History of Grand Master O

History of Grand Master O. E. Simon

1970’s CONTINUED

“I was nobody when I came to Canada, and apparently this is a free country, and you can start from the beginning, and I didn't deceive anyone. I worked very hard from nothing to become somebody. I never conspired even then. I was just trying to find my place amongst the other people who all had papers… I had to make a name for myself the hard way, and I did that.”

Master P. MacAndrews in SKS Studio

Both Philip MacAndrews and Trevor Higgs were teachers under Grand Master Simon during the 1970's.

Master T. Higgs in old SKS uniform

"...martial arts history is more word of mouth then true documented history anyway, whether or not it is true is kind of left up to the individual to decide for his or herself. The contradictions part you speak of is never going to be rectified. I think Simon was a master marketer and did what any good marketer does, he sells.
My Instructor (E. Bruneau), who I will refer to from here on in as Sifu had the opportunity to train in the older days. Not the real old days but certainly back a ways. And Master Simon was the real deal as far as his ability went. That is undisputable. I don't know if you have ever had a chance to spar with any of the old-schooler's but it is an experience. Master T. Higgs was part of the real old school. He was with Simon from very early on, he trained with H. Mueller and The Bateson's and D. Scheer and all those guys. Master Higgs was with GM Simon in the 1960's and seen him and Chuck Norris together. They used to go down to those tournaments.
In the early 70's the Edmonton club was managed by P. MacAndrews and the Calgary club was managed by Master Higgs. Sifu, (E. Bruneau) started at the Edmonton club , after a very short period of time MacAndrews asked Sifu if he wanted to be an instructor. It seemed kind of odd because at that time Sifu was 18 and had very little Martial arts experience, but none the less he agreed. That's when he was transferred to Calgary. None of the students in Calgary would know he had as little time in as he did. He taught, but also learned under Master Higgs at the same time and Master Higgs is a very powerful man, he hurt lots of Simons students back in those days. Any ways after a year or so of training and teaching in Calgary he went back to Edmonton and taught at MacAndrews club.
There was Sifu and another fellow by the name of K. Fiedler. They both were teaching full time, 8 hours a day, however ****... they were both terminated within the week and MacAndrews had 2 new replacements. That was the business end of things.
Sifu went on to train other styles, some in the states, he spent 5 years in the orient etc. In the early 1980s he fell back into the loop (sort of). MacAndrews and Master Higgs both had a falling out with Simon. MacAndrews was running a school, and Master Higgs was teaching there some times, Sifu began training and sparring there once in a while again, but by that time he was also running his own club in Red Deer. Our club, by the way is called the Chinese Boxing Connection, we currently have one in Innisfail (just outside of Red Deer) and one in Stoney Plain.
My understanding is that that falling out with Master Higgs and MacAndrews was also over money...
The thing is, Simons system was and is a good system. The fact that he ****... , hey that's business, maybe bad business but its still business. There are lots of good martial artists who are ****... the bottom line is, personalities and politics aside, regardless of where Simon got his art from, the art of Moo Kempo and Simon as a teacher of that art are both very good."
-Letter from Sifu S. Pickett, student of Masters E. Bruneau & T. Higgs

E. Bruneau & P. MacAndrews in SKS Studio

Published in 1964 by Charles E. Tuttle Company, Inc. & edited by Robert W. Smith is a book titled "Secrets of Shaolin Temple Boxing". This book discusses the history of Kung-Fu (Not Karate), including Ta Mo, the Five Animal styles, Ch'i development, the Muscle Change Classics (with pictures), the 18 Exercises, Hard vs. Soft styles and Northern vs. Southern schools. The book is short and discusses these subjects in a simplistic way, much like what Temple Kung Fu Studios teaches.

"I was taught that the (18) Temple Motions were actually called, "The 18 Classical Chinese Muscle Change Positions"".
-Excerpt from conversation with past "Simon's Kung Fu Studios" student

Truth or Myth? Grand Master Simon met Grand Master Ark Yuey Wong sometime during the late 60’s or 70’s. They soon realized that they shared a similar lineage in Kung-Fu and became good friends. Either A. Mr. Simon’s first teacher Master Fu Yen had also been a teacher of Ark Y Wong’s in China; B. Ark Y Wong had been a colleague of Fu Yen’s in China or; C. Ark Ye Wong’s teacher had been a contemporary of Master Fu Yen’s. This is all pure speculation for now and probably more myth than truth.

Olaf Simon claims to have met Ark Yuey Wong at some point in his travels to the USA. The story goes that after Olaf demonstrated a form in front of a group, GM Wong stepped forward and offered a slight bow of respect to Simon’s skill, even though he was most definitely of higher rank at that time. They shared their knowledge of “White Tiger” together and it was this that allowed Grand Master Simon to develop a complete his Pai Hu Shih style that is now taught in his Temple Kung-Fu Studios. In a conversation with the most recent TKF ownership, they state (as explained to them by Simon himself), that Ark Yuey Wong's teacher Ho Yeng is possibly the elusive Fu Yen of Olaf's childhood. Other past masters of TKF and associates of Ark Yuey Wong's family flatly deny this claim, saying Simon had little or nothing to do with the late GM Wong.

