Jesse Glover

Jesse Glover
Born October 15, 1935
Seattle, Washington
Died June 27, 2012 (aged 76)
Style Non-Classical Gung-Fu
Teacher(s) Bruce Lee

Jesse Raymond Glover (October 15, 1935 – June 27, 2012) was Bruce Lee's first student[1] and first assistant instructor in the United States. He met Lee in 1959, as they both attended Edison Technical College[2] and was the one who first taught Lee judo.[3] Glover was a psychology major and a champion judoka.[4] The character Jerome Sprout in the 1993 film Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story was based on Glover.

Jesse started a Gungfu class of his own and Leroy Garcia and James DeMile came along and assisted him, which was the first ever independent Jun Fan arts related class. Jesse Glover was the first authorized martial arts instructor to be trained by Bruce Lee. He has developed his own method which he calls Non-Classical GungFu.

Bruce Lee had his punching and closing speed measured with an electric timer at Glover's house. In the book "Bruce Lee - Between Wing Chun and JKD", Glover states, Lee could land a punch in around five hundredths of a second (0.05 second) from 3 feet away, and could close from 5 feet away in around eight hundredths of a second (0.08 second). While Glover's own times from three feet were between 11 and 18 hundredths of a second (0.11 and 0.18 second). Closing from a distance they were in the low twenties.[5]

Glover lived in Seattle, Washington, and worked as an author and private martial arts instructor.

He died of cancer in June 2012.[6]

Written works

References

  1. ↑ Lee, Bruce; John Little (1997). The tao of gung fu: a study in the way of Chinese martial art. Tuttle Publishing. p. 8. ISBN 978-0-8048-3110-9.
  2. ↑ Tackett, Tim (2004). "Observing The Differences Between Stages In The Evolution Of Bruce Lee's Martial Art". The Jeet Kune Do Wednesday Night Group. Retrieved 2006-08-27.
  3. ↑ Campbell, Sid; Greglon Lee (2005). The Dragon And The Tiger: Bruce Lee, The Oakland Years: The Untold Story of Jun Fan Gung-fu and James Yimm Lee. Frog Books. p. 69. ISBN 978-1-58394-118-8.
  4. ↑ Thomas, Bruce (2008). Bruce Lee: Fighting Spirit. Pan Macmillan. p. 41. ISBN 978-0-283-07066-2.
  5. ↑ Glover, Jesse R. (1976). Bruce Lee Between Win Chun and Jeet Kune Do. (p53-54)
  6. ↑ Vaughn, Alexa (June 29, 2012), "Jesse Glover, Bruce Lee’s first student, dies at 77", Seattle Times