About Mid-America Karate

Mid-America Karate was founded in 1979 in Broken Arrow, where it was established as the first Tang Soo Do Karate studio in the state of Oklahoma. Its founder, Master Rick Bailey, began his martial arts training in 1969 in South Arkansas under the re-knowned Master Joe Weeks. Master Weeks and his best friend, Master Chuck Norris (movie star and star of the TV series Walker-Texas Ranger), trained and tested for their black belts together at Osan Air Base in Korea in 1961 while serving in the Military Police (Air Patrol) with the U.S. Air Force. Master Bailey became an assistant to Master Weeks until he retired from teaching in 1978 after which Master Bailey became a direct student of Master Hyun Chul Hwang. Master Hwang is the highest ranking master instructor in the world today and was the only son of the founder of Tang Soo Do (Soo Bahk Do) Moo Duk Kwan, Grandmaster Hwang Kee. Grandmaster Hwang Kee, who passed away in July 2002, was famous throughout the world. Master Hwang succeeded him as Grandmaster of the Moo Duk Kwan.

Master Bailey has trained and studied in many different styles and forms of martial arts throughout the years. He tested for his Master Rank (4th degree) in 1987 in a 10 day test certification conducted by Grandmaster Hwang Kee and a Board of high ranking Master instructors. The training was conducted 20 hours per day with 5 short breaks throughout the day. While he currently holds the rank of 6th degree Master Instructor in Tang Soo Do (Soo Bahk Do), he also holds rank and has spent many years training in Aikido (made famous in Steven Segal movies), Ju-Jitsu and Hwa Rang Do (joint locking and throwing arts), Judo (grappling, throwing, and pinning), Kendo (the art of the Japanese Samurai Sword), Filipino Kali (short stick), in which his instructor was Master Dan Inosanto (Bruce Lee's personal weapons instructor), Shotokan Karate (traditional Japanese Karate), and Taekwondo (Korean Sport Karate). When the U.S. Tang Soo Do Moo Duk Kwan Federation was formed in 1976, Master Bailey was very active from day one, serving on its Board of Directors from 1977 to 1989 and again from 1998 to 2002. When the Federation originally appointed U.S. Regional Directors in 1989, Master Bailey was personally selected by the Grandmaster as one of the ten Regional Examiners in the United States for overseeing rank promotion and technical standards.

In 2004, Master Bailey established Tang Soo Do - USA which serves as the National Standards and Certification Board for all rank promotion for Mid-America Karate Studios and its affiliates. An appointed Board of several high ranking Masters make up this select Board of Examiners. All belt testing and belt test standards are overseen by this Board.

Master Bailey opened his first Tang Soo Do Karate school in Fayetteville, Ark. in 1974 while attending the University of Arkansas. He was married to Deborah in 1976 and has two children, Britney and Cole. He graduated from the University of Arkansas with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in 1979. He pursued a career in the Oil Services Industry (while continuing to train and teach martial arts every evening throughout the week) until 1999 when he decided it was time to follow his love of teaching martial arts full time and resigned from the engineering profession. He can honestly say that he's doing what he loves most teaching people of all ages to feel better about themselves with confidence and self-discipline, while they have fun doing it!"

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Karate
• Tang Soo Do
• Rick Bailey
• Joe Weeks

[purpleguy2630]

Well our style isn't kyokushin, it's Tang Soo Do, so we stick to our tradition not yours

[Eisu911]

Honestly, using weapons in Karate is not the real Karate... I learn Kyokushin Karate（極真空手） in Japan and I'm a Japanese, but it is strictly prohibited in Japan to use weapon when doing such martial arts since the main reason to learn Karate is to use only your fists and your legs... By the way, Kyokushin Karate（極真空手）is thought to be the most tough and strongest Karate in the world... I don't mean to insult you people because I do still respect American Karate in many ways...

[1banryukyu]

Very good video. Thank you for sharing that history with us and I hope that your schools will do well.