since the 1970s. He and his top student Mike McCoy
went on to become event promoters in Florida, and by
1981 they were helping run the U.S. Open. In 1983 they
bought the show and have been managing it ever since.
[The next stop on your journey into the Highlight Zone
will take you to the Hall of Sport-Karate Innovations, a
museum dedicated to the many industry developments
that were born at this tournament.]
“Ted [Kresge] was an innovator, and I remember that
the U.S. Open always built its reputation on having
something new and different than the other tournaments
did,” Sawyer recalled. “Every year, he would have a grand-
championship trophy that was an inch taller than the
year before so it would become a new Guinness World
Record for the biggest trophy ever given away.”
Sawyer and company effected numerous other
updates during their ownership. One key focus was to
boost the safety factor by making protective gear man-
datory. This started when Sawyer witnessed a poten-
tially fatal accident.
“I remember standing on the podium in 1984 and
watching an adult fighter slip during a match on the
concrete floor and hit his head,” Sawyer said. “Although it
did not knock him out and he was not seriously injured, it
cut his head and there was a puddle of blood on the floor.
I remember specifically thinking to myself, Tournament,
concrete floor, head, blood — bad combination!
“In 1985 we made headgear mandatory for under-belts
and optional for black belts, and we had [extra] pairs at
[You are about to travel to another dimension. A
dimension of sights that include jaw-dropping martial
arts feats. A dimension of sounds that include boards and
concrete blocks being shattered with ease. A dimension
of performances that include combative skills that are
almost beyond imagination.
Your destination is the world’s largest martial arts
competition, an event called the U.S. Open ISKA World
Martial Arts Championships, also known as the High-
light Zone.
Before you begin your journey, we will look back at
how this event came into being and how it grew to regu-
larly attract more than 6,000 competitors from 70 coun-
tries, not to mention some 10,000 people who attend as
spectators.]
Held annually in Orlando, Florida, on the July 4th week-
end, the U.S. Open was born in 1973, when it was known
as the East Coast Grand Nationals. In those days, it took
place under the direction of Robert Trias’ United States
Karate Association banner. An American martial arts
pioneer, Trias opened the first public karate school in the
mainland United States in 1946.
In 1980 the East Coast Grand Nationals got a new
name: the U.S. Open. Since then, the tournament has
changed hands a few times. In one Twilight Zone–esque
shift that occurred in 1981, then-owners Ted and Kim
Kresge sold the U.S. Open after Ted dreamed that the
world was coming to an end.
A martial artist named Mike Sawyer had competed in
the tournament as a colored belt and then a black belt
52 BLACKBELTMAG.COM OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2019
