Vic Moore

Victor Moore (born August 23, 1943) holds a 10th Degree Black Belt in Karate^[1] and was one of the late Robert Trias' Chief instructors of the Shuri-ryū Karate system.^[2] Moore was one of the first ten original members of the Trias International Society^[3] and also studied and trained with William J. Dometrich in the style of Chito-ryu.^[4] Moore has studied martial arts for over 50 years, and is a four-time world karate champion.^[5]

History

Moore began to travel with a handful of his students to several tournaments as far away as Canada. He later ventured out opening karate schools throughout the Cincinnati area^[6] and began traveling the Midwest and East coast. Being successful in competition,^[5] he meets the father of American Karate Robert A. Trias. Robert Trias with his skills and ability took Moore under his wings.^[7] He continued to train with Trias at various tournaments and seminars, learning the Kenpo and Goju-Ryu styles of Karate, Moore traveled many times to the USKA headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona where he had received rank up through his Masters level while in the USKA. Trias taught many style, but his main style was Shuri-Ryu. While Moore spent time in the USKA, Maung Gyi took him under his wings, taking him as a personal student. Gyi taught him Bando, stick fighting, and all the various weapons too numerous to name. Gyi was also Moore’s kickboxing instructor, teaching Moore all the moves of thai boxing. Later, Vic Moore and Joe Lewis introduced kick boxing to America on the Merv Griffin TV show in 1973.^[2] Moore and Joe Lewis were the first to introduce kickboxing on national TV and were some of the first professional kickboxers in the United States.^[8] Jim Harrison defeated Moore in the first kickboxing tournament in the United States. Vic Moore gives seminar's all over the USA and lives in Lumberton, NC where he teaches privately from his home.

Martial arts pioneer

• One of the first African-Americans to win a major karate competition (1965 USKA Grand Nationals).^[9]
• First kickboxing championship (1971 U.S. Kickboxing Championships) with Jim Harrison.^[8]
• Introduced kickboxing to America with Joe Lewis in 1973 on Merv Griffin.^[2]
• Black Karate feature film^[10] with Jim McLain and Robert Trias^[9]
• Formed the WKA organization in 1974^[9]

Competition

Moore has fought some of the top fighters in the world and also competed against Michael G. Foster (Miami 1965),^[11] Mike Stone,^[12] Jim 'Ronin' Harrison,^[8] Fred Wren,^[13] Chuck Norris, and Joe Lewis.^[14]

World championships

1. 1966 Defeating the all Hawaiian champion in Richmond Virginia.^[15]
2. 1968 Defeating Joe Lewis^[14] at the World's Fair Karate Championships.^[16]
3. 1969 Defeating Mike Stone^[12] in Pasadena California for the light heavyweight championship at the world teams championship.^[17]
4. 1970 Defeated the legendary Bill “Superfoot” Wallace to win the USKA first professional world championship.^[16]

Moore placed in every tournament he competed in from 1965 to 1975 when he retired from competition.^[9]

Speed Test Drill and Controversy

In 1967 Vic Moore appeared at the Long Beach International Karate Championships in Long Beach, California and participated in a martial arts speed drill against Jeet Kun Do founder and movie star, Bruce Lee. The point of the speed drill challenge was to stop Lee’s famous unstoppable punch. Lee allegedly told Moore that he was going to throw a straight punch to the face, and all he had to do was to try to block it. Lee took several steps back and asked if Moore was ready. When Moore nodded in affirmation, Lee glided towards him until he was within striking range. He then threw a straight punch directly at Moore's face, and stopped before impact. In eight attempts, Moore failed to block any of the punches.^[18][19] However, Moore and grandmaster Steve Mohammed claim that Lee had first told Moore that he was going to throw a straight punch to the body, which Moore blocked. Lee attempted another punch, and Moore blocked it as well. The third punch, which Lee threw to Moore's face, did not come nearly within striking distance. Moore claims that Lee never successfully struck Moore but Moore was able to strike Lee after trying on his own; Moore further claims that Bruce Lee said he was the fastest American he's ever seen and that Lee's media crew repeatedly played the one punch towards Moore's face that did not come within striking range, allegedly in an attempt to preserve Lee's superstar image.^[20] There has been controversy about Moore's claims as footage of the speed test drill is debated, with some arguing that videos clearly show Moore's inability to block Lee's punches. ^[21]

References

External links

• Vic Moore Martial Arts Biography