In referring to Master Long in this article, I will use the title "Mister" in the text. For the thirty-two years I was his student, that was all I ever called him. Once, when we were out socially, he told me to call him Harold. I tried it but nearly choked on the words. He told me that again at another time, but this time I just said, "I can't." He said, "all right sir," and it was never mentioned again. I will also add, that as a personal point of view, the title "Grand Master," belongs to Grand Master Shimabuku, and no one else. I really don't care what anyone is called or calls themselves, as long as no one calls me Grand Master. Shihan is as regal as I care to get.

   It doesn't seem possible, but 13 years ago (Oct. 12th 1998) Mr. Long passed away. I remember the call like it was yesterday. A thousand thoughts raced through my head at the time. Mostly was the realization that he was a mere mortal like the rest of us. He was always bigger than life. In a hero seeking society like ours, he was our hero. I used to say that John Wayne was playing Harold Long. I thought about our last few conversations when he was battling to regain his health. He was frustrated because he was gaining size around the middle while diligently following his program. I too was stumped but we changed his program and decided to give this one another couple of weeks. In that time he gained even more. I suggested that he see another Doctor as this wasn't normal. When he called to tell me the news, I couldn't find anything to say try how I might. He just said, "I have to go". "I have a lot of decisions to make". "I love you." His words hit me like a ton of bricks. At that point the Isshin-ryu world began to turn on a dime. I feared for the future of Isshin-ryu because, he was Isshin-ryu as far as I was concerned. His final decisions were as controversial as he knew it would be. So he decided to set up the only method of growth Isshin-ryu people are used to;. . . . . COMPETITION!!!! With this decision, he also gave people alternatives to a single association and a single ideology. He made it possible for Isshin-ryu to grow in different directions. I didn't get that for awhile and felt that everyone should be unified. I was afraid that he had neutralized what was once unified. What he knew was that we were never all unified, and only he kept us all getting along. Without him, that wasn't going to continue, so he set the stage for the "separately together" mentality we have now. This was the genius of Mr. Long. He was always more than one big step ahead. His advantage was a systematic mind, a full blown approach and he really knows people. I was really frustrated at how sluggishly we moved along afterwards. Thing was, he had us so far ahead of the game, it took awhile for us to catch up. I think about him often and how easy he made leadership look. This of course was a rare trait as a leader, "true leadership," is a millstone around your neck at times. He was given the burden of ultimate responsibility to introduce and perpetuate an art that most people dismissed as some Japanese whoo doo. How much of a believer do you have to be to get Isshin-ryu from where he started to now? The incredible pressure and responsibility that he must have felt, must many times have been overwhelming. He tried to involve himself in other business interest, but his passion for Isshin-ryu prevented him from succeeding as he otherwise would have. If not for that, he could have been the president of a large company or at the least a very wealthy man. He was a very savvy business man and could have made a great deal of money running his dojo. I said could have. . . . . . . What he couldn't do is suffer a fool or accept any nonsense. I think he kicked someone out every time I was there. He never gave dues or income a thought when someone crossed the line with him. For this principle, we owe him our undying gratitude. He taught those of us who were willing to listen, that his Isshin-ryu principals were non-negotiable, and if you didn't have the courage of your convictions, you were nothing. Of course all of us were petrified that we were going to disappoint him or let him down in some way. His blow ups are legendary and of volcanic proportion. The stories of some unsuspecting schmuck getting on his bad side are numerous. Mr. Long knew who to come down on. Sometimes it seemed strange that he would rake a guy over or just seem to be picking him when the guy appeared to be so dedicated and hard working. Here is where you had to put your emotions behind you and learn. He always went after the strong committed guys, because they could take it. It was a way of getting everyone's attention. Especially the ones who would have fallen apart if he had come down on them. It was also his way of flushing out the hangers on. He knew when a guy was just waiting for an excuse to quit so he gave them one. And... something to remember on their way out the door. Don't get me wrong. He made mistakes and he wasn't perfect. He had a few parting of the ways confrontations that could have probably been handled differently. Of the ones I can remember, each person walked away with a lot more than they started with. They left with knowledge (they got from him), a recognizable name, (from being associated with him), and an opportunity to take their rank, (they received from him), and do it their way. Some did well. Some just disappeared in a pout.

