Kenpo History with Grandmaster Chuck Sullivan 

Senior Grandmaster Chuck Sullivan has been my instructor for many years now. He promoted me from white belt to fourth-degree black belt. He is an amazing individual!

That's definitely one 91 year old I wouldn't dare mess with! Thanks for a great interview. Best wishes for many more years of health, happiness and Kenpo to SGM Chuck Sullivan, truly a living legend personified. 🙏❤

Woah 91 and still doing martial arts?! That’s awesome. Truly badass!

When Mr. Chuck Sullivan said anyone can memorize a bunch of techniques but can they use the techniques was so relevant to the current view of martial arts about focusing on the techniques that work for you and discarding what does not. There was once a time where more was better but I'm discovering that less is more. I think this applies to every martial arts style. There will be some techniques we naturally gravitate to and others we might use sparingly or not at all because they just don't fit into our personal skills inventory.

I remember Mr. Sullivan talking about how he met Bruce Lee. Fascinating stuff! Big respect to his Kenpo dedication.

Let's not forget Professor Nick Cereo. He is also a direct predecessor of yip man. God bless him and all who paved the way and showed patience.

This guy is amazing! It's awesome to learn how he developed his method of training!😎

This man is a legend.

Fantastic Dan. I have been in Martial arts for 46 years, and in 1996 i got into IKCA. And SGM Chuck Sullivan has been my master instructor for all these years. From white to now 9 Dan. Full salute

Chuck Sullivan is a legend! Thanks for this interview!

Study and earned my purple belt under SGM Sullivan and GM Vic LeRoux via there VHS Series as I lived some distance from a Kenpo Dojo. They made the learning process interesting and stimulating. Enjoyed being one of the many students that had the pleasure of learning Kenpo.

Chuck is full of energy for a 91 yr old, he reminds me of Rick Fliar, even did the Woo!! at the end, haha. Very interesting history he brings to conversation, even about Parker and Jimmy Wu connection.

THANK YOU-- this comes down to " it's AINT the art- it's the ARTIST".... and (practice ONE thing thousands of times- )

Dan thanks for such a great interview...MD

It's nice to see that he recognizes your interviewing skills. It's easy for that to go unnoticed. There's a talent to it that I love in you.

Thanks, Dan. I cannot get enough of these history of styles segments. I am a lover of history and martial arts. These intrigue me.

I will say this, Kenpo is a beautiful art. The skill involved is amazing. There are a lot of detractors who will say that an attacker doesn't stand still while you throw 4 different angle strikes. I get that and I think Kenpo has an answer for those who say that. But I also know a lot of martial artists who don't have the INTELLECTUAL FORTITUDE to MEMORIZE those level of techniques. They can at best throw a jab, right hook, roundhouse kick, etc. Kenpo is like the college of martial arts.

God bless Chuck Sullivan

I cannot fathom, how at 91, SGM Sullivan looks so strong and speaks so sharply. What a testament in longevity. I very much enjoyed this interview.

Fantastic interview with a legendary instructor! Well done.

The image at the beginning of this video of the double dragon claws was first popularized by SUPREME EXCELLENT HIGH GRAND MASTER COUNT DANTE! and should be acknowledged and recognized and humbled by such as brought forward to the World to-day.

Awesome interview! I studied under 7th degree black belt John Conway RIP back in the late 80s early 90s as a teen in Santa Clarita, CA. It was an amazing experience! I've been able to later transfer a lot of my Kenpo knowledge to other aspects in life including dancing and playing instruments. Thanks so much for spreading the word about the beautiful as well as highly functional art of Kenpo. Also much respect to all other martial arts as well.

Always inspiring to listening to Mr. Sullivan. Aloha Ke Akua. God bless.

