My first impressions upon meeting Sifu Larry in 1974 are vivid. I had left my Shotokan school after almost 3 years and moved around Charlotte training first at Kim's School of Tae Kwon Do for a few months, then with Buddy Springs and Joe Martin at their Kung Fu school. A friend had called to say that a Bruce Lee student had moved to the area and was beginning to teach Jeet Kune Do at a friend's Kung Fu school. Skeptical, I remember thinking "now why would a Bruce Lee student be coming to Charlotte? Probably isn't the real deal!" Being a Bruce Lee fan and obviously searching for something different in my young martial arts development, I was determined to seek him out and see for myself if he was "legit", as if he, or anyone needed my confirmation!

Excited to see a "real" Bruce Lee student, I decided to drop by Ed Echeverria's Kung Fu school where Sifu was evidently teaching I discovered he was teaching a small, hand-picked group of students, and classes were not for public viewing. I remember thinking "wow, now this is really getting interesting!" Needless to say, I had to get in to see him now more than ever, so I decided to work up enough nerve to call him and hopefully convince him how badly I wanted to study with him in the hopes he would accept me as his student!

After several unsuccessful attempts to contact him, I finally reached him one evening before he was about to teach class. We spoke for only a few minutes but in that brief conversation it was apparent to me that this guy sounded pretty legit! He invited me to come by the "kwoon" as he referred to the kung fu school, the next day to meet. I was so excited I could hardly wait; hardly able to sleep that night. Little did I know what was to transpire from the meeting the next day, and how meeting Sifu Larry would not only revolutionize my training and way of looking at martial arts, but also change my life!

For the first 2 1/2 to 3 years, my training with Sifu Larry was largely spent in the boxing and kickboxing phase of JKD. There was a group of us who all worked nights at our regular jobs so we trained during the day, almost always together, much as Sifu Larry liked to train- as a fighter. While his nights were spent teaching classes to those who worked "normal" hours, he would come in during the day most everyday from his full time job in security for the county mental health department and supervise our training, sometimes actively setting up what he wanted us to work on, other times watching and critiquing.

The daily sessions weren't run like the night classes, but more like fight training, with us all warming up and stretching, followed by 3-5, 3 minute rounds of rope skipping, and then moving in to rounds of shadow boxing and shadowing kickboxing. This was always followed by any order of sparring, heavy bag work and focus mitt training. Sifu loved the heavy bag and roadwork almost as much as a good, hard sparring session so we could be sure we would always get a steady diet of all! In addition to the 5 day a week sessions I routinely took part in, I and one or two others would come in on thursday evenings for sparring with Sifu after the JKD class. These were the "dreaded" sessions with Sifu where he would start with one of us, and with himself the constant in the ring, keep us rotating in and out with 3 minute rounds of first boxing, then kickboxing. This was typically after a full workout with him that followed his teaching his class! Needless to say, he was in incredible shape to take us young, "fresh" sparring partners one after the other, us having rested a round each, and basically allowing us to punch and kick non-stop at him while he bobbed and weaved, ducked and slipped, and pressured us all over the ring with his constant "coming forward" style.

I never, ever left those sessions without at least 2 things: a jaw that wouldn't close properly, and a "high" that to this day can never be duplicated! I always knew he would land at least several good shots that jarred me from head to toe, yet never could escape it. He loved to work with lighter, quicker fighters as he felt they only sharpened his reflexes and made him faster! This would be the Thursday night routine for quite some time. Many days I would wake up and think "this is the night I'm phoning it in," but unless I was sick or had to work, I never did and I was always so thankful for having not done it. It was equally as exhilarating when Sifu would train along side us, which as I said he loved to do! Roadwork, bag work, shadow boxing, mitt work, sparring was simply unequalled when he was right alongside.

Many times I would have the privilege of being in the school with him, just the two of us, working the heavy bag, no talking, only the sounds of breathing, grunting and the swinging of the bag. He never met a heavy bag he didn't like and the days that he found himself too busy with teaching and working, he always managed to get his roadwork and bag work in! During those times, I credit Sifu with introducing me to many things, including vitamin and herb supplements, jogging with punching weights, and medicine ball routines. He not only trained and prepared me thoroughly for all of my fights, but he was my chief corner as well. He used to tell me as well as a few others he would sort of hand-pick in those days as potentially good fighters, "I don't care if you don't go past one fight, I want my serious JKD students who show the potential and have the desire, to fight at least once as a part of their JKD training so you know what it's like to fight in the ring. That way, if you ever train any fighters, not only will you have that experience but they will respect you more for having had it".

While I knew from the start it would never be a long career for me, I'm so glad I did it as a part of my JKD "evolution". When I left the ring competitively and moved in to other phases of my JKD training under Sifu, and later Guro Inosanto, I always valued that experience and I know he was quite proud of his fighters and never missed an opportunity to show it. I regret he never received the praise and credit he so deserve locally for training fighters and being such a huge part of our success. In those days, we fought professionally under the Professional Karate Association (PKA). Unfortunately, because of jealously and politics, Sifu's fighters were never recognized as being "JKD fighters" but rather, when announced at featured bouts, were said to be "kung fu stylists".

At any rate, we all knew how fortunate we were to represent an original Bruce Lee student of Bruce Lee's art during the advent of full contact fighting! I'll never forget walking to the ring with Sifu for my second fight in what is now Grady Cole Center, feeling nervous and excited enough already when he whispered to me " you know I told you the guy you're fighting is 1-1? Well, he's actually 6-0, captain of the Florida team and weighs 12 lbs more than you, but you'll be alright"! I'm quite sure I don't ever being quite as frustrated with Sifu Larry as I was at that moment, but it all worked out! Less than a year later and after a total of 4 professional fights, I left competitive fighting. I had no way of knowing how my JKD path was going to change. I would be meeting Sifu Dan Inosanto and embarking on an amazing journey in JKD.

My life as I knew it, the way I trained, thought, and lived was going to change forever!