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History of Grand Master O. E. Simon |
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1960’s CONTINUED It was approximately one year or so after opening the first Karate studio in Calgary in 1961 that Olaf became involved with other studios in the United States.
“What I did was a concept, which I started. But the reason mainly why I used Karate was because Karate was known. Kung Fu was a total unknown entity... I was a self-made man, not relying on any past training or anything. I went out and made a name for myself. I was at that time not a Canadian Citizen and there was a tournament in the United States I wanted to go to but I couldn’t enter the States. A Justice Schnorr (phonetic) made me a Canadian Citizen in private chambers. I went to him and said, “Justice so and so, I would like to go, but they won’t let me in to the States. The Justice got me a waiver or something from Ottawa flown by military jet to Penhold so I could enter the tournament in the United States where I won the Collegiate Tournament for Canada, in approximately '64 or '66.”
"GMS then came to North America after university studies in Europe and
continued his training of the martial sciences. After time he opened
various martial arts studios on both sides of the border and competed
successfully in many tournaments He worked with various other masters from
Ed Parker to Stan Lee to Ark Yue Wong and again developed his own styled
from his training and personal development. Did Olaf Simon take the title
of Master for himself? Yes! So did many other reputable masters at the
time. There was no federation or ranking systems; you either had the skill
or you didn’t. Last time we checked there wasn’t anyone else who has
demonstrated the power to smash 1270lbs of ice. Once again, GMS called the
style he developed the Pai Hu Shi... From 1963 onwards Olaf went every year to the United States and over the next 5 or 6 years Master Simon’s popularity grew as he developed relationships with many schools all across the U.S. They all wanted to learn & teach his style. This is where things can get confusing because in one statement Olaf will say he owned or had interest in a group of studios then he will contradict himself and say he had no ownership or interest in any studios in the U.S. Following are a group of statements paraphrased from the Court Transcript that give a glimpse of all the studios, tournaments & individuals he had association with throughout the 1960’s. Again Olaf Simon claims at one point that he didn't own clubs or have an ownership interest in clubs in American cities, but that his style was being taught in those clubs.
"In approximately 1963 I got a Seventh Degree Black Belt in Sibukan (phonetic) Karate from Shima Bokuru (phonetic) at the “House of Holy Alliance”... My clubs, one in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania with about two or three hundred students… this studio wanted to belong to my group. So if I say this was my studio, which I owned that would be false or misleading. These were people, they had a certain style, and they didn't like what they saw, and they saw me perform somewhere, and they wanted my style or what I knew. They wanted to learn from me, they just wanted to be taught by me because they were very interested, and they approached me as to that fact, and I said you want to belong to my association? Okay... In '65 or 66 I owned the Chicago De Paul club with about 400 students at the University of Chicago... I had a club in Kansas City, Kansas... I had many others including LA and Bozeman, Montana.”
During the 60’s Olaf Simon claims he endorsed & had shares and ownership in up to 13 other clubs.
“Truly they were only after a performer who had by that time a rank or a name or made a name for themselves... I lost my shirt there actually, they were amateurs... and I had no money. I had to travel there, and I made my money from the sale of uniforms. I also got travel money, but sometimes they had money. Other times they didn't have money. They would tell me – they would send me money. In most cases it wasn't true. They themselves didn't have much money either really”
In the early 60’s Olaf met Edmund Parker and he claims they later became partners in the Long Beach International Tournament. Like much of Master Simon's history there is no proof of this and individuals very close to the Parker family say that this is not true. Here is a public forum post from Sifu Shawn, a second generation student of Simon's from the 70's who supports Simon's claim. It has been said that they were partners in the "Can-Am Karate/ Kempo Association" (not sure of exact title), but it was short lived.
“Ed was a friend of mine, and he was the first man having his own studio. So I went there on my own and worked with him on the mat and once in a while he had actors coming in, and he allowed me to take pictures with them, so and so. And I had a concept of punching and circular motion in my punching, which threw Ed Parker actually off the mat. And he shook his head, and he said “What the hell did you do Olaf?” I said, “Well this is a side-way conversion of a forward thrust.” And he looked at it and said, “Boy, I want to put this in my style.” So I was not training under him. Ed Parker was not as well skilled as I was.”
(without prejudice) |
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