EDMUND K. PARKER
1931 – 1990
Senior Grand Master Ed Parker is known worldwide as the
“Father of American Kenpo Karate” and was the president and founder of the Ed
Parker Kenpo Karate school chain, as well as the International Kenpo Karate
Association (I.K.K.A.). Mr. Edmund Kealoha Parker Sr. was born on March 19,
1931, in Honolulu, Hawaii, the sixth child of Arthur and Eva Parker. His great
great grandfather was King Kamehameha I, who ruled Hawaii. With this lineage,
it isn’t surprising that Ed Parker would someday rule the world of American
karate.
Mr. Parker began his martial arts studies in Judo and boxing. Ultimately, he found his way into Kenpo under the instruction of Professor William K. S. Chow. Having been in many street fights himself, Mr. Parker quickly saw the benefits of Kenpo’s explosive action, minimum target exposure, and potential to ward off multiple attackers. In addition, through exchanges and interactions with other martial artists such as Bruce Lee, Dan Inosanto, James Lee and Professor Lau Bein, Mr. Parker was able to experiment and formulate his own ideas that would later become “American Kenpo”.
Ed Parker is known as one of America’s foremost Karate Pioneers having opened the first private Kenpo Club in 1954 at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and, the first commercial Karate Studio in 1956 in Pasadena, California. Today there are Ed Parker schools and affiliates throughout the United States, Ireland, Germany, England, New Zealand, Australia, Holland, Spain, Venezuela, Guatemala, Africa, Chile, Mexico and others. In addition, he founded the largest and most famous karate tournament in the world, the Ed Parker International Karate Championships in Long Beach, Ca. It was at this tournament that Bruce Lee was first introduced to us, and in later years other greats like Chuck Norris and Joe Lewis were made known.