I met Mr.Sullivan at a training camp in the mid 90’s. This was a special treat for all future Kenpo men and women. You may not realize what a treasure this man is to the history and culture of the art. Modern students always want to point out the differences between this guy’s Kenpo compared to that guy’s Kenpo…someday, you will realize that it’s all Kenpo. You heard Mr.Sullivan say that he constantly learned and assimilated whatever he thought worked, from a variety of sources. That’s real Kenpo. What do you think Mr.Parker did? What’s the goal of Kenpo? -to Win, by constantly adapting to the ever changing conditions of combat. We all have our differences. In the name of techniques, the teachers we trained under, our personal capabilities and limitations, etc. The truth is that we all know fighting and what it takes to win. Getting caught up with who Mr. Parker approved of or who he taught real Kenpo, is a waste of time. Frankly, it dishonors the man. I would rather train with a 18 year old TKD black belt, a collegiate level wrestler, and a washed up former pro boxer than any Kenpo black belt who spends all of their time talking about how they know real Kenpo, but never does any freestyle sparring. Whatever degree you earned, how you changed the Kenpo patch on your gi, the time you wrote out every step in long 4, the kick asz Kenpo demo you did at the county fair while they played “I got the power..” from the Perfect Weapon soundtrack…all of that don’t mean a effing thing without a regular amount of continuous, heavy contact, sparring with all kinds of different people from different backgrounds. Facing that dragon keeps you humble and forces you to see the truth. Mr. Sullivan is 91 and as nice of a person in real life as he was in this interview. But a real fighter is still inside there. May we all be so lucky to experience the Art to his level. Thanks for preserving a true legend of Kenpo in this interview. You have my deepest respect. OSS!

Someone needs to follow senior grandmaster Sullivan around with a digital recorder to get every drop of information we can from this man. He is a wealth of knowledge and history, and probably the last man standing for most of it. He looks absolutely amazing for 91 years old, but he's not going to be here forever. We need to preserve this history before it's gone for good.

This man has a long history of experience and sounds like an incredible person to learn under. Hats off to you, sir

Love that you guys talk about video training. Currently learning a Kenpo system through video cause there isn't a martial arts program near me that I want to train in

Chuck is amazing .. vic leroux sent me the yellow belt dvd for free

I've been waiting for this video for so long.

Another interesting and inspiring interview. Thank you for your great work making these happen. Really love your channel and content.

I heard Frank Trejo tell the same story about how he met Ed Parker , and how he first started going to his dojo .

The Karate Connection!!

Awesome interview with GM Chuck Sullivan Dan Sensei! Great job! 🙏👍🥋 he looks great for a young 91 year old guy, incredible. 💥

Awesome thanks Mr Dan!! Finally the Mr Sullivan video!!!This is Andy Brooks,Evil X is my bands RU-vid channel

Osu Mr. Dan. Very interesting conversation/interview with Mr. Sullivan about the history of Kenpo Karate. Next I'd like to see you have an interview/conversation with anyone who practices Kara-Ho Kenpo Karate as well as Kajukenbo Karate. Thank you. Osu. 👊🏼🐉🐅

That was a great interview & especially your guest’s journey with Kenpo. Now I shall go back to work on Bassai sho.

Trained through the karate connection tapes from him and Vic Leroux as a teenager. 👊🏻

Great man GM Chuck 🙏

91 years old amazing man

We were literally terrified of this guy and Vic La Roux when we were kids. I kind of laugh now when I think back about how these guys were more than human in the minds of so many Kempo practitioners

The legacy of this man will live on within the system for eternity. I appreciate all of the research, blood sweat, and tears as well as a lifetime of years. 'Semper FI' Grandmaster Sullivan! I now understand better the importance of the lineages you speak of during your interview. Superb interview Dan! I have enjoyed your channel since I found it. -A Question, please?... What did the Grandmaster take forward from his Marine self-defense teachings to his current system? Have any forms survived?

My first martial art was Kenpo Karate, but through Nick Cerio’s lineage

Great interview I miss Mister Parker I grew up taking lessons from Joe Huk Frank love those guys

Great interview!!!

Great interview! Love the Jimmy Woo story. Thats what I wanted to know.

This was a fantastic interview! Lots of cool stuff in this video.

Interesting... My father in law trained in Kung Fu, Danzan Ryu, Kenpo and Kajukenbo in Hawaii at the Palama settlement in the late 40's and the 50's. He knew Edmund Parker very well... He trained privately with James Mitose when James Mitose lived in Los Angeles... The Author Dan Millman, Joe Lewis, Bob Wall, Jim Kelly, Dan Inosanto and according to a 2010 interview with Jim Kelly so did Bruce Lee (privately) all trained with Gordon Doversola...

Kempo IS very famous thank you For this Doku Upload thankx

Thank you for sharing this video I truly enjoyed it! Great content as always 🙏

Great interview...thanks for posting.