   When I decided to write this article, I could never decide what I wanted to say. I vacillated between telling the many Harold Long stories (that are now vintage as they are famous), or some personal experiences with him. I decided to do neither. Those stories should be in a book about him, and I certainly didn't want this article to be about me. I wanted to capture his legendary image somehow and illustrate it proportionately. This in a simple article is of course, impossible. That would take volumes. Many of you who will read this article know him as well or better than I do. So it is unnecessary to try to describe him. To those of you who did not have the opportunity to know him, or know him well; you missed one of God's more unique people he placed on this earth. He was born to lead and he never shrank from that responsibility. He was generous to a fault, but was a nightmare to those who didn't appreciate it. He gave respect and he damn well expected it in return. He was down to earth, but he knew who he was. I realized after some time around him, he was basically lonely due to his responsibilities and what we needed from him. He loved to sit among us and tell and listen to stories. He was also a man aware of his own tender heart. So he would pull you close then push you away again. He knew that in his role, it was more important to be respected than loved. He loved his family and his Isshin-ryu family as well, but you'd better act like family. He alone took the responsibility for everyone and everything, but you'd better be out there doing your part. If you screwed up due to effort he was fine. If it was lack of effort, you were about to enter "Harold Long Hell". I went there once. I never went back. He sometimes gave rank in a curious method. I think he adopted some of his promotional philosophy from Grandmaster Shimabuku. At times he awarded rank beyond the person's present ability. With hopes that he would grow into it. It worked for Grandmaster Shimabuku and it worked for a Mr. Long, as long as he was alive. I would love to see what rank some would be if Mr. Long could come back for a day and retest or review what they have been doing since his passing. OH MAN WOULD I LOVE TO SEE THAT!!!!

   There are many stars in his Isshin-ryu heaven. All you have to do is look at the people he trained and are now training others. He began and led a movement that has now become a life-force. What ever any one of us do and accomplish from here on, will be directly due to his leadership and vision.

   I hope this simple article will be a testimony of my love and appreciation. Meeting Mr. Long was a life changing experience for us all. No Matter how we feel regarding each other, he was the common denominator for us all. We owe it to him to proceed with honor and respect for and with, anyone trying to legitimately continue his dream. But lets also not be fooled by anyone using his name to continue their own selfish pursuits.

   May God continue to bless your memory with us Mr. Long. May we speak of your passing as not a recollection of the past, but as the legacy you left us for future growth.

A couple of my favorite pictures and memories of Mr. Long.
 

June 1968

Mr. Longs first visit to our Nashville Dojo. He would never accept a penny from me because we drove to study under him. I got my first uke training. An unforgettable experience.

January 1968

Accepting my trophy from him in Lexington, Kentucky. He lined me up beside and told me to blast this guy who had moved into town on him. I broke the guys jaw and got promoted to Ni-Dan. Yes, the guy moved back out of town. . . . .

1984

The Hall of Fame Board. I was inducted that year. I was honored but a little embarrassed as I realized that I went in ahead of more noted and deserving people. I still feel that way but I hope he feels that I have grown in to by now. This board was just one of the vehicles he instituted to get good Isshin-ryu people recognized. It remains in my opinion the most prestigious of all Martial Arts Halls of Fame.

Left to right Don Bordinger, me, Cass Cox, J.C. Burris, Mr. Long, Phil McElroy, Allen Wheeler, Maurice Msarsa, Tommy True, Jimbo Butler, Jim McDonald

1967

My first certification from Mr. Long. He didn't just start throwing Isshin-ryu certificates at me. A week later I requested instruction in Isshin-ryu and he accepted me as a student. I then went through the process. . . . oh boy did I ever. Thanks Cass Cox, Maurice Msarsa, J. C. Burris, Tommy True, Butch Chilton, and of coarse Mr. Long himself, for making all those trips up, as painful as possible. But I wouldn't take anything for them.

