History
I was an 18 year old boxer in Lexington, Missouri in 1959. I had, quite by accident, stumbled across a Tae Kwon Do instructor at the local military school. During those early years, I studied Tae-Kwon-Do, Okinawan Shorei Kempo, Okinawan and Japanese Goju-ryu, JKA style Shotokan, Judo, and Aikido. I became very involved in commercial karate and active in the tournament circuit. It was my good fortune to hear of Tsutomu Ohshima, a direct disciple of the founder of Shotokan Karate, Gichin Funakoshi. Mr. Ohshima was living in Los Angeles and sent one of his juniors, Mr. Mamoru Ohara, to Kansas City in 1966. I was so impressed that I began to practice and teach only Mr. Ohshima's unique style of Shotokan Karate, and that was the beginning of the Kansas City Shotokan Karate Club. Time and change are inevitable, but it doesn't seem possible that almost 50 years have passed so quickly. 80 of my juniors have become black belts. One is godan, three are yodan, six are sandan. - Jon Beltram
Specialties