The Beginning!

It was January 1973. We were a "Little League" family, and was always at the Ball Field. As a game was being  played, myself and  7 others decided to play our own game on the senior league field not being used at the time. We chose teams and I was selected to be on my cousin Mike's team. Whiffle Ball was the game. I said, "I'm pitcher!" to which Mike replied, "No, I'm pitching" and slapped me in the face. It wasn't a very hard slap, so I thought he was playing.  I protested and he slapped me again. This time a little harder but still not enough to make me think his was trying to fight for real. I said, "Stop it."  And he slapped me a third time..... IT was ON! He saw in my face that I was now angry and he ran! I chased him all around the ball field and when I caught him we stopped in the middle of Mike's five older brother. Did I mention, this scenario was common for Mike and his brothers as he would start the fight and they would all jump in and do some beating. I knew this and decided not to fight Mike at this particular time.  "We will finish this another time Mike." I said.  After all, it was Me and my friend Joey, who wasn't going to stand with me, and Mike and his 5 bigger, older brothers.

Mike's older brothers worked with my father and the next day, he heard all about how "I was scared of Mike. He could  beat me up!" So my father decided to enroll me in Karate. My mother found the dojo of one Thomas L. Bentley, then Nidan in USA Goju.  That night I was instructed by the 1972 National Brown Belt Champion, Mike Bollenburg then 12. He taught me Front stance, walking and turning.  Horse stance, straight punch. Ready position, attention. I even had to do 20 push ups for trying to watch the rest of the class. It was 2 hours and the roughest, toughest workout I have ever had.  I remember thinking, "If I get thrown, just try to go with it." Not knowing what I was doing, I was unsure if I was doing Karate or Judo. I just knew I feel in love with the disciplined, method of instruction, beauty of the movement, and self empowerment attained through this training. Sensei Bentley is  the toughest Karate-Ka I have ever trained with. He knocked me out 7 times in 7 years. His workouts are very tough pushing  one to the very edge of physical limits. The classes were actually quite dangerous due to a lack of safety equipment as it had not been invented yet. On one occasion, my friend Ben got three teeth knocked out with one kick. Flying spinning hook kick performed by Harvey.

The Dojo was located in Leesburg, Florida in what could be considered the roughest part of town. It had a concrete floor which we, the students, helped paint red so blood wouldn't show. High ceilings with hanging lights it was dimly lit at best. The bottom half of the walls was painted black upper half white. We had two mirrors in the dojo about 8 feet across each.  The workout floor was separated by a bamboo curtain at which everyone bowed to enter through. I many times would sweep and mop the entire dojo floor before class then practice a kata 25-30 times before a 2 hour excruciating workout. What a feeling of accomplishment at the end of a successful injury free session.

I was the smallest 15 year old in the class. I struggled to gain Sensei's attention through constant practice. After class we would line up to shake Sensei's hand. He called me Dude for almost 3 months. Finally, one night we were performing yoko geri down the dojo and he said, "Wow, that's a good side kick, Dude. " "What's your name?", I said, "Ricky" and he misunderstood me to say, "Richie" so he called me ,"Richie" for almost 3 months. While driving with Sensei to Valdosta, GA for a workout with Richard Baillargeon and Soke Joe Ruiz he got my name correct. Apologizing for the mistake , asking why I hadn't corrected him before? I replied, "I knew who you were talking too. Students don't correct Sensei." This was the first of many weekend travels around the southeast United States for training. New Kata, Bunkai Oyo, Kobudo, Jiu Jitsu for assimilation into the dojo. I would learn two or three kata and Sensei would learn 2-3 and sometimes Ben would learn 2-3. When we returned to the dojo each would teach each other the kata they had learned thus insuring accurate recollection among 3  instead of self relience.

Our dojo workout was so tough, that most people simply could not handle it. In the months from November 73 - February 74 Sensei would say, "Line UP!" and Myself, and Ben would line up. Still there was no let up in the workout for 2 hours. Finally a few more joined and we started a tournament team. Members were Sensei Bentley, Bonnie Bentley, Ben Parker, Myself, David Styles, Jim Hoskinson, and John Anderson. The dojo would accumulate points based on the places won in the tournament. 5 points for 1st place, 4 points for 2nd, 3 points for 3rd, etc. Our dojo was the "Dojo of the Year" 1974, 75,76,77,78,79,80 there were over 5,000 students in the tournament circuits and the nearest dojo to our score was 800 points behind. We would all win at least one division and some would win two divisions at every tournament. It felt good to be a winner, a since of mission accomplished and a  job well done. We are performing the techniques correctly and thus have an adequate interpretation. All of my Sensei insisted on accuracy of movement through repetitious practice.  Hito Kata San Nen (One Kata Three Years).