As of now there is still no proof or documentation of this connection between Olaf Simon, Ark Y. Wong or GM Wong's teacher Ho Yeng.

At some point in this period of Grand Master Simon’s life he met Father Athol Murray who had a profound impact on Olaf.

Who is Athol Murray? - The following is taken from one of O. E. Simon’s books:

"Born January 9, 1892 in Toronto, Athol Murray (better known as Père, or Father) was educated in the classics and the liberal arts education at: Montreal Loyola's College, Toronto's St. Michael's College, St. Hyacinthe College in Quebec and Laval University. While studying law at Toronto's Osgoode Hall, he read the words of St. Augustine : To him who does what in him lies, God will not deny His grace, (Master Simon quoted this regularly in his meditation seminars). These words impacted Athol’s entire life..."

"Taught in the rigors of liberal arts himself, Père (Athol Murray), believed in building young minds through teaching the classics, constantly challenging his students' intellect and feeding them a steady spiritual diet. His goal was for Notre Dame students to be able to apply their keen minds and steadfast characters to whatever they wished to master. He authored the motto for Notre Dame: Luctor et Emergo/ Struggle and Emerge, (Which Grand master Simon later used as the motto of his Temple Kung fu Studios)..."

Regarding “The Canadiana”, one of O. E. Simon’s (Falo Nomis) poems:

"This beautiful piece of prose was first published as a part of the novel Shalom, written by the character Isaac Stein when he was a prisoner of war in a forgotten Russian prison camp in Siberia. Because of its great popularity, it came to the attention of a famous Catholic priest, Monsignor Athol Murray the founder of Notre Dame College. Monsignor Murray was the man who gave the piece the title Glorious and Free and he loved it so much that he would read it whenever he buried a Canadian, placing the scroll in the coffin to accompany the citizen who had passed on. It was then later republished in the Book of Thought as the first of a set of poems that entails four volumes of work by O.E. Simon."

O. E. Simon published the book “To Hell With Canada?” in 1976.

After the release of "To Hell with Canada?" in Olaf received a lot of criticism, and many book distributors would no longer touch him. It was around this time that Olaf and June Simon founded "Golden Bell House Publishing". This company was originally used to publish Olaf's personal books and writings though in recent years they have started to distribute CD's and videos as well. This includes works by June Simon, Winston Tan and Olaf himself though he now goes by his middle name Emil.

Other masters and past students of Simon's from the 60's & 70's include Master Ed O'Brian, Master M. Andrews, Master B. Megan, Master Fresien and Master Harlaka to name a few.

By 1977 there were three "Simon Kung Fu Studios". The Head Office was located in Calgary, run by Olaf and June Simon, with the Edmonton Studio managed by Trevor Higgs and the Vancouver, BC studio run by L. Wayne Thomas.

Later that year L. W. Thomas bought the rights to use the name "Simon Kung-Fu Studios" in Vancouver from Olaf & June, then broke away from them to operate his studios on his own. At some point he opened a second studio in BC with plans for more. Olaf was not involved in the teaching or business aspects of these "Simon Kung Fu Studios" in any way, even though it was his name above the door (?). In 1983 L. Wayne Thomas sold the rights to the Surrey SKS location to a long time instructor of his, Robin Warnstaff; however after this deal was made these two also had a "falling out" and by 1985/86 all these independent "Simon Kung Fu Studios" in were gone.

Although there is no record of L. Wayne Thomas continuing to teach Martial Arts after this, Robin Warnstaff founded his own Martial Arts school "KISAE" in 1986 and continues to promote & teach the style of Moh Kempo to this day.

In 1978 Master T. Higgs left SKS and Master P. MacAndrews became the new #1 Master under Grand Master Simon."

Brian Leishman started training at Simon’s Kung-Fu Studios in 1974 and later became a teacher at the Edmonton studio in 1976 working directly under Master Phil Mc Andrews until leaving in 1979 to open his own martial arts school in Toronto. Before he left SKS he received what was then referred to as a lower ranking master’s degree from Grand Master O. E. Simon His relationship with Grand Master Simon ended in the early 1980’s when he refused to associate his "Energy Lake Studios" with Olaf Simon's Temple Kung Fu Studios. Master Leishman sold Energy Lake Studios to a third party in 1990. For more information on Master Leishman's recent endeavors please check out the White Lotus System.

"To this very day only 16 lower ranking master degrees have been issued over a period of almost 20 years. Even here, Grand Master Simon feels that a few unworthy ones have betrayed him being capable of disguising their true character to him."
-Publisher's Comment, (1980 edition) of “The White Priest”

(without prejudice)

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