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ARTICLES AND COMMENTARY
THE FIRST HAROLD LONG
The Battle of the Chosin Reservoir 15,000 allied ground troops, mostly the 1st Marine Division and Regimental Combat Teams from the Army's 7th Infantry Division, against 120,000 Chinese infantrymen concealed in the mountains around the valley town of Yudam-ni. There were nearly 500,000 North Korean troops immediately across the Yalu River. The ten Chinese Divisions were ordered to annihilate the 1st Marine Division and allies to the last man. The 15,000 allies suffered 12,000 casualties, including more than 3,000 killed and 6,000 wounded, plus thousands of severe frostbite cases from the -30 degree temperatures. They merged from the ordeal with a Presidential Unit Citation for, "decisively defeating seven enemy divisions together with elements of three others." The Chinese suffered an estimated 37,500 casualties, including 25,000 killed and 12,500 wounded.
This is one of those events that you would have had to attend to fully appreciate. The event was split into two parts. The first was an open house at Harold Long Realty for the purpose of displaying Mr. Longs numerous awards with an informal gathering of his family, students, and friends to honor his memory. It had the atmosphere of a family reunion with the leader of the family sadly absent. It will always remain as one of my best experiences. The open house was expertly organized and hosted by the Long family, with the traditional,” “Long eye for every detail”, carried out. With the attendance of family, Students, friends, and well wishers, the significance of honoring Mr. Longs memory, was never lost on anyone. In addition to the Longs and Master Joe Laney’s advanced preparation and hosting; Master Wayne Wayland showed a 100 plus picture slide show tribute to Mr. Long. It was the perfect tribute, which conjured up the best of memories and gave us a special feeling of his presence. Mr. Longs memorabilia will be used to present a record of his accomplishments to the Tennessee sports Hall of Fame, for induction consideration. Clearly he is qualified for this honor as an appropriate way to further acknowledge his incredible career in the field of athletics and the numbers of people who have benefited from his direction.
Below are some of the pictures of the people that attended.
There was no fall off from the night before during the tournament. It was a different concept of competing with a team shiai for the under black belts and a “winner take all”, kata and kumite for the black belts. There was only one place given. ..”First Place”!!! But! I can assure you of this. There were a lot of “first class” fighters that stepped in the ring. If you couldn’t or didn’t, want to go for real on this Saturday, then you were in a world of hurt.
All I can say is that Saturday also demonstrated how continuous fighting is the only true test of the superior fighter and who can actually defend themselves under these realistic conditions. It was two, two minute rounds, continuous, with a thirty second rest in between. Face contact was permitted and generally full contact was also permitted. No blood rule to reward a fighter for getting hit. If you got drilled, that was your tough luck and unsuccessful defense. There were four judges and one referee. The judges had clickers and were responsible for keeping up with the scoring of either the blue or red fighter. The ref kept up with the action. At the end of each round, the judges reported their score to the score keeper. It worked great. I was the center Ref and had the advantage of working with some top people as judges. They were Masters; James Ogle, Wayne Wayland, Kelly Markum and Doyle Seiber. Along with kicks and punches being thrown in all directions, there were numerous clinches that would have resulted in the competitors going to the ground in the street. Anyone coming away from this day not wanting to know how to work the ground, is in one dimensional denial. I was very proud of my guys as they stood the test very well. The boxing skills that I have worked with them on, clearly worked better than just the traditional karate skills of some of the others. Not that they were better, but just better suited for this kind of fighting. Point training is counter productive to street fighting and serves little purpose for the realities on no rule engagements. The fight between Leon Scott and Donald Pleasence was a classic give and take, from two cross trained, tremendous fighters, with lots of heart. They both used their training, skills, and ring savvy to hold everyone in the gym spell bound for four minutes. Leon was three points better on this day, but that was for just today. Every good fighter has his day. Donald will have lots of them and so will Leon. Master Laney took center Ref for the grand championship, and I was glad he did. I asked not to judge as the final was between Leon and Tony Williams. Tony is a former student and still feels like one of my own. It was as you would expect. Youth (Leon) vs. a more experienced youth (Tony). Tony used his experience and many ways of scoring to defeat Leon. It was a close win but an obvious win. Tony worked Leon into some chasing situations scored, then tied him up. Although I thought Leon had knocked Tony out a couple of times, Tony used a granite jaw and a fighting heart to come right back. One time they clinched and Tony yelled in Leon’s ear,” you hit like a mule.” Leon laughed. and said, ”get away from me old man.” The only thing I swear I could hear over all the noise, was Mr. Long laughing. I broke out in goose bumps. At the end, Tony recognized his efforts on behalf of Mr. Longs memory. For everything that went on the night before and all day, that is what Mr. Long would have paid to see. I just closed my eyes and said, ”Yes Sir!!!”
TOURNY NOTES: Pre tournament activities were inspiring. Mick Long told the story of his dad and the Chosin Reservior. We were all welcomed by Rick Long on behalf of he and the Long family. Gary Long announced that the Mayor of Knoxville had proclaimed the day, Harold Long Day in Knoxville. Joe and Debbie Laney were recognized for their work on behalf of the weekend and especially the tournament. The good news is that Joe has decided to make the tournament an annual event. Don’t miss the next one folks. But train for reality if you come. It is a warrior’s tournament.
The kids were tremendous. They just whaled the tar out of each other. They had the same rules as the adults except they went one round. Oddly enough, I didn’t see any cry babies like I do in point tourneys wallowing all over their parent laps after a fight. Maybe they either grew up in a hurry, or left after the first fight. Man the kids were tough.
I didn’t get to see the women fight, as Master Phil Little was Refereeing their ring. I did get to ref the finals and it was brutal with Theresa Barnett defeating a game opponent in Chloe Morton. Theresa landed a kick on Chloe’s neck that just missed doing some real damage. Chloe sat on the floor receiving medical attention until she said she was ready to continue. Chloe then took the fight to Theresa but time ran out with Theresa victorious.
Some of the black belts appeared helpless in the ring to thwart an all out attack. They were severely out classed as they tried to use side kicks, back fist and general kumite techniques. The aggressive street fighters ran right through their point attempts and banged them pretty hard. Poor, to no boxing skills, kept them from using any type of hand techniques that could stop their opponent’s angle and combination attacks. Some seemed to realize for the first time that kicks are great if you have time and space to use them. The good ones knew that if you are kicking it is often hard to reach someone with your hands and vice versa. It all depends on angles and control of the gap. I would like to see knees become legal as it would minimize the holding and clinching. They are also no more dangerous than front kicks. It’s a new day people. Expand your knowledge outside the box.
Kata champion was Ty Welborne. Due to a scorers mistake David Crews thought he had won and was given the award. He was obviously ecstatic and minutes later had to give back his award. His attitude was even more a credit to him than if he had won. He was a perfect gentleman and his sportsmanship was one of my tournament highlights.
At Monday night’s class, my guys were still pumped up and full of conversation regarding the tournament. They were already looking forward to next year and the lessons we learned at this one. Let the training begin and tighten up that headgear.
Thank you Long and Laney family for a perfect weekend. Thank you friend Joe, for allowing your energy and personality to rule the atmosphere of the day. You are a Harold Long Man in every way. Whoo whaaa…..DRAGONS FOREVER……..
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