The Beginning
Well, it all started really back when I was in
school and I was about 16 years old. Th ere
were two fellas in the class area that I was in.
Th ey got into a little scuffl e and next thing
I knew, they went up behind the school
and they decided to have a little fi ght.
When I grew up, if you kicked a person, that
was called “dirty fi ghting,” and this guy decided
that he would kick this other guy. I noticed
he not only kicked him but he dominated
the entire fi ght. After it was all over and said
and done, I went up to him and I asked him
a simple question: “What in the world were
you doing?” He said, “I was doing the martial
art called Okinawa-te. It is a martial art from
Okinawa, and I learned it because my dad is in
the military.” He was a brown belt at that time.
Th at’s about 1960-61 timeframe right in that
very facility there and brown belts were pretty
high. Th ey were pretty high on the totem pole
of martial art. I mean there wasn’t just black
belts around at that time. Th ey were far and
few between, so he was pretty well up there.
So we started training in my garage and that’s
what got me started. I really didn’t know tooInterview with Grandmaster Paul De Baca
(Th e following is comprised of excerpts from
a podcast interview by Troy De Baca of his
father, Grandmaster Paul De Baca. Th e podcast
was originally an episode of Th e Creative
Mind. Th e full audio podcast can be found
at https://soundcloud.com/thecreativehour/
taekwon-do-grand-master-paul-de-baca.
Grand Master Paul De Baca has taught Tae
Kwon Do in seven-plus countries. He continues
to train and teach, even at 72 years old. He is a
20-year U.S. Air Force decorated veteran and
spent 22 months in Vietnam. He is the proud
father of two sons, Michael (47) and Troy (45),
and is married to his sweetheart bride, Janis.
He has many other hobbies, including motorcycling,
archery, knife throwing, and roller skating. His
philosophy is, “You never fail until you quit trying.”)taekwondotimes.com / January 2018 59