Striking Distance: Bruce Lee and the Dawn of Martial Arts in America

222 Pages·2016·3.7 MB·English

by  Charles Russo

Striking Distance
Striking Distance
Bruce Lee & the Dawn of Martial Arts in America
Charles Russo
University of Nebraska Press | Lincoln & London
© 2016 by Charles Russo Cover image © iStockphoto.com / Pascal Genest
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Russo, Charles, 1975– Title: Striking distance:
Bruce Lee and the dawn of martial arts in America / Charles Russo.
Description: Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, [2016] Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015035013
ISBN 9780803269606 (cloth: alk. paper) ISBN 9780803290495 (epub) ISBN 9780803290501 (mobi) ISBN
9780803290518 (pdf) Subjects: LCSH: Lee, Bruce, 1940–1973. | Martial artists—United States—Biography.
| Martial arts—United States—History.
Classification: LCC GV1113.L44 R87 2016 | DDC 796.8092—dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015035013
The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-
party websites or their content.
For Angelo and Cel . . .
As Grandpa Charlie told me— “Keep punching!”
Do not repeat the tactics which have gained you one victory, but let your methods be regulated by the
infinite variety of circumstances.
—Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Contents
Prologue: The Dissident
Part 1. San Francisco
1. The Patriarch
2. Native Son
3. The Good Long Fist
4. The Little Dragon
5. The Soft Arts
6. Three Moves or Less
Part 2. Oakland
7. The Innovator
8. The Hawaiian Connection (Part One)
9. The Hawaiian Connection (Part Two)
10. Way of the Integrated Fist
Part 3. 1964
11. Year of the Green Dragon
12. Long Beach
13. Incident at the Sun Sing Theater
14. Exchanging Hands
15. Aftermath
Epilogue: Screen Test
Acknowledgments
Author’s Note
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Illustrations
1. Lee family immigration documents
2. Lau Bun, patriarch of San Francisco’s early martial arts culture
3. Lau Bun with his senior students
4. Members of the Hop Sing Tong
5. Wong Tim Yuen, another martial arts pioneer
6. A martial arts demonstration at the Central Guoshu Institute in China
7. T. Y. Wong during a San Francisco street demonstration
8. The cover of T. Y. Wong’s 1961 book on martial arts
9. Tai chi master Choy Kam Man
10. Master Choy Kam Man with his students
11. Modern martial arts pioneer James Yimm Lee
12. James Lee demonstrating the Iron Palm
13. A young Bruce Lee
14. Bruce Lee working out on the wooden dummy
15. Wally Jay and Professor Henry Okazaki
16. Students from Henry Okazaki’s advanced jujitsu seminars
17. Ed Parker, a martial artist of the Hawaiian school
18. Bruce Lee, Ralph Castro, and Ed Parker
19. Leo Fong during his semipro boxing days at Hendrix College
20. Notable figures at the inaugural Long Beach International Karate
Championship