Ngo Dong

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O Sensei Ngo Dong (died in 2000) is chiefly known as the founder and grandmaster of international school of Cuong Nhu Oriental Martial Arts. From 1961 to 1971 he served as professor of biology at the Hue University, Vietnam, during which time he founded the Cuong Nhu style of martial arts. After the devastating 1968 Tet offensive, Grandmaster Dong organized a civil defense organization, the People's Self-Defense Forces of Hue, to help protect the public from the random violence spawned by the war. His organization engaged some 25,000 people in a program of karate, games and friendly competition to rebuild morale and spirit.

In 1974 Ngo Dong earned his PhD in Entomology from the University of Florida, Gainesville, and during this period (1971-74) founded and incorporated the first Cuong Nhu Karate club in the United States. He then returned to South Vietnam and served until the fall of South Vietnam as the President of Da Nang College. An outspoken opponent of communism, Ngo Dong was placed under house arrest by the communist government of Vietnam in 1975. He and his family escaped by boat to Indonesia, at extreme risk, and eventually reached the United States in 1977. From 1977 until his retirement he served as professor in the Department of Entomology and Nematology at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida.

In 1986 Ngo Dong discovered the joys of long-distance running. He soon completed his first two marathons, which he ran on consecutive weekends. His first ultra-marathon was the 100-mile Western States run in Squaw Valley, California. In his running career he completed 23 marathons, eight 50-mile ultra-marathons and fourteen 100-mile ultra-marathons.

On his retirement from the University of Florida he was awarded with dual proclamations from the City of Gainesville and Alachua County, Florida, declaring August 14, 1994 as Dr. Ngo Dong Day. To commemorate his life, the Ngo family commissioned an oriental plant garden to be built and maintained in his honor at Kanapaha Nature Center in Gainesville, Florida. This garden contains plants and flowers loved by Grandmaster Dong as well as a plaque dedicating it in his memory.

[edit] Martial Arts

As a boy, Ngo Dong learned Vovinam, the Vietnamese system of martial arts, from Ngo Quoc Phong, one of the top five students of vovinam's founder, Grandmaster Nguyen Loc, and he also learned Wing Chun from his two oldest brothers, who studied with Chinese Master Te Kong. Although their father, Ngo Khanh Thuc, was Attorney General of Vietnam, the Ngo brothers tested their fighting skills on the street by engaging hustlers and professional street fighters inhabiting the alleys and back streets of Hanoi. After moving south to Hue in 1956, Ngo Dong began shotokan karate training under a former Japanese captain, Choji Suzuki. After years of training, Ngo Dong earned his fourth degree black belt in Shotokan, and a black belt in Judo. Later, Ngo Dong studied with American Marine Lt. Ernie Cates, a judo and goshin jujitsu instructor who had been in the first U.S. Olympic judo trials. Through Grandmaster Cates' instruction, Ngo Dong began to better understand the spiritual side to the martial arts. He shared training techniques with Grandmaster Cates and eventually combined his broad martial arts knowledge into his own style, Cuong Nhu, which means "hard-soft" in Vietnamese.

During a special ceremony in May 1994, Grandmaster Dong was promoted to 6th degree in Judo, by Sensei Ed Szrejter, then Executive Director of the U.S. Judo Association. Grandmaster Dong is the 47th Judoka among the USJA's 20,000 members to reach 6th dan.

The Cuong Nhu Oriental Martial Arts discipline now has over 3000 active members under the leadership of Grandmaster Quynh Ngo.