 

 

THE HAROLD LONG I KNEW

   Knowing Harold Long was not a unique thing. He was the most well known Isshin-ryu grand master in the country. I'm sure I will get some argument on that, but that is an opinion not a survey. More than writing yet another Harold Long biography, I would like to make some personal observations and comments.

   Many knew him well and many better than me. Being in Nashville and Anderson SC, kept me from having the same access to him as the East Tennessee people. In some ways that was good. I am a stickler for running things my ways and that wasn't always Mr. Long’s first choice. He and I were a lot alike and distance was a good thing for us.  He did however give me all the room and rope I needed to institute my own Nashville Isshin-ryu, which was always little different from the East Tennessee kind.  I made sure he wasn't sorry he was doing it. Basically he was building a reputation for Isshin-ryu and he wanted fighters to represent his organization. I provided plenty of them. I understood what my job for him was.

   As I said my relationship was different from most. He was more of a friend and example than mentor. Now don't get me wrong. His example wasn't always what I wanted to grow up and be like. He was no angel and he never pretended to be one. He was a well documented Hell raiser who most always had a good time. He was so unpredictable that he would nearly adopt someone one month and bust them back in rank the next. He once was going to give someone a Shichi Dan. The poor guy got caught in traffic and was five minutes late. He gave the belt to someone else. He was a, "what have you done for me lately person". That meant that skipping classes, tournaments, seminars, or anything else he was involved in, was long walk on a short pier. People tried to slip by at times and it always ended the same way for them. He was generally unreasonable on matters he required for acceptable participation. He could and did at times play favorites. I was one of them. Once everyone but me went to his seminar. I simply did not want to go so I didn't. He made an excuse for me that I was working. But don't think for a minute that I didn't earn those bones. I always had his back and he knew it. He gave me a few opportunities to demonstrate that and he liked the results.

   He also had mine one night. I drove to Knoxville late one night from Nashville to work out with him the next morning. On the way, I took a detour by a young ladies house. I discovered that her dad was something of a drunken jerk, so she asked if she could leave with me. I said yes and we got in the car. Her Mother and brother stood behind my car while her dad came to my side with a gun. He stuck it in the window just far enough and I disarmed him. The girl assured me she would go in then ask me to pick her up later when things cooled off. They didn't. He kept her in with another gun. I called Mr. Long and he suggested that he wait in the street for her if she could get out. I managed to get a phone call to her. Ultimately she never came out and it ended there. I had told Mr. Long that her dad had a gun and may come out with her. He coolly said, well then I'll blow his damn head off. I think he would have. I know he would have. So that was part of our relationship. My part was to go after who he didn't like at tournaments and meetings. That is how I scored my points and a few promotions with him. It was a different time back then. You carved out a turf the Harold Long way and that was through intimidation. You could do all that and still fall from grace if you crossed him. I guess all of us were in his dog house at one time or the other. He put Phil Little through hell, then promoted him to his successor. He gave it to Maurice Msarsa at times when Maurice was doing the most for him. He and Joe Laney stopped speaking for a couple of years. At the end he wouldn't take a phone call from JC Burris. He dropped out of the IIKA and formed the Black Belt Association. He fell out with Don Bordenger and Master Allen Wheeler. All were life long friends and loyal students. If you were under him you were at odds with him somewhere along the way. Mine was the award winning, "on the outs" caper, with him.

  When I moved to Anderson, South Carolina for a time I was able to keep up with the board meeting tournaments, seminars, and trips to the Nashville Dojo.  Eventually my fitness locations along with my partners grew to over 300 locations. I also had some family issues with my son that required all of my time other than work, I could spare. More than anything, I was not going to be a casual visitor to the events and put myself on the same level as people who were still training regularly and had dojo's. I resented people doing that then and I still do. I was not going to be that guy who contributed to a point and then acted like everyone owed him something, even though he had ceased to contribute. I think that is still called being a phony.

