Larry Tatum

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Larry Tatum is a 10th degree black belt in the style of American Kenpo.
Image:larrytatum.gif

[edit] The Person

Larry Tatum was born on June 18, 1948. He began studying Kenpo in 1966 under SGM Ed Parker in Pasadena, California. In 1984, he was named "Instructor of the Year" by the Inside Kung Fu magazine. Today he holds the 10th degree black belt, the highest reachable rank in Kenpo, he is one of the most known Kenpo figures in the world. He owns his own Kenpo Karate school in Pasadena, California (111 W. Green Street, Pasadena, CA 91105) but he also gives seminars all over the world. He produced 23 videos well known as the "When Kenpo strikes" series in 1988. In 1993 he made a 21 videos set, covering the 250 self-defense techniques required from the yellow belt up to the 3rd degree black belt.
One of Mr. Tatum's well known students is the actor Jeff Speakman known from the movie The Perfect Weapon. Mr. Tatum also trained celebrities like Sidney Poitier, Julie Haggarty, Gary Collins (actor), the writer Joe Hyams, and Nancy Cartwright (actress), the children and grandchildren of people like George Peppard, Ed Byrnes, Ann Archer and the composer Henry Mancini. He wrote two books, "Confidence, a child's first weapon" in 1983 and "The art of competition kata" in 1986.
In 1980, Mr. Tatum was the first Martial Arts instructor to convince the California courts to allow Martial Arts to be recognized as a means for effective therapy for those who have been victimized by violence. In 1996, Mr. Tatum was on the ground floor in helping to create "Martial Arts Day" in California. He received a State Resolution for his work. In 1996, Mr. Tatum was awarded a State Resolution for his "Kids at Risk" program that has helped provide a safer and caring environment for many kids, enabling them to stay off the streets. Larry Tatum has been featured on the cover of Black Belt Magazine five times with over 20 of his articles published in the magazine. Mr. Tatum is the official spokesman for the "Kids and Cops" program with the Pasadena Police Department.

He has founded the Larry Tatum Kenpo Karate Association (LTKKA) which has thousands of members world-wide.

Many believe that Larry Tatum should have been named successor to Ed Parker, but unfortunately none was named at the time of Mr. Parker’s passing. As Senior Master Al Tracy said, "Larry Tatum was the obvious choice to be the first to represent American Kenpo!"

[edit] External Links

• Larry Tatum's Website: Click here