Truth About Gary Dill

[thaiboxer67]

i have had a seminar with Mr. Dill.. he may have had some authentic traing from back in the day, but i feel where he is going is a waste of MY (not yours maybe ) time. his statement"the elite don't compete " is rather like the death touch claims and i saw where that went in i think it was ufc 2 or 3. so that and the crap Kali theyu were doing just isn't what would be uaseful to me. yes i trust he worked under James Lee, but i have trained under Dan Inosanto and that doesn't make me a JKD torch bearer in the slightest.that is where i don't jump on the band wagon. also he does have some odd polituics..very odd...as for teh doctored letter i think that went to court in the case of KRivka,mrs. Inosanto,AND pAT fINELY SOME TIME AGO...they were accused of libel i belief by a certain prof. in southern VA that lays claim to a JKD title.

[Raymond23]

YES, THE REAL TRUTH ABOUT PROF. GARY DILL
There are some varying opinions on Prof. Gary Dill in regards to Jeet Kune Do. However some very basic and important facts are being overlooked.

1) He was there training at the Oakland Ca. school. Let me repeat: HE WAS THERE (period).

2) He was given permission to teach JKD. For James Yimm Lee to even consider this, Prof. Dill must have had acceptable proficiency and knowledge, or it would not have even been considered.

*Attitudes and opinions have drastically changed over the decades in the Martial Arts. Although James Yimm Lee and Bruce Lee had their ideals at the time about how they wanted JKD to be. What is shown in the letter is the discretion of the time (1972). Just like all other training methods and styles (some secret and protected) at that time, the Martial Arts have now become global, they are truly borderless and International. Like it or not, this is the world we live in, and knowledge is spread, it is shared, and people profit from it. Back in the early 70's it would be absurd to think a Led Zeppelin song would be used by Cadillac, but guess what? times have changed. Get used to it. If Bruce or James were alive today, they'd be doing the same thing as all the other leading Grandmasters and Founders, they'd be earning a living from it and their students would be doing the same. Do not foolishly compare idealistic values from 1972 with the world we currently live in. It is foolish and unrealistic.

3) Countless other individuals are now spreading their knowledge of JKD. Would we rather it disappear? Of course not, we are lucky to have those original few students who are handing down their knowledge, their views, their spin on JKD and what happened in those early days. It is the way the Martial Arts will continue for generations to come.

4) Not every Martial Artist will look like Bruce Lee. Prof. Dill does not. Not every football coach will look like Emmitt Smith. Does Ditka look like the best football player in the world today? No, but few would dispute his knowledge of the game. Although Prof. Dill's dvd's & tapes are not filmed like a hollywood movie, the information is there, the techniques are there, the drills are there, he is handing down his knowledge just like every other stylist. I guarantee you don't look like Bruce Lee either, so get over it. Those attacking Prof. Dill do not have the ethics of the early 1970's they are so diligently trying to protect. If they did, they would be respectful to someone with Prof. Dill's history.

Prof. Gary Dill's place in Jeet Kune Do is indisputable, why? Because he was training under James Yimm Lee during a very important time for JKD's development. He has the training manuals, he has the knowledge, he had the permission to teach it back then and he has it now. He is sharing his knowledge. Your opinion is what it is....just an opinion, at the end of the day, shared JKD knowledge is something that is way more important and powerful and it will never stop.

- Bruce Lee's birth name was Lee (Li) Yuen Kam, given to him by his Mother.

- He was later renamed Lee (Li) Jun Fan by his Father. Roughly meaning "Return Again" in reference to Bruce Lee's birth place of San Francisco, the city where he was born in the USA.

- The name Bruce Lee was given to him by a nurse in the hospital in San Francisco, for the purposes of his US birth certificate.

- As a child he was known as Sai Fung meaning Little Phoenix, a girl's name, which according to members of the Lee family was a precautionary step given their spiritual beliefs.

[JadeDragon]

Jun Fan I believe was Bruce Lee's name. Not sure about copy writing a persons name. Chinese gung fu certainly couldn't be copyrighted as it's simply transliterated Chinese with the countries internationally recognized 'English name' at the beginning.

JKD could have been considered intellectual property though.

Jun Fan was his name. It means Little Pheonix which is a girls name. They named him this to try to fool the spirits so that he would not continue the Lee family "curse". Unfortunitely it did not work, he died anyways of a weird reaction to an aspiren (causing a brain anurisum or something like that). Bruce never took medications of any kind. His body was not used to aspiren.

[TMAA]

Staying true to what this thread started on with this letter, I don’t think he would have copy righted the name since according to James Lee… “JKD shun commercialism, profit motives”. Doing this would violate this philosophy and it appears that this is what the letter addressed to Professor Gary Dill from James Lee was trying to address.

Does any one else have an opinion based off this letter or personal historical knowledge?

[Junka]

In retrospect, Bruce himself should have copyrighted the terms jeet kune do, jkd,
jun fan, chinese gungfu, and nonclassical gungfu.

Jun Fan I believe was Bruce Lee's name. Not sure about copy writing a persons name. Chinese gung fu certainly couldn't be copyrighted as it's simply transliterated Chinese with the countries internationally recognized 'English name' at the beginning.

