The 193rd issue of Black Belt was
dated January 1980. It was 100
pages long and featured taekwondo
instructor Byong Y. Yu on the cover.From
the
Archives
Vol. 18, No. 1, $1.95- The editorial pays tribute to Black Belt publisher Han Kim, who
passed away at age 43 after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage. - “We have two dragons in our minds,” says Byong Y. Yu, 44. “If
you let the evil dragon gain control over you, with all that anger
and violence, that’s bad. You’re just a terrible person. But let the
good dragon gain control over you, you become a humble, nice,
beautiful person. And meanwhile, the dragons have tremendous
power that is strength.” - The award for the most inexpensive item found in an ad goes
to Asian World of Martial Arts for selling a Korean flag patch for
95 cents. - Bodybuilder/kung fu practitioner Mike Dayton sets a record on a
TV show called Guinness Game. In less than two and a half min-
utes, he breaks two baseball bats, tears a Los Angeles phone book
in half, snaps a file into three pieces, bends a screwdriver, busts a
pair of bolt cutters, rips a license plate in half, and shatters a brick
and a cinder block. The secret of his success, he says, is chi. - The Journal for Interdisciplinary Studies in the Martial Arts
launches in Brooklyn, New York. - The U.S. team places first at the 1979 Pan-American Sambo
Championships. In individual competition, eight American sambo
practitioners win gold medals and two win silver. - “The art of ninjutsu is the perfect one for this American who
grew tired of simple kick and punch exercises,” Stephen K.
Hayes writes. “It is such an incredibly deep art and covers the
entire range of human endeavor and development — from basic
survival to understanding the order of the universe.” - The staff of the magazine finds, after a yearlong search, what
it believes is the youngest legitimate black belt in America. His
name is William Robert Sasner of California. The 9-year-old
practices tang soo do.- The 1979 Hall of Fame inductees are announced: Tsutomu
Ohshima (Publisher’s Award), Jhoon Rhee (Karate Illustrated
Editor’s Award), Robert Trias (Black Belt Editor’s Award), Chuck
Norris (Fighting Stars Editor’s Award), Ed Parker (Instructor of
the Year, American Freestyle Arts), Lily Siou (Instructor of the
Year, Chinese Arts), Hidy Ochiai (Instructor of the Year, Japanese
Arts), Richard Chun (Instructor of the Year, Korean Arts), Brett
Barron (Judo Competitor of the Year), Ray McCallum (Karate
Competitor of the Year) and Charles Chaves (Judo Instructor of
the Year). - The Ichiban Sports Complex, America’s fourth Olympic judo
training center, opens in Rogers, Arkansas. - “People sometimes hear about capoeira, but they don’t know
there are distinctions [between] capoeira Angola and capoeira
original,” says Jose Lorenzo, a practitioner in Oakland, Cali-
fornia. “There were a lot of things that Bimba created himself,
quite a few new movements. He blended capoeira at one point
with jujitsu.” - In the age of innocence, a reader writes, “I have been looking
over some issues involving Chuck Norris, and I am amazed by
this man. Could you send me his address so I can write to him?” - And in the age of more free time, another reader writes, “A few
weeks ago, I sent a letter hoping you would forward it to Chuck
Norris. ... A day ago, I received a hand-written letter to my reply
from Chuck Norris.”
(Note: Back issues are not for sale.)82 BLACKBELTMAG.COM § AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2019