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Living
Legends VII
Living
Legends honored some of the top fighters and form champions of sport
karate at the Celebrity Roast on Saturday evening.
“Living Legends was created to educate this generation on the
people who actually pioneered the sport of karate.
The Southeast is a haven for great sport karate competitors and
pioneers who promoted the sport to a new level in the last 30-40
years,” say promoters Ricky and Edie Smith. Joe Corley, promoter
of the thirty-six year “Battle of Atlanta” which launched the career
of many of these great champions, was the master of ceremonies for the
Celebrity Roast. Some of
the highlights of the weekend were a Best of the Best Forms Competition,
Sport Karate Reunion Reception Party, Troy Price Jiu-Jitsu Exhibition,
Living Legends Seminar, Stranger Danger Kid’s Safety Seminar, Bob Wall
Seminar about Chuck Norris and Bruce Lee, Don “The Dragon” Wilson
Seminar on “Breaking Into the Martial Arts Film Industry” and
Celebrity Roast and Show, honoring Hanshi Jerry C. Piddington, one of
the pioneer fighters of sport karate.
Spectators got a chance to meet celebrity stars and enjoy a
martial arts extravaganza. An
all-star lineup of celebrities and martial artists, who are some of
Hanshi Jerry Piddington’s closest comrades, students, and past opponents were there
to toast Mr. Piddington in a Hollywood style roast which ended up in a
tell-all of the funniest experiences of their career in and out of the
ring. Jerry Piddington is
the seventh pioneer of sport karate to be honored by Living Legends.
“Mr. Piddington is the epitome of sport karate.
I have admired his fighting ability since I was a kid,” says
Gary Lee, originator of the Living Legends Celebrity Roast.
“I met Ricky Smith, head of Mr. Piddington’s karate
association, AKANA, at Bob Wall’s Celebrity Roast in Burbank
California, last year and asked him if he would host a Living Legends
event honoring Mr. Piddington in Charlotte, NC.
Ricky gladly accepted the invitation.”
Hanshi Piddington is the founder of American Open Style Karate and
American Karate Academies National Association, with most of his schools
in the southeast. He now
resides in Jacksonville, Oregon. Friday,
6:00 p.m. — Martial Arts
schools sent their best competitors to perform in a Best of the Best
Forms Competition. Celebrity
judges, such as Don “The Dragon” Wilson, selected winners to perform
as a tribute to the Living Legend on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. during the
banquet dinner and show. Winners
were Denise Jensen in traditional kata, Terri Jacoby in weapons, and
Dennis Tosten in the entertainment division.
Garry Dillingham was the arbitrator. Friday,
9:00 p.m. — A reception
was held with food and drinks. Many
of the guests arrived and saw friends and comrades for the first time in
decades. The party livened
up when Joe Lewis arrived. Lots
of photos were taken and autographs were signed. Saturday,
9:00 a.m. —
Hanshi Piddington conducted a forms (empty-hand kata) test called Tomoe
Warrior Test. This is the first time Mr. Piddington has opened the test to
all styles. There were a
five kata, ten kata, and seventeen kata test.
Students who passed received a handmade Tomoe (the Okinawan
karate symbol) pendant and a certificate signed by Hanshi Piddington and
his AKANA’s high dans, Dan McCall and Dan Wilson.
Seventeen kata is the marathon of the tests and the 14k gold
tomoe pendant has three diamond inserts symbolizing the mind, body, and
spirit. Saturday,
11:00 a.m. — Mike Genova,
who has owned and operated a successful karate school in Columbia, SC,
for thirty years, conducted a kid’s safety seminar called Stranger
Danger. It was designed to
teach kids how to protect themselves against bullies and strangers.
He played a cartoon video that he produced as part of the
program, which was a big hit with the parents and kids. Genova was also
inducted as a “Living Legend Sport Karate Fighter” at the banquet on
Saturday evening. Saturday,
12:00 noon — About
forty Bruce
Lee and Chuck Norris fans participated in a seminar with Bob Wall.
Bob Wall is the only actor to co-star in three of Bruce Lee’s
five movies. He is best known for his role as the evil O’hara in Enter
the Dragon, one of Warner Brothers top ten grossing films of all
times. Bob trained with
Bruce Lee for 10 years. This
year marks the thirtieth year anniversary of Bruce Lee’s death. Also, Mr. Wall has been Chuck Norris’ business partner and
friend for 38 years. He
gave a presentation on his life experiences with these two great
legends. Saturday,
2:00 p.m. — Martial
artists fine-tuned their fighting skills with four of the greatest
karate fighters of all times — Joe Lewis, Howard Jackson, Jeff Smith,
and Don “The Dragon” Wilson. This
dream team of Living Legends instructors taught some of the fighting
skills that made them champions. Troy
Price of Columbia, S.C. warmed up the participants with an extraordinary
jiu-jitsu exhibition. “I
wanted this to be a seminar with the legends that introduced the
fighting skills that we teach in our dojos today,” said promoter Ricky
Smith. “I sat down and
thought of my choice of the world’s greatest karate/kickboxing
champions that I would want to train with and these were the ones,
except for Bill Wallace who had other commitments.”