   I decided I needed to drop out for awhile. I put my reasons in writing in two ways. To the IIKA and Hall of Fame boards, I sent a formal resignation. I then sent Mr. Long the formal resignation and a very personal letter besides.  Before the letter could reach him, he had a stroke and was hospitalized. Only the formal resignation like all the others got, reached him. The personal one to him did not.  He wrote me off. I didn't know why he acted like that, so I wrote him off too. Some years passed and I took the first group of Dragons to a tournament. A former friend asked me to come over and say hello to Mr. Long. I told him to tell Mr. Long to come over and say hello to me. I told you he and I were a lot alike. When I saw the horror in my "former" friends face I had to laugh. So I went over. We immediately threw our arms around each other and the years of non communication just melted away. He never even knew that there was another letter until Phil Little told him. Phil saw fit to try to do something to help. The others just went "Oh My, too bad." Then the IIKA wondered why I supported Phil as well as them. Now I support neither. If you support anyone in Isshin-ryu you have to take sides and hate the other group. They all say no, but try it sometime and see what happens to you. I will make this statement for the last time. Mr. Long saw fit to pass his linage on to Phil Little. As far as J. C. Burris 10th Dan, there has always been controversy there. Of the two, Phil Little was a better choice when it comes to ongoing contributions and leadership. I wish for Phil he could have been older when he got the 10th Dan, as he did not have the experience and maturity to handle it at the time. Isshin-ryu lost it's direction with the passing of Mr. Long and never regained it. Some have tried to take up the slack, but his presence was so strong and effective, everyone else is just a reasonable fact simile. It was a gross error on anyone's part to try to be Mr. Long.

   Now we are relegated to many saying, "well Mr. Long said", and "If Mr. Long were alive." and the rest of the excuses for not doing it themselves. Mr. Long was Mr. Long because he stood by his decisions and was not afraid of the isolation of leadership. He sacrificed his popularity at times for progress. No matter how many questionable decisions he made, no matter how many unexpected tantrums he threw, people put up with it because they got so much in return. He took us to where we could have never gone by ourselves. He made our martial arts dreams come true. Everything he did, he did from the heart. He was genuinely offended if you broached the system. He would preach loyalty then throw you out for little or nothing. He was a man of many contradictions. He was man who kept the rules book and even rewrote it himself from time to time. So why all the loyalty for him? As I said above, he was our leader and the only one who had the strength, knowledge, guts, and vision to get us all to our destination. You could go to him for anything and he was generous with whatever time, money or help you needed. Just be holding up your end if you did. He could not suffer a fool at all, although he had some around him from time to time. He was blunt, insulting, incredibly intimidating and as I said, often unreasonable. He was also someone you could trust, take his word to the bank and never wonder what he thought of you. You would never have to worry about what he said about you. Because he had already said it to you first. He was a man of great relationship integrity when it came to laying the cards on the table. He was a Leaders leader. You wanted him to like you and really wanted him to respect you. If he did, it had a way of verifying your own self concept. I have seen him raise many average people to effective leaders. When he died, most returned to their average at best former status. When he died, Isshin-ryu as some of us knew it, died with him. I actually heard the statements after he died that we are not going to do things like Mr. Long did. Well that prediction damn sure came true. How's that been working for us. This is one of the reasons myself and others pursued additional martial arts practices. You could hear the wheels of southeastern Isshin-ryu coming off. Right now there are essentially three of his first generation students that have organizations of any magnitude. Phil Little, JC Burris and Me.  Each thinks the other two are responsible for the lack of unity. The fact is, all three of us suck when it comes to cooperating. We have allowed our personal feelings and ego's to interfere with the unity and regional strength of Isshin-ryu. The behind the scenes aggravation and back stabbing from others has not helped much. There are also people who play all sides of the street making sure each knows what the other is saying. If anyone wants to know what I am saying just read it on this site. But the instigators and agitators are out there and working hard to gore their favorite target. As for me, I have gone a completely different direction so it will not affect me or my group. The other two would benefit greatly from a unity of even tournament financial support. I would still sit down with both or each and see what could be worked out. As I say that, I know it will not happen as there is no one strong enough to bring us together and keep us there. Why do I go into all this when I am talking about Mr. Long? To illustrate the void he left. If he were here and told the three of us to sit down, we wouldn't even look for a chair. We all got along when he was alive, because we had him to deal with otherwise. Plus we need each other to withstand him at times.

