My name is Ian. I am the assistant director for Karate college.A few of you guys should know its easier to contact a person than just sprid gossip about them!
I sent him an e-mail and he was kind enough to reply:
"Let me start by saying that I have never owned a JKD school or ever taught JKD as an art/system or style. My market concerns karate/tae kwon do/kickboxing programs. I have written extensively on the subject of JKD.I have promoted JKD camps. In fact I started the OJKD versus JKDC controversy. Here'show; In 1982 a magazine publisher contracted with me to write a Bruce Lee book. I was given a contact with Larry Hartsel in Charlotte NC. I was invited to meet Dan Inosanto and train at the seminar. I enjoyed meeting Dan. He and I had a lot in common as teachers. I spent a lot of time with him. After I published the first article on the Charlotte NC JKD school for Official Karate in about 1983/84 I became somewhat of a local JKD hero for the concepts guys. They knew I could get them in print. I was invited to attend a lot of seminars/camps. I promoted JKD seminars for Larry, Graciella and others in the JKDC camp. I always had full access with Dan, Larry and the promoter. I trained not for apprentice certification but for knowledge. Dan knew I was writing a book. I met Paula in 1984 in Chicago when she had black hair and waited tables. By 1987 Paula had taken control of Dan. I was lucky to get his attention while training at the seminar let alone have lunch. I dropped out of the seminar circuit to complete the book. No secretly taped discussions. I still have the interviews.
When the book was complete in 1987 Dan, Paula and I rode together from the lake photo shoot in NC (photos are on their website and my book) and Dan told me how much he liked what I had to say. The Inosanto's received a, from the publisher, copy of the manuscript to read and make changes. The book was dedicated to Dan and had an endorsement from Dan on the back cover. After the book was published in 1988 all doors were closed to me in the JKDC program.
Mike Brewer ( you were an exellent teacher at Karate College and we would look forward to having you back) this is the first time I have heard the gossip about secret tapings...not true! I did hear that Dan/Paula was displeased about a photo caption that read "The Pope of JKD" beside Dan's photo. At the time quite a few of his people mentioned this nickname to me. I thought he approved of it. Also I heard that the Silat people were unhappy about a caption that indicated that silat was now a part of JKD. No one called me. They just talked about me behind my back. Kind of like this thread.
At any rate I promoted a JKDC camp before Karate College in about 1989/90. I employed the apprentice/associate instructors and bypassed Larry/Dan etc. I learned later that some resented being left out. By then I could not contact Dan, Paula would not let me talk to him. I was writing a column for Karate International and began to introduce non -concepts instructors.I introduced the idea of an "Original" art. My second JKD book came out in 1992 which no doubt sealed my fate as an outcast from the concepts organization. Keep in mind that I was the first to write a book on the concepts method. I helped them they just didn't return the favor.
All the magazine editors knew me ( I had published articles for them) so there was no way the letter would be published. Meanwhile a guy by the name of Michael Krivka was hired by a local kali instructor to come to Radford and give a seminar. Krivka hit himself in the eye with a whip at the beginning of the class and had to go to the hospital. I said something clever/rude about the event and Krivka took it personal. He began to spread gossip and lied about having a conversation with me. We passed notes and insults like little girls. His buddy Patty Finley got into the act. I had my attorney contact Paula and Krivka. The cost of taking them to court for libel and slander was too high.
What Krivka doesn't point out is that the Paula Inosanto letter went on for 6 pages. All six pages were intended to be a complaint against the Inside karate editor John Soet (an Inosanto family member by marriage to Dan's sister Lil). krivka leaves out the fact that my name was mentioned in her letter only because my name was used in one sentance in the article "The return of Bruce Lee's original JKD" that was published in the Inside Karate magazine in 1993.
According to Paula Inosanto...
"As for Dr. Jerry Beasley ( author of the popular books, The JKD Experience; JKD: High-Risk sparring and the top selling JKD video series for Panther productions) he is neither qualified nor certified, and has apparently proclaimed himself an authority on a subject which he knows close to nothing. Dr. Beasley is not a trained practitioner in the arts of Si Gung Lee. To the best of our knowledge, he attended less than a handful of seminars, during which time he would merely observe and take notes. He is an "armchair" Jun Fan / JKD fraud. He misrepresents the facts and misleads the public. It is a shame the press lends space to promoting this type of individual.
I have several seminar certificates from Dan Inosanto. Dan personally wrote out a teaching plan for me to follow when I taught my students. Here's a copy of a certificate written By Dan and awarded to me for completing 56 hrs in Jeet Kune Do and kali.
http://www.aikia.net/KaliJKD.html
Now Dan knew I was qualified. He helped teach me. And Paula knew I was qualified. She and her boyfiiend nate deSensor were students in the same class as me in Chicago. I was a standout in the JKD class. Larry Hartsell often had me demonstrate boxing and kicking skills.
So why was my name mentioned? Well Paula was trying to make the point that she had read the Paul Bax article in Inside karate and she felt that I had betrayed Dan when my quote about not being able to attract people interested in JKDC to my camps. Kind of overkill to call me a fake but that's an emotional woman for ya.
As someone mentioned in this thread I pulled Joe Lewis into the JKD battel . I wrote articles about Joe and Bruce. Joe is the best fighter ever to train with Bruce. That statement, although true, irritates some. Joe is his own man with his own art and fan club and has no interest, except when people pay him, in talking about Bruce. And yes Joe did give me a letter in January 1993 certifying me to teach the JKD Bruce taught him. That was after training with Joe for 10 years! If you think that Bruce taught Joe little about JKD then have no concern. I teach and write about JKD as a subject matter not unlike a JKDC instructor might teach a section on silat/wing chun/savate etc.
Now for ninjutsu. I am a career martial artist. I research, write about and teach martial arts as a professor. My interest started only when I was contracted by Black Belt magazine to write an article about Andrew Adams who wrote the first book on ninjutsu called "Ninja: Invisible Assassins". Adams was a former college professor from southwest VA (sounds familar). Ninjutsu became popular in 1980 as a secret art. Karate became popular in 1950's as a secret art. When the karate groups began tournament competition in the late 1950's/early 1960's the art began to grow and spread across the states.. If karate had done nothing more than remain as a secret art for breaking bricks, boards etc. it would have vanished from popularity within four or five years. Such was the case for ninjutsu." If we do not learn from history we are doomed to repeat it." I told the ninja masters that without a sport competition they would find only a passing interest to the American public. I had learned from history. I created a sport for them to participate. I promoted sport ninjutsu seminars and published articles. They refused to participate. Too deadly they said. Too bad I said. By 1985 they were gone, doomed to repeat history. Vanished to appearences at halloween, an in movies. They should have listened to a college professor.
I'll answer any questions you may have. Some of the members on this thread know me and it would have been nice had you informed me that I was being toasted. Thanks for the members who helped out.
www.aikia.net
Dr.Jerry Beasley
Black Belt Magazine Hall of Fame
Instructor of the Year 2000