I'm Irish have never had a problem with the English people. In all our struggles it was against a government. We share so much culture sense of humour and history. The way it is going at the moment it's divided and conquer. Was shocked and ashamed when the Irish government said we had to apologise for being to white. They are saying we have to welcome everyone as we emigrated all over the world. Where do the Irish go usually to what is part of the old empire. They talk English might have a friend were they can sleep on the sofa until they get a job and get up and running nothing free. Watch Kevin Sharkey great at getting his point across. Keep up the good work 🇮🇪👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Could you do a episode on the Martial arts that came out of Brooklyn. Brooklyn was a very Martial art rich Borough of New You. Teacher like Professor Vee( Vee Juitsu) Master Moses Powell( Sanuces Ju Jitsu) Master Alan Lee( Wu Su) Master Ron Duncan ( Nin Jitsu),Master George Cofield (Shotokan)Master Richard Sinclair ( Iron Octopus) ETC. So many Exceptional Martial artist Came out of Brooklyn!

The basics!

Thanks for that. I was lucky to become a personal student of Mr Parker for over 10 years until his passing. Much involved the Sparring and Kickboxing parts of the Art and his coaching. Often lacking today. Salute to Mr Sullivan. 👊

Very good interview. I respect this however why did I not here about Master Jeff Speakman involvement.. Kenpo 5.0

East Coast kenpo professor Nick cerio Kenpo and professor Nancy Lee cerio,Lee Do Kan Kenpo is what we have in Rhode island

Thanks for doing this interview. I was just wondering why there wasn't any questions about ground fighting or JS Kenpo 5.0?

0:18 I had always heard that the late Tom Kelly was the first person promoted to 7th degree by Ed Parker in 1979.

I took kenpo in late 80's early 90's and to be a little bit of a ass I remember 100 and 1 way's to strike the Ball 's of my attacker. good stuff.

So this was interesting but in my years of studying American Kenpo I've never heard of him but I do know about Joe palanzo and Richard "huk" planas who I thought were supposed to be Parker's top people who were to carry the torch and that's where most of my teaching lineage comes from but I've also heard people talk about Mitchell being the top dog and jeff speakman so it just depends on where you're getting your information from I suppose

INTRIGUING!

I wonder how he felt about Al and Jim Tracy Kenpo Karate?????

J avais 10 ans lorsque j ai lu le livre de ed parker..C était en 1966..dans les années 2005..sur Internet j ai vu les images de ce film en noir et blanc des origines qui par rapport au système parker qui a suivit me paraît simple et très efficace sans fioritures inutiles ...

I never hear of Master Tomas Connor in any of these "Origin of Kenpo stories". I wonder why?

Jeff speakman kenpo that he was train by Parker to his kenpo 5.0 is mixed with kenpo and bjj! and he a black belt in both styles he was train by the fames graces in bjj

KEN is PO!

Which Jimmy Woo is he talking about ? The guy that created Kung Fu San Soo ?

What you think of Fred Villari Kempo Karate? I herd he made his system up from other people's research but it is Kempo though I do have his DVD white to black belt course what you think of his training program and stuff like that?

San Soo Jimmy Woo???

Future Kickboxing Karate, TKD (Culture & Tradition) an additional feature. (Kempo, Karate, TKD, Cobra Kai, Eagle Fang, Miyagido fun for the kids) Kempo & Karate styles, TKD (Reference (to learn from) tradition (like Kenjutsu)

Have you heard of a new movie project coming up, The Last Kumite

...James Wing Woo

FUNCIONA na rua??????????.?

This is Kenpo history from Parkers made up paint by numbers technique version but not real Kenpo that was formed before that.

Absorb what is useful and discard what is not...Bruce Lee.

37:23

Kenpo vs kyokushin or muay thai will have 1 result. Leg kick

Take what he says with a grain of salt

and the there is this Juchnik character that claims he learned from James Mitose in a maximum security prison and fabricated the whole kenpo history .

Kenpo? You mean Ryukyu Gung Fu

This entire martial arts fanboy phenomenon is just a bunch of guys who were all nervous and insecure as shit because they knew that they couldn’t really fight, so they all just kept giving each other strokes so that they can keep selling their BS to unknowing kids on the streets.

Listening to this guy brag on about fat old Ed Parker helps me understand why there are so many Bruce Lee fan boys around. 🙄🤦🏼‍♂️😂🤣

IKCA kenpo rocks!!!!!

The guy that coined the phrase I much Rather Fight a guy that knows a 100 kicks then a guy who Practices one kick 1000 times a day is Bruce Lee who coined that phrase

Didnt fred villari promote himself in kenpo?

I really appreciate martial arts but I really think MMA has completely done away with going to traditional schools the traditional martial artist is way ineffective events against someone like AMA practitioner

By the way the Jimmy woo he's talking about is a Tai Chi and I think choy li fut practitioner he's not talking about Jimmy H woo the founder of Kung Fu San Soo