JKD could have been considered intellectual property though.

[TMAA]

What's the point of this Thread?

What was this letter suppose to prove?

I read it several times, and it validates what is on Professor Dill’s website in the first place.

1) On page. 1; James Lee states that Gary learned the techniques from himself “as the author of JKD”

2) He trained with James Lee where there were only 10 students or less.

3) The letter seems more like an informal instruction letter from his teacher reminding Professor Dill the philosophy of JKD and how to address the passing on of knowledge keeping it as a work out session. It appears to me that the reporter inserted that Professor Dill was an instructor and James wanted to clarify it before it got out of hand.

I guess Bruce didn't have an eye for business.

Page 1: “JKD shuns commercialism, profit, motive”

I've also been told that he had a doctored version so that he could pass himself off as certified.

Can you please back this up, who told you. Conjuncture is not enough evidence. You found this letter, I’m sure you can find the doctored versions.

Crucify or Justify....
The fact still remains.
He forged his JKD cert.
he even declares it as a style.

Is still don’t see any “facts” can you please give me a link or some form of documentation?

I've seen more than enough. I saw some of his videos. I'm not saying anything else .....

Can you please give me links to these videos or where I can find them so I can watch them?

Since it appears everyone here would rather base their facts on conjuncture and hide behind this forum while providing no real evidence, I’m going to take a trip up to Erie where his next seminar is going to be and ask Professor Gary Dill himself about what is being stated on this forum just out of morbid curiosity at this point.

Does anyone else have questions that they want to me to ask Professor Dill?

And can someone please provide me some real evidence and documents? I want to know and read more about this. There seems to be a lot of smart martial artist historians on this forum and I’m sure you can help me out more.

Thanks!

[Ben Grimm]

I guess Bruce didn't have an eye for business.

[fenwick99]

In retrospect, Bruce himself should have copyrighted the terms jeet kune do, jkd,
jun fan, chinese gungfu, and nonclassical gungfu. He should have done it bk. in 1967 or 1968. Then he could have been in absolute control of what jkd (etc.) is and is not, and who can or can't teach what aspect of the art. It went against his Krishnamurtian
individualism, but it would have been better for the Lee arts and for the arts in general.
BTW the Tackett/Bremer book is the best martial arts text of all time, and it answers 99.9% of all questions.

[John McNabney]

If you really research the "THRUTH", you'll see that he has been living a lie for some time now... Enough said!!!


Keep "IT" Real

[thaiboxer67]

i agree with mr Arola..his kali is light years behind what was used to kill Magellan

[danjuandesiga]

FYI.......

In May 2009, Professor Dill will be on the Tactical Hapkido’s Podcast show explaining his background, training and stories.

Right now there is an open invitation for all to send in their questions directly to Professor Gary Dill at feedback@tacticalhapkido.com, or you can come and talk to him at the Double Impact Seminar, where he will be more than happy to answer any questions you may have.

This is a unique even since there will be a great cook out after the event, which will give everyone plenty of time to meet him informally.

Watch for podcast show at: Tactical Hapkido's Blog
Or visit double impactfor seminar info and times.

I've seen more than enough. I saw some of his videos. I'm not saying anything else .....

[TMAA]

FYI.......

In May 2009, Professor Dill will be on the Tactical Hapkido’s Podcast show explaining his background, training and stories.

Right now there is an open invitation for all to send in their questions directly to Professor Gary Dill at feedback@tacticalhapkido.com, or you can come and talk to him at the Double Impact Seminar, where he will be more than happy to answer any questions you may have.

This is a unique even since there will be a great cook out after the event, which will give everyone plenty of time to meet him informally.

Watch for podcast show at: Tactical Hapkido's Blog
Or visit double impactfor seminar info and times.

[thaiboxer67]

i currently am NOT trianing to fight..i do compete in bjj ,however i also have a bcakground in boxing and muay thai and fillipino ma. i AM NO expert, and not a TEACHER however i could point you to several in this area that got a bit better cerdentials than mr. Dill if you are interested...they also have jkd creds through Dan Inosanto who i suspect still has some claim of knowledge about JKD. they also are navy SEAL types and other FMA?JKD types that spend a good deal of time working with Dan Inosanto. i remember Gary's mantra was the elite do not compete back in the day..he may have changed it, but that was the mantra uttered by all the big trad. arts folks in early ufc days....and look where it got them. the bad side of a highlight reel. so follow who you want, do what works for you, and expect no answers from me i can only show you the path i walked, but tell me you are speaking what is jkd? and i will probably doubt you a little. no offfense.

[danjuandesiga]

Paula Inosanto confirmed it in a letter sent to a known major MA Magazine publisher. Now Rain, my man I'm sure I believe you about how badass Dill is as a fighter, but Paula Inosanto also happens to be a legitimate authority on the subject. She herself has the credentials to back what she had to say about Prof Dill's (so-called)legitimacy as a "Jun Fan Gung Fu"(JKD) instructor. Ask her yourself. She can set the fact straight. I do know that Mrs. Inosanto's letter about Dill is floating around online somewhere.