All of the participants received a certificate signed by the
instructors. “For
thirty-five dollars, a person could come and train in a two hour seminar
with four 30-minute sessions by four of the greatest fighters in the
history of sport karate, wow!” Joe
Lewis actually started kickboxing by fighting the first kickboxing match
in history and was voted “greatest karate fighter of all time.”
Howard Jackson, Chuck Norris’ training partner, is the only
fighter to hold championship titles in point karate, full-contact
karate, boxing, and kickboxing. Jeff
Smith is a seven-time World Light-Heavy Weight Kickboxing Champion and
the first recipient of the Bruce Lee Award for “fighter of the
year.” Don Wilson is the
only fighter to win 11 Kickboxing World Titles in six different weight
divisions. He has a record
of 71 wins with 47 KO’s. All
of these champions are members of the prestigious Black Belt Hall of
Fame. Saturday,
4:15 p.m. — Don “The
Dragon” Wilson conducted a seminar on “Breaking into the film
industry as a martial artist.” His
next film called Sci-fighter will be released in February
2004. “The Dragon” is
one of the very few martial artists who have successfully bridged a
career as a full-contact champion and a movie star.
You can visit www.donthedragonwilson.com for a resume of his long
list of film credits. Saturday,
7:00 p.m. — The
Celebrity Roast began at 7:30 p.m. as 310 people were seated at a semi
formal dinner. Promoter
Ricky Smith introduced the roasting team one at a time like a fight
announcer introducing a fighter as he enters the ring.
This helped set the stage for the roasting competition that was
about to begin. The
roasting team of Joe Corley, members of Jerry Piddington’s undefeated
kickboxing team in the 1970’s called the “Charlotte Warhawks” (Dan
Wilson - trainer, Dan McCall – heavy weight, Jimmy Horsley – middle
weight, Ricky and Randy Smith – super light weights called “The Gold
Dust Twins,” and Gene Smith - manager), Garry Dillingham, Larry
Bullard, Dennis Brown, Jeff Smith, Howard Jackson, Joe Lewis, Roger
Greene, Eva Leazer Piddington, and Bob Wall entered the arena and took a
seat at the roasting table as an intro song hand-picked by promoter Edie
Smith to fit each of their characters was played.
For example Bob Wall’s intro song was “Enter the Dragon”
and Dennis Brown’s intro song was “Everyone was Kung-Fu Fighting.” Preliminaries
were the National Anthem by Sandy Wise, a prayer by Ricky Smith, and an
Indian Ceremonial Blessing by Jacob “Little Pony” Deuber from the
Rappahannock Tribe, one of the oldest indigenous tribes recognized in
the state of Virginia. One
moment that displayed the true character of Jerry Piddington and brought tears
to the audience was a letter read by Ricky Smith from a father of one of
Jerry Piddington’s students, Tony Ingle.
The letter praised Mr. Piddington for his nine years of endurance
and patience as the study of martial arts helped his son overcome
autism. Tony was tested and
scored 16 out of 16, being the most severe.
Earlier this year, a complete brain image scan was performed at a
prestigious medical facility and there were no signs of autism.
Doctors concluded that the left and right movements of martial
arts became too strong and eventually overcame the autism. Joe
Corley and Bob Wall recognized numerous pioneers and champions of sport
karate by calling them forward to receive certificates mounted on
beautiful plaques signed by Jerry Piddington and Bob Wall.
Some of the recipients who received these awards were Don “The
Dragon” Wilson, Bob Wall, Joe Lewis, Jeff Smith, Howard Jackson, Joe
Corley, Sam Chapman, Roger Greene, Ben Kiker, Dennis Brown, George
Anderson, Larry Lunn, Carl Wilcox, Jim La Rocco, Devorah Dometrich, Lynn
Scott Gregory, Larry Rienhardt, Roy Williams, Al Sussman, Richard Smith,
George Baker, Rhonda “Ridgehand” Alexander, Gary Basinger, Bruce
Brutschy, Dan McCall, Larry Bullard, Curtis Bush, Garry Dillingham, Mike
Genova, Jeff Gripper, Art Heller, Larry Hodges, Tommy Hood, Jimmy
Horsley, Jerome “Magic” Johnson, Charlie June, John Maynard, Maurice
Moore, “The Gold Dust Twins” - Ricky & Randy Smith, Jessie
Thornton, James White, Stokes Hairston, and many more. One of
the tearful moments of the evening for Mr. Piddington was Jeff Smith
receiving the Keith Haflick Memorial Full-Contact Award.
Keith was one of the members of Mr. Piddington’s “Charlotte
Warhawks,” an undefeated kickboxing team.