   His temper was legendary. I have seen him foot sweep a high ranking Te Kwon Do master for arguing with him at a tournament. I have been knocked off my feet by a huge competitor he back handed out of his ring for arguing his call. I was refereeing the next ring over and the guy covered a lot of ground via, a HL back hand. Once we were riding to a tournament and one of my black belts made the comment that no one could hurt him with a back hand. Mr. Long casually turned around and nearly took his head off with a back hand. Turned back around and said nothing. While matching one of his biggest black belts he got foot swept. He got up and buried his whole arm in the guy’s big stomach. When he was a cop his arrests were also legendary. A riot squad normally has 11 to 12 men. Mr. Long’s squad was he and one other guy. Every time an arrest was about to be made in the tougher rural area's around Knoxville, the radio would blast, "Is Harold Long in the area?"  There are countless other stories... Too many to repeat!

   The last part of Mr. Long’s life, he was living in Biloxi, Mississippi. I saw him a couple of times and we talked on the phone often. He was traveling to Australia and different Halls of Fame for awards and leadership roles. He left an award for me with The World Karate Union Hall of Fame, as competitor of the year for 1998. I didn't even know it until I accepted an induction award from them in 2005. I had long since passed my competition days except in the dojo. But there it was. As always he had his reasons. The HOF director told me that Mr. Long felt that when I was competing, that I deserved this type of award. Since they were not available then, he still wanted me to have one. They had contacted me in 1998 that I had an award there, but I just ignored it. I had no idea it was from him. Due to their respect for him, they kept it all those years.  His thoughtfulness was real, and not contrived for personal gain. When the end came he left on his own terms. He told his minister not to have a funeral home visitation. He didn't want all the SOB's that never called or came to see him, acting like they were friends of his. He was also concerned because he couldn't sit up and tell them, "to get the hell out".. The minister, John Dritt a former student, shared that at his grave site with us. It got a huge laugh at what was otherwise a somber occasion. Then Phil Little called for a bow and we bowed out for the last time, to the most Dynamic leader I have ever known. The leaves stopped moving, the wind died down and the air just went out of my Isshin-ryu.

   When writing about Mr. Long you almost feel like you are writing about a fictional character. You are afraid to say too little or ruin it by saying too much. I'll just close this out with that in mind. 

   Other accounts of his life can be found on this site as well as; the IIKA, USIKA and BOHANS sites. A very good write up on him can be found on The KARATE 5 web site. Best sources of information are the personal and professional knowledge of people who were close to him and were his first generation students who were under him almost from beginning to passing. To name a few: Maurice Msarsa, Cas Cox, Tommy True, Phil Little, JC Burris, Pete Mills, Willie Wilson and Melbert Lee. There are more but these come to mind as people who have been around the longest as first generations. My apologies to you if I have left you out.

   Of course, the greatest source is his family. At certain events, they are displaying all the Harold Long Memorabilia. It is quite a display that informs and educates all old and new Isshin-ryu people, as to just who was Harold Long. Twelve years has passed since his death. With so many new people, most have never seen him and some may never even have heard about him. A tournament or trophy in his name may honor him, but doesn't preserve his memory. This display, compliments of the Harold Long Foundation, will insure that his memory is never vague or forgotten. Hope as many of you and your students that can, will see this display.