|
History of Grand Master O. E. Simon |
||
|
1960’s In 1960, Margi Hilbig, Olaf Simon, his wife (Rosa), and son arrived to Canada from Germany. Originally landing in Quebec by boat, they stayed briefly in Montreal until settling in Toronto. "He took off to Canada,
leaving his draft notice and new wife behind. In 1960 he was working
in a Toronto auto dealership, as a janitor and parts man. This allowed him
to bring his wife over from Germany. To be near his brother in Spokane,
the Simons came to Calgary in 1961. In 1965 Simon opened up a full time
Karate studio. In 1965 he entered a Salt Lake City tournament and
took a first for fighting and a third for form. In 1970 Olaf went to a
Chinese master of Kung Fu in Edmonton who had moved there from China. He
was tested by Tang Sum, the head of the Royal Hong Kong Police Force, who
was then visiting Canada. These people awarded him the title of "Grand
Master". (Before that his diploma on the wall said 7th degree black belt).
After that he got in with Ed Parker's Kenpo for a very short period of
time but broke away from that.”
“I had $14 to my name when I arrived. The last money I used was to buy a plane ticket to Toronto. I arrived in Toronto at midnight and had $2 left.”
Olaf and Margie stayed in Toronto for about a year and then moved to Calgary where they eventually bought a house. They were not a "couple" per say, he lived in one part of the house while she stayed in another.
“I was well trained in especially Japanese hand-to-hand combat which is not the martial arts as we understand it today.”
He started to study and teach Martial Arts seriously in approximately 1961, opening his first studio in Calgary called “Simon’s Karate”. He opened his second studio in Edmonton in 1964. M. Hilbig started as a beginner Martial Artist in the Calgary studio and after approximately three years became an instructor. After the Edmonton studio was opened in 1964, Margie traveled back and forth and taught at both studios. In 1968 Ms. Hilbig moved permanently to Edmonton to teach and manage that studio until approximately 1972 when she separated ties with Master Simon & his schools. M. Hilbig was at one time married to B. MacDonald, another student at Simons Karate.
"The Mo
Kempo system of Karate was pioneered in Alberta by two German Immigrants
(Olaf Simon and M. Hilbig) who came to Canada in 1960 and began to study
and practice out of a small school in Calgary. Around 1961, M.
Hilbig saw an ad in a magazine about a brand of Japanese Karate called
"American Kenpo" which was taught by a man named Ed Parker out of Pasadena
California. Hilbig called Mr. Parker and arranged a meeting with him
in the California city. Master Parker was not only gracious enough
to grant Hilbig a place to train, he also allowed her to stay with his
family during her trips to California. Thus begun Hilbig's study
under Master Ed parker... When Hilbig returned to Canada she
returned with a rudimentary foundation in a true Asian-based martial art.
This was a turning point for Martial Arts in Alberta... Throughout
the 1960's Hilbig continued to teach in Calgary, Banff and Edmonton, all
the while making regular trips to Pasadena to complete in tournaments and
study under master Parker. In 1964 Hilbig became the first female in
Canada to be awarded a Black belt in karate... In 1969, Sensei Hilbig
decided to break ties with Simon and move to Edmonton to pursue teaching
full time at the school on 95th and 111 Ave. Also during this time,
Hilbig stopped traveling to Pasadena thus ending her study under Master
Parker. A few years later the "Canadian School of Karate" was born
in Edmonton."
In 2005/2006 M. Hilbig published an autobiography including her history with Olaf Simon in which she claims they had no formal martial arts experience prior to her and Olaf reading a karate magazine and practicing the techniques together. Margie now teaches out of the Edmonton, Alberta downtown police station.
“Very interesting web site, well researched and respectable. I was one of Simon's earlier students and was married to Margi Hilbig. l spent 4 years (1968-1971) with Olaf on a personal level, which none of his students ever did. There were only two of us that ever called him Olaf that I’m aware of... As Margie Hilbig revealed to me way back, Simon had no martial arts training of any kind except some boxing in Germany before coming to Canada with Margie, his wife and son. Margie and Olaf came first to Canada and settled in Calgary in 1959 or 1960. His wife and son followed shortly after. Margie and Olaf started learning together from a book on martial arts (Shotokan I believe) and decided to open a school and teach martial arts in 1961…There were three original blackbelts Simon promoted. The very first I believe was Heinz Rottman who may still have a school today in Calgary. He was the first to break away from Simon and there was a lot of animosity between them. I never stopped hearing about it in the 60's… ...Simon
was truly a genius and very rapidly became an awesome martial artist,
always evolving and learning new styles and techniques. At almost 80 years
of age, he is truly one of the world's greatest living martial artists,
mainly because of his involvement and the lineage that follows. Ten's of
thousands of martial artists have been influenced by him directly or
indirectly since 1961. Unfortunately, he was prone to telling stories
about his lineage when in reality he didn't need to. He was a genius at
the arts and still is! Everyone has to start somewhere and he was a true
pioneer along with Margie. (All the ranting in the world about Simon can
never take that away from him)…"
(without prejudice) |
||
| Prev / Next | ||