Jeff Smith defeated Keith Haflick in the first 11 round
light-heavy weight kickboxing championship in 1976, which Jerry
Piddington promoted in Charlotte, NC. The American Karate Academies National Association (AKANA) sponsored the “Spirit of the Eagle” Fighter Awards by selecting six of the toughest fighters in the history of sport karate, who were Joe Lewis, Bob Wall, Jerry Piddington, Howard Jackson, Jeff Smith, and Don “The Dragon” Wilson. These Living Legends Alumni held their statues of an American eagle high above their heads as fans and comrades cheered and applauded. This was an electrifying moment and the highlight of the evening worthy of a cover shot on any martial arts magazine. The favorite entertainment of the evening was a classical black light nunchaku show performed by Roy & Mary Williams, from Jacksonville, Florida. Jake Brown of Oregon, a student of Hanshi Piddington, performed a traditional kata as a tribute to Mr. Piddington. James Wojitas of Oregon, also a student of Hanshi Piddington, performed a sword kata for Mr. Piddington. After
Joe Corley read a letter by karate champion Mike Stone congratulating
Mr. Piddington and wishing him happiness, Ricky Smith introduced a
surprise guest and roaster who was an avid martial artist and movie
star. As the crowd waited
with anticipation to the music of "Space Odyssey", none other
than an Elvis impersonator entered the room and sang a melody of Elvis
songs. Before roasting
Jerry, he jokingly asked if anyone had seen that Mike Stone character.
He then proceeded to roast Jerry by singing a personalized
rendition of "My Way", paying tribute to Jerry by singing
“he chartered every karate class with each kid in mind along the way
and yes, much more than this, Jerry did it his way.” In his
professional and cool manner, Joe Corley started the roasting
competition by machine gunning Piddington with multiple insults.
Danny McCall jabbed his long-time instructor for misleading him
in the fact that he would be financially successful by fighting
full-contact karate. Randy
Smith remembered a time when he and his twin, Ricky, use to pray that
their instructor, Jerry, would have a flat tire on the way to China
Grove from Charlotte to train them.
“That’s how bad we didn’t want him to show up, because we
knew the workouts were going to be tough, and guess what, one time he
called and said he had a flat tire and we praised the Lord.”
Gene Smith bowed out of telling the good roasting stories about
their long working relationship saying, “they would probably
incriminate me as well,” and praised Jerry for helping his sons
establish their name as “The Gold Dust Twins.”
Garry Dillingham roasted Piddington by demonstrating a lion
performing kata. Larry
Bullard recounted his first impression of Piddington as
Piddington would score a point in the ring and then go gather a kiss
from a beautiful hippie girl who would be sitting admiringly at
ringside. Bullard commented that it was clear that Piddington
could score at will. Dennis Brown gave tribute to Hanshi
Piddington for bringing his instructor, Willy Lynn, to America, thereby
accredited Jerry for his soft style lineage.
Jeff Smith flurried Piddington with a barrage of jokes and
questions about his
resume, which he printed off the internet.
Howard entertained the audience with a hilarious story about how
Piddington was devil possessed as a fighter and how the demon possessed
fighter turned into a guy who only wants to kissy kissy and huggy huggy.
Joe Lewis talked about the definition of a champion and used the
roast as an opportunity to plug his new book.
Eva, Piddington’s wife, told a story illustrating the range of
her husband’s personalities from how he once broke out of jail to his
sensitive nature as a father. Bob Wall read a letter from Chuck Norris stating that he
hoped that Jerry did not get burned to badly by the master roaster - Bob
Wall himself. Mr. Wall went for the
knockout pulling no punches in a no-holds barred main event roast of
jokes and insults, which bordered a PG to R rating.
“It was perfect,” says promoter Ricky Smith, “Bob was
nailing Jerry in a way that made the kids laugh, but only the adults
understood the hidden meaning of the jokes.
We gave all the roasters a list of five rules and #4 rule was no
vulgarity or obsessive profanity.” Mr.
Piddington made a grand entrance for his retaliation by stepping up on
and over the roasting table and squaring off nose to nose with Joe
Corley as Elvis sang, “Are you looking for trouble, look right in my
face.” Mr. Piddington
hammered everyone with low blows and fouls, including special guest Don
“The Dragon” Wilson, by challenging him to a kickboxing fight.
Don quickly accepted the challenge. Singer,
Sandy Wise, closed out the evening with a spiritual song called "Strong
Enough". Promoter Edie
Smith said, “We selected this song because even though the fighters
that we honored are some of the strongest men and women on earth, they
still need God to be strong enough.” Joe
Lewis said if he could describe the event in one word, it would be - class.
This is exactly what promoters Edie and Ricky Smith had in mind
when they put the program together. Bob Wall agreed when he said,
“These martial artists, such as Jerry Piddington, deserve to be
recognized with class and this event showed a lot of it.”
Ricky Smith stated, “as roasters were speaking, it was evident
their intelligence and wit were qualities that made these champions the
most successful leaders of today’s martial arts.” Promoter Edie Smith said that many people were verbalizing their appreciation and gratitude about the event. “To have that caliber of martial arts talent in one room and realizing how many lives have been changed through the martial arts by these men and women made the work of this event a pleasure,” said Edie. “Many comments were made on how martial arts celebrities such as Don Wilson, Bob Wall, Joe Lewis, Jeff Smith, and Howard Jackson interacted with the fans, signing autographs and gladly allowing pictures. This helped to make a very successful and memorable event for everyone.”
Contacts: Ricky
& Edie Smith Bob Wall
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