schools. In particular, Chattanooga is fortunate in having a school of Taekwon-Do. Known as an "art and a sport", Taekwon-Do was introduced to Chattanooga by Manho Chang. Mr. Chang's credentials include twenty years of instructions and training under many world-renowned Karate masters. Shortly after college, Mr. Chang won the All Korean Karate Championship, which placed him among Korea's top Karate instructors. From Korea, he moved to Germany and was instrumental in bringing Karate to that country. From Germany, he moved to Canada and then to the United States, bringing with him a wealth of knowledge in the martial arts. He has many schools throughout this country and his Chattanooga school shows signs of being one of his finest. Chang brought Chattanooga national recognition in the Karate world by sponsoring Chattanooga's first National Karate Tournament which was held in May of this year. He holds the rank of sixth degree black belt - a level held by only a few other people in this country. Mr. Chang feels that "Karate has a bright future in Chattanooga." Chattanooga may also boast of several well- established Karate Clubs.
The American Legion, well known for its civic involvement, recently formed a Karate Club at Post 14, downtown Chattanooga. The club is under the direction of Post Commander Richard Hutsell and Fred Holloway. It was Mr. Hutsell's feeling that Karate could provide a needed service to young people by instilling a sense of discipline and respect. The efforts of Post 14 have resulted in one of the finest Karate Clubs in Chattanooga.
In addition to head instructor Nenad Downing, third degree black belt (In Korean Tae Kwon Do, 1st Dan in Shotokan Karate, Japanese Style), the club has two other well qualified instructors: Terry Cunningham, second degree black belt and David Chandlovloy, first degree black belt.
Karate is often mistakenly thought of as organized street fighting, but to describe Karate in this way would be the same as describing football as the mere smashing together of bodies. Rather, Karate is a complete system of self-defense which integrates such attributes as courage, courtesy, integrity, humility and self-control within the system. As with many other sports and pursuits, these attributes often outweigh the "original goal." If all Karate had to offer was the crushing of bones or the breaking of ribs, it would have long ago faded from the civilized world. It is those benefits derived such as self-discipline, respect, self-confidence and body conditioning which seem to keep Karate alive.
As the popularity of Karate spreads throughout the country, it becomes clear that Karate will become a major sport in the not-too-distant future. Even today the Korean Government, which has brought Karate under its control, has plans to introduce Karate to the Olympics. Meanwhile, a large following of men, women and children will undertake Karate as a new way to develop a competent method of self-defense and body conditioning while enjoying a very popular and exciting pastime.
By Nenad Downing, San-Dan Black belt (Aug, 1975, Chattanooga, TN)
 I took this photo. The Heavy cinder block in real, approx mid 1960s, Memphis_700px.jpg)
This is Dino Papadakis (The Greek) as we all called him. This picture was taken by me at Master Kang Rhee Tai Kwon Do School at the corner of Tucker St. (on which I lived at the time, 44N Tucker) and across from Overton Park. The 8" cinder block is real. Don't doubt that for a minute. Try doing what he did if you think it is easy or fake.
Dino and I later worked together in his own karate school. He came from Greece of which he was very proud. He once told me that the Greeks had a moto regarding when their soldiers went to war, such as with Germany in WW-II. It was, "Never Leave Your Friend's Behind." Doesn't that really put America to shame when you consider what the U.S. military did in regards to Afghanistan.
For many years Dino lived in Manhattan and trained constantly for Olympics weight lifting division. But he never made it to the finals. A good friend of his was Norbert (Norb" Schemansky. Nporb was the first weightlifter to win four Olympic medals, despite missing the 1956 Summer Olympics due to back problems. He won a silver medal in the 1948 Summer Olympic Games, a gold in the 1952 Summer Olympics and bronzes in the 1960 and 1964 Summer Olympics.Wikipedia. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norbert_Schemansky
I once had the above book. Sure wish I had kept in for this time, 2022 when the government is intentionally destroying the currency value. Ask the Greeks of today what the U.S. does to nations it doesn't like. At the time when Schemansky was in competition, the "clean and jerk" lift was as shown above. In later years the Russian's refined the lift as shown in this photo:
I think this lifter above was from Ireland. But I am not sure. The Russians, as with chess, became consistent world champions in both weight lifting and chess, and as WW-II proved, in War and tactics and strategy. It is best not to f*%$ with them. At least that is what Dino used to tell me.
Dino and I shared some interesting stories from those years. They would make a nice chapter but I am not sure I have the time or real interest to develop them into words and sentences.
I did get into weight lifting because of Dino's influence. On bench presses he was always my "spotter." In heavy weight lifting you NEVER want to do it alone or without a trusted spotter. I got to 390# on a bench press and still have the stretch marks to prove it. But that also takes commitment to the task at hand as does Tae Kwon Do or Karate or Judo or advanced education.
This is Pat Burleson, also busting a real 8" heavy construction cinder block. If you think it is easy - give it a try.
This news article was published in the Memphis Press Scimitar news paper in 1965 as best as I remember. The 15 year old girl is Kath Nash, daughter of "Master"Glenn W. Nash, who was never ANYTHING at all in the martial arts, and certainly not in karate. He was a phoney when it came to karate and actually fighting. But he was certainly smarter than all the dupe psychiatrists who consistently claimed that he was "insane" etc. It is an interesting story that Glenn told me as to WHY he wanted to get good at karate. I hope to be able to find time to tell it.
This news article was taken when Memphis Karate Academy was still part of the franchise of Japan Ways, established by Jim Arwood, a Ni-Dan in karate and in his school, in Japan, where he actually trained while in Air Force, that school's highest rank was 5 Dan so Jim Arwood was equivalent to 4th Dan in a ten dan ranking system.
At the time of this article I was 19 years of age. It was through Jim that I first tried some really good "pot." It was an experience that even to this day, 57 years later, that I will never forget. Dr. Harte had warned me that in his opinion "pot" was dangerous. I smoked it regularly off and on as it was not easy to get at that time. But it was usually "good " Columbian"imported kilo brick and you could be pretty sure it was not contaminated with stuff like fentanyl and meth and sometimes "crack."
Later on in the early 1980s I also got into LSD all all the "trips" were positive as I knew the dealer quite well and the pills, purple microdots, were always clean and pure. I did like to experiment and when I took my "trips" without ever leaving the farm - I took the necessary precautions first. LSD in my opinion does have some amazing potitive aspects. And I have a feeling that it could be quite therapeutic in treating catatonics and very severe depression, etc. But the U.S. congress declares that it is worthless and has no therapeutic value. But in my opinion, the thing that actually has NO value in 2022 is the U.S. congress. It is in fact destructive to the national interests. But would I ever recommend LSD to anyone unless it was in a controlled environment with psychiatric monitoring? When I look back over the decades I can so only that I know of two people who had really BAD trips. One, a young woman of 18, comitted suicide. Another, a young man, jumped out of a motel window but fortunately did survive. During the time I was experimenting I did have ONE episode of a "flash-back" which I recognized as such. I wondered then if continued use of LSD could alter the chemistry of the brain in such a way that "flash-backs" could become reocurring events or even lead to repeat psychotic episodes. In my first "trip" with LSD I did paint one of my favorite pictures. But compared with Avenue of the Trees only in my imagination is the LSD trip painting any good. I keep it as a chapter in my life story.
Regarding the actual neurological effects of strong pot, uncontaminated, if you want to get a university degree in English or Political "Science" then go ahead and smoke your head away. Because, although it will probably be detrimental to your cognitive processes - thae"outside world" won't really know it because measurment of accomplishment in those fields is, in my opinion, very subjective. So far, the only Political "scientists" who I think thinks as a physicists or mathematicians or engineer (that is, in-depth abstractions - the way he arranges his thinking) is John J. Mearsheimer. And I think Doug Macgregor is one of the smartest analytical thinkers I have heard speak.
But what I am getting at is this, based on actual experience. In my 2nd year of engineering school I was studying with a friend fluid mechanics problems in preparation for an exam the next day. The friend was my best friend at the time and one of the smartest people, thought processing wise, that I had up to then known. His father owned the largest consulting engineering company in the state in which he and I lived at the time. H had it made. Whe he graduated he would walk into a high paid engineering job and land a good slot for himself after a few years.
Well, H and gotten himself a good "nickle bag" of pot (not the "green local stuff" but imported from Mexico probably. We are in his campus married couples apartment, off-campus. He says to me, "let's light up" as he brings out a small bag of pot. I tells him, "H, I'd rather not. We've got a test tomorrow." But he insists the stuff will only help us. So, he light up a joint and we start sharing it. With really good "stuff" you don't need very much. You can share a joing and you will get high with just a few deep deep inhalations.
After perhaps about ten minutes - he starts laughing and smiling and I am in my own cloud floating too. There was no way either of us was able to concentrate any at all to work diffficult fluid mechanic problems. H would laugh at the slightest joke. But I got to worrying because I also had the next day a differential equations exam to take in the morning class. And I had intended on studying for it after I got home from studing with H the fluid mechancs course. Finally, getting no where fast, I tells H, I've got to get to the house (bording room off campus) and prepare for the diff course. H then tells me, still all smiles and laughs, OK, see you tomorrow.
Back at my "appartment" which was really a shed attached to this old woman's house who rented it out to students to "make ends meet" I sat down at my makeshift desk and opened the diff equations text book and just stared at it. I simply could NOT concentrate on what I needed to do. I could not THINK in math terms. I feel certain I could have philosophized on poetry or even communist dogma - but it is near impossible to fake your way through advanced math or even algebra or trig. You either know it or you don't. And you can't arrange your thinking needed to grasp the math type material if you're mind is buzzing away and you keep drifting in your thoughts. I realized then that I had a choice to make. It was going to be either pot (drugs) or my chance at getting an engineering degree and thus a decent job paying more money than teaching karate or doing construction work or factory work as had been the case up to then. Later when I told my friend Prentice about this experience (Prentice Fulton, MD) he remarked that I had a lot of "presence of mind" to have realized that I had a choice to make.
It is worth defining because this ability has also saved my life a few times. [Presence of mind: The ability to think and act calmly and efficiently, especially in an emergency. 2. Focused alertness, quick-thinking resourcefulness, stability of thought and feeling, or good sense, especially in spite of circumstances which are distracting, stressful, or otherwise challenging. 3. self-control in a crisis; ability to say or do the right thing in an emergency. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
The only reason I bother telling all this stuff isn't some grandiosity complex I have - but rather it's like I am now almost age 77 and the odds of living on for many more years (or at least with a clear, dementia free life) get smaller each day. And Dr. Harte, to whom I really owe so much - had asked me both in phone calls and in letters to at least try to do some teaching of math and physics at the high school level because the insights I had gained from my experiences in life, both as a small child living parentleess in institutional type life and as a very troubled teenageer would be of real value to other teenagers.
And I will add too, that money is NOT my currency. I had never seen the stuff until I had come to America at almost age nine. And I had not developed a concept of mine and thine. Still don't have it. Call it "giving back" if you want. But I never took - so I am not sure how I can give back. But it might just make a difference in some young teens life - just as Dr. Harte (and there were a few others) made a huge difference in my life - just by showing he did care about how I turned out and encouraged me to continue writing him and corresponding with him for over 25 years. So, just maybe my contribution can make a difference in another young life growing up with lots of confusion in their own life. I don't know.
I finally realized I wasn't going to be able to be prepared in either of the tests in fluids or differential equations. I just went to bed and figured I'd see how it turned out the next morning.
The next morining did come and I went to my classes. Third class was the math, diff equations. It was about the longests 45 minutes of test I had ever taken. I knew I had done lousy.
Then two classes later, in the afternoon, came the fluid mechanics tests. I did better but not much.
Here is what happened then, over about a two week period. During that time (and remember I had only SHARED A STRONG JOING with H. One joint shared.) About fourteen days later I was walking away from the engineering building when I suddenly felt I was 'WAKING UP" Literally. I had been in a FOG and now the mist was clearing from my mind. I don't know how else to describe it. But I started to be able to work the math problems much easier, and then it got even easier. But I was near the end of the quarter (now the university is on semester system). Final's were coming up. On the "crip courses" I mean the "liberal arts elective courses" I was not worried. In the liberal stuff I did OK, Bs. In the engineering electrical circuits, etc., I got Bs too. But in the differential equations course I got a D. In fluids I got a C-. That is how it turned out. I decided I would retake the Diff course again and if I got another D I would switch major and go into something like teaching.
As it turned out - on the return trip i did manage a C+ in the differential equations course and on everything else I continued to do well. I never touched any more psychedelic drugs again until the early 1980s. As to my best friend H ? He dropped out of school. Went back to being a draftsman. After I graduated I went to see him. He was living in a small apartment with his wife and child. He was playing the guitar. Still puffing away on pot. He asked me how it had turned out for me (meaning did I graduate). I told him I had gotten my electrical engineering degree and had got a good job with a very large electical utility. He then slowly turned his head away, ended the conversation and started to pluck away again on the guitar. Both of us knew that our relationship had ended as we had previously known it. He was still a board draftsman and I had a title, electrical engineer. Frankly I want to sum it up by saying it this way. H gave up inheriting a big chunck of his father's business.He chose drugs for his future. I chose engineering and had a successful 30 year career as a result. Our early choices in life often decide the outcome of our life in latter years. But we can ALWAYS CHANGE DIRECTION in our life - often regardless of what we have done in the past - if we are willing to MOVE THE RUDDER toward the right direction at the right time. It all gets down to the choices we make in our life. And that on the average if we make the right decisons more often than the wrong decisions we will come out alright, most of the time. But remember always - there are NO guarantees in life - and VERY FEW concolation prizes.
