U.S.U. Tae Kwon Do Club

A Korean Martial Art

Tae Kwon Do Chung Do Kwan Schools (TCS)

History of Chung Do Kwan and U.S.U. Tae Kwon Do Club ...

This is a short history of Chung Do Kwan Tae Kwon Do, Tae Kwon Do Chung Do Kwan Schools (TCS) and the USU Tae Kwon Do club. Other web pages give more details of the ancient history of Korean Martial Arts and the directions that some of the other Tae Kwon Do Kwans and Associations have gone. Such as the World Tae Kwon Do Federation (WTF) and the International Tae Kwon Do Federation (ITF).

Chung Do Kwan Tae Kwon Do

Prior to the 1940's, practice of the martial arts was banned in Korea due to the Japanese occupation of the territory. However, the practice continued underground in the form of training in Tae Kyon. However, Tae Kyon had some individuals who abused the martial art and brought it and other martial arts into suspicion. But, many Korean's learned various Japanese martial arts while in Japan. One of these men was Grandmaster Woon Kook Lee who trained under Gigen Funikoshi the great founder of Shotokan. Grandmaster Lee became a 3rd Dan under Funikoshi in Shotokan before returning to Korea. When Master Lee finished his university schooling he came back to Korea in 1944. This was before the end of the war so to start a martial arts school, Master Lee had to apply for a license with the Japense government. They rejected the application twice, but finally allowed him on the third try. So Master Lee began teaching Tang Soo Do (the Korean translation of Karate-Do, literally meaning "China Hand Way") in the Yung Shin School Gymn in Sa De Mun, Ok Chun Dong district in Seoul. He named his school "Chung Do Kwan" which means Blue Wave Gym. Because of the bad reputation martial arts had in Korea, Master Lee only allowed the finest students of impecable character to join the Chung Do Kwan. So the training was very hard and strict. One of the men that started training with Master Lee in the begining was a Mr. Duk Sung Son a young boxer. After the war was over (August 15.1945) there was civil unrest and gang fighting in the streets. The government was afraid to support the teaching of fighting techniques that were being misused in the gang and riot violence, so Tang Soo Do schools were not allowed in government facilities (ie. public schools). So the Chung Do Kwan moved to Tae Go Temple in Seoul. After this time other martial art schools (Kwan's) were formed, some by students of Master Lee. In a few years there were many martial art schools. But, the largest was the Chung Do Kwan institute. Under Master Lee's watchful eye and guidence, by 1947 the government saw the value in Master Lee's martial arts school -- teaching honor, courage, loyalty, and discipline. So finally the government began to support the training. With the support of the government and the popularity of the lessons, membership swelled to over 5,000. Then on June 25, 1950 war broke out, and Master Lee was forced to flee to Pusan City. So Master Duk Sung Son was appointed headmaster over the Chung Do Kwan. In 1955 an effort was made by the various Kwans to have some sort of National Unity in the Korean Martial Arts. At this time he was teaching Tae Kwon Do to novice policemen and with his growing reputation he became the original chief instructor of Tae Kwon Do for the Republic of Korea's Army and Military Academy. Master Son and General Choi (of the ITF) were both on the panel that came up with the name "Tae Kwon Do" for the Korean martial art. In 1961 the Korean government put pressure on the Kwans to unify, forming the Korean Tae Kwon Do Association (KTA) with General Choi as president. Some of the Kwan's especially the Chung Do Kwan wanted to keep their own identity and training methods and remained aloof. But in 1962 the Korean government only recognized the rank of those in the KTA. Many of the Tae Kwon Do masters were frustrated with the restrictions this placed on Tae Kwon Do training, so in the late 1960's many Masters left Korea and formed Tae Kwon Do organizations outside of Korea.

Chung Do Kwan in the U.S.

In 1963 Grandmaster Son and several of the Chung Do Kwan institute masters (J.B. Chung, and N.Y. Chung among them) came to the United States. Then in 1966 Grandmaster Son united the Chung Do Kwan masters under the World Tae Kwon Do Association (WTA). While in the United States Grandmaster Son has taught at West Point, Yale, Pricenton, Brown, Columbia, New York University, Fordham, Stony Brook, and Providence. Fordham gave him an honorary Professorship. And he has also taught employee's of major corporations IBM and Chase Manhattan Bank. In 1965 Grandmaster Son recieved the Medal of Honor from President Park of South Korea. Major General John B. Conaway, director of the Air National Guard Bureau in Washington D.C. made Grandmaster Son an Honorary General. Omni magazine did an article on the top five U.S. Martial Arts Masters and listed Grandmaster Son as among them.

