Grandmaster Ed Parker
Grandmaster Ed Parker, founder of American Kempo was a legend in the martial arts world. This is my day with the Grandmaster. Several years ago I attended a KRANE tournament hosted by Tony Cogliandro up in the Boston area. Tony had been training with Ed Parker for a few years and hosted him as a special guest. Parker was to be a judge in my black belt rings that day. As usual at that time I had a pretty good day and was able to chat with him after the event. As you might think he was heavily in demand. We took this photo and we went our separate ways. Over the course of the year Master Parker traveled all over the world teaching and meeting thousands of new people. It was again time for Tony’s event and I was looking forward to attending. As soon as I entered the gym I turned to see Master Parker was again in attendance. He walked over to me, shook my hand and said “Hi Mike, competing again this year?” I was floored. With all the people he knows and meets every year he remember