 5th Dan, Tae Kwon Do, Taken in Korea prior to 1965_750px.jpg)
Here is Perfection in the martial art of Tae Kwon Do. Master Kang Rhee, 5th Dan. Photo taken in Korea about 1964
Here is Perfection in correct "Cat Stance." Master Kang Rhee, 5th Dan shortly after arrival in Memphis from Korea. This picture taken at Memphis State University (at the time). The guy at the extreme right (your right side) was a tough critter who I worked out with from time to time. His father owned a cotton exchange business in downtown Memphis. For a while he used one of the empty floors to hold karate classes which I attended. I forgot his name, but he was a gentleman to me. I was age 19 at the time.
The Secret Art news paper article continued from above.
The guy, third from your right is Bob Yarnell, a really great karate man. This photo is taken in one of the dojos in the St. Louis area in about 1964. Bob was either a Sho-Dan or Ni-Dan at the time. I was 17 at the time and was only taking judo - which I did like very much. Bob is in the classical "cat stance" and it is the stance which he used most often during karate tournamets. Notice how it is almost exactly as Kang Rhee's "cat stance" above. The guy second on front row from right is 1st Dan in this picture. He later went on to become also legitimate 3rd Dan. But look at the difference in his "cat stance" and Bob Yarnell's. You see the difference in "quality"? It is almost like a Russian Ballet master. It is simply a fact that the Russian's are the world's greatest ballet performers.
(If time allows, I might bring in my trip from St. Louis and Jewish Hosptial when I was 14 and went to Chicago to be interviewed by the famous psychoanalyst Dr. Anthony, MD for him to determine whether I should be able to come home from the psychiatric children's ward of Jewish Hospital or continue longer there under "treatment." At that time I also got to see live a performance of visiting Russian ballet artists doing the Tchaikovsky Nutcracker performance. After the show I went outside and I saw "them" waiting in the bus to leave - I guess to the airport. It sort of changed my thinking about "them" the Russians. I had just seen a really beautiful ballet performance along with some really astonishing music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Something just didn't square in my mind with what I had been told about these Russians and what I had just seen. Some of "them" smiled at me from the bus window and I waved back. They really did seem "human." But I was only 14, and very mentally disturbed. Why else was I in Chicago. Why else was I in Chucagi watching the Russian "Nutcracker" performance unless I was also a nut cracker, and certified so by tests.
When we got back to St. Louis (Brentwood, MO) and I was permitted to leave the psycho ward of Jewish Hosptial (I had past the the psycho test) I asked Ruth to get me a subscription to Soviet Life Magazine. Thus I guess it was that I became a "certified" boy commnist of that time in American history.
This is my karate class I was teaching after Memhis Karate School was closed down because of Mr. Nash's murders. I was taking the picture. I forgot who was posting as the teacher in this picture. But I believe he was also a 1st. Dan. This church was Memphis largest Presbyterian Church on, I believe, Union Blvd. We came to be a big class and it was also integrated. The church got them a new athletic and activities director and he tells me that we, the class, will have to close down because he thought that karate was not compatable with the teachings of Christ. (There is a story here too but perhaps later).
So I took a random chance and visited the church connceted with South Western University in Memphis (I think that was the name) and asked the church activities director if I could conduct free karate lessons theire. He said, "I don't see why not." Then I asked, "What about an integrated class. Would that be alright?" He replied, "I don't see why not." So, that is where I continued to teach karate until I went to engineering school later on. This was, after all, 1966 - 1967 era. Thing have changed big time for the better. Unless you lived that time - you can't really appreciate how much attitudes have changed in the South.
Memphis Karate Academy, 1965. My Ford Fairlane, 1962 model, bought in University, MO when I turned 16. Nash liked the car and said that it decided for for him to get a Fairlane also. Many stories are in that building.