Other Masters that trained under Master Duk Sung Son are: Master J.B Chung of Madison WI, Master K.H. Kim of Omaha NE, Master Choi of Evansville KT, Master N.K. Chung of IN. Previously Master Y.T. Chung of Kansas City Kansas, Master Jhoon Rhee of TX, and Master Lee trained under Grandmaster Son.

Tae Kwon Do Chung Do Kwan Schools (TCS)/center>

Our master is 8th Dan master D.H. Kim of Tucson AZ. Master Kim started learning Tae Kwon Do at the Chung Do Kwan institute in Korea when he was 12, in about 1953. He earned his black belt and eventually was promoted to Master Level (5th Dan). Then he moved from Korea to Indiania in the early 70's. He continued to advance and was advanced to 8th degree Black Belt in the WTA under Grandmaster Son, on Mar/18/1989. Master Kim is one of the most dedicated, sincere, and generous men I know. He is a truly incredible man of intense integrity. After training under Grandmaster Son for 42 years he broke away from Master Son's organization on Jan/1/1996. His description of the need for this organization is given in his letter. As Master Kim created this organization he found differing oppinions on how it should be run, among his upper rank. It was decided that two organizations going in different ways would be devloped. One the Chung Do Kwan Alliance, was incorporated and run as a business the other Tae Kwon Do Chung Do Kwan Schools (TCS) was set up to run in the "old ways" concentrating on martial arts training, as the Chung Do Kwan has had a history of. Master Kim's vision, leadership and direction has been invaluable in forming Tae Kwon Do Chung Do Kwan Schools (TCS) and make it a viable and dynamic organization for training in tradiational Chung Do Kwan Tae Kwon Do.

U.S.U. Tae Kwon Do Club

The U.S.U. Tae Kwon Do club was formed in 1979 by Ron Squibb then a first Degree Black belt who had personally studied under Master J.B. Chung of Madison WI. Ron did an excellent job teaching Tae Kwon Do to the students here at U.S.U., and was an extremly talented and dedicated individual and instructor. During his tenor as head instructor over the U.S.U. Tae Kwon Do club he groomed several students to black belt (Mary Pitts, Hassan Hourmanesh, Ghaffar Namjou, Hamid Moshtaghi, Kevin O'Rourke, and Erik Kluzek). Other students achieved high rank and later tested to Black Belt after they had moved. Just before Ron's 10 year anniversary at U.S.U. Tae Kwon Do he graduated with a Doctorate in Range Science and moved to Alaska with a job in the National Park Service. Now he is happily working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, studying grizzly bears. Before he left one of his students Erik Kluzek who had started Tae Kwon Do under Ron's tutalege in 1983 achieved 1st Degree Black Belt by testing under Grandmaster Duk Sung Son in Tucson AZ, March of 1989. At this time Erik took over the club as head instructor and in March 1993 he tested to 2nd Degree Black Belt and another student, Craig Dietz, tested to 1st Degree Black Belt. Craig then began helping teach at the club, until 1995 when he moved to Orem UT. In December 1996 Kory Pitcher and Corey Jensen, the current instructors, took over teaching after Erik got a job in Colorado.

In 1985 C.A.P.S.A. (Citizens Against Physical and Sexual Abuse) was formed in responce to a serial rapist who was working the area by hiding in the back of womans vehicles. Kevin O'Rourke and Mary Pitts of the U.S.U. Tae Kwon Do club worked extensivly with CAPSA giving demonstrations for womans groups. Around this same time Erik Kluzek helped in one of these demonstrations and began to see the need for woman's self defense. So in 1989 when Erik took over the U.S.U. Tae Kwon Do club he continued the tradition of working with CAPSA in giving demonstrations on women's self defense. Since that time he has worked extensivly with Betsy Franchina, the rape crisis coordinator of CAPSA, to create programs that are useful to women.

References

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