Memphis Karate Academy, front view. 1965. That is me standing at front door. Larry Hazen, 3rd Class Petty Officer, Navy, Millington Navy Base took these photos. Nash law office was at your right side, the big window. Many memories are here.
This is me, Nenad, age 19 and in the latter part of 1965 not too long before I went to Kansas City, MO. and got myself committed to the state psychiatric hosptial in that city. My plans did not turn out quite as I had expected. But I did learn a lot nevertheless. What happened there, in the psycho ward, and Dr. Harte's office - established without equivocation - that Glenn Nash, when he murdered those people - WAS NOT NOR EVER WAS INSANE and his mask of insanity was just that - A MASK TO COVER UP THE FACT THAT HE WAS ACTUALLY QUITE SANE BUT DIABOLICAL. Just as in the case of Professor Moriarty.
It was the evening following the murder of Hillman Robbins, in a sort of conference with Jerry Brown and Cathy Nash, Glenn's daughter, that I made the decision and opened the door behind me, turned left and walked up to the outside telephone booth and called the Burglary Squad of Memphis Police Dept. I informed them that Nash had killed the liquor store clerk, Hillmon Robbins and that if they did not catch him he would kill again. The reason I called them, and NOT homicide, was because they already knew me and my association with Nash. And for them to know for certain that the call was legitimate and that it was I who was calling - I also mentioned that Nash was using the "postal money orders" for ready cash. (Another story). Thus, Memphis police knew the next day who it was that killed Hillmand Robbins, the father of Clarence Hillman Robbins, Jr. an American professional golfer who is best known for his amateur career, including winning the 1957 U.S. Amateur.Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillman_Robbins
This all happened a long time ago. 58 years ago to be exact. Most everybody from that time is now gone, dead. Soon I too shall be gone. That is the harvest field of life. The leaves come new and are green. Then the leaves of fall come and the leaves turn brown and fall to the ground. Then it is cold until a new season begins again. And that is life and death. It comes and it goes as with the seasons.
The story is that our life is often decided by the decisions we make. And that those decisions do not most often stand alone. But rather they are influenced by many factors such as, do we love someone more than we love ourself - such that we will then consider how they are affected by the decisions we make. And even if we are emotionally abandoned as a child, or hurt and traumatized as a child for a long time - if there come just one person, or perhaps just a few - who really do care about us as a person - and we sense that, we detect that, it can make all the difference in how we respond to our world as we grow up.
And in this sense - I think that one of the greatests gifts that an adult person can give in his life is to become a foster parent - and perhaps even later to adopt - an abandoned and hurt child. It is not an easy thing to do, especially in the case of, as Dr. Harte referred to it as, the Burnt Child - because often the wounds and scars run deep in the child - even though they may not be physical scars - they run deep and stay with the child well into adult hood and longer yet.
And I will conclude with one other observation that is perhaps equally as important as to have a "pretend parent" as the child may see it - a foster parrent - and that is to in some way to get across to the child or to the hurting teenager - that there really is a GOD in our universe - though he may be beyond our full understanding. For some this understanding, this enlightenment, may come through an experience in life that is so real as to defy any explanation other than that there is indeed another dimension in the universe - a spiritual dimension that is a reality.
But we can also come to know that there is a real valley on the other side of the tall mountain - and that we need not climb the mountain to know that the valley exists. It is enough to see the evidence that surrounds us daily where ever we look, wherever we go - to come to realize that God Does Exist, that He is Real.
To grasp the love that others may offer us - to grasp that kind hand that reaches out to touch us - we must be willing to take the chance and trust at last someone - who we feel will not hurt us again. That is a mighty step for any person who has been badly hurt again and again, whether he be or she be a child or a teenager or an adult - for such a move can be fragile indeed.
But if we have in some way connected with the spiritual world - which does exist - it is a reality - if we have come to know the ONE GOD who may express Himself in different ways to people of different cultures and customs - then WE CAN OVERCOME the storms in our past, the hurts and the damage done.
WE CAN BEGIN AGAIN When hope has come into our life. But we each must reach out ourself and knock on the door and ask hope to come into our lives. Hope will not of its own accord come into our life. Hope asks only to be invited in, into your heart, and then she will enter and you will understand why YOU CAN OVERCOME THE PAST AND BEGIN AGAIN.
Well, a new morning has come again. I had better now to retire if I am to complete my project.
Nenad
Much more will follow including many great photographs of Karate in action during my training years in St. Louis and Memphis.
Patience is a virtue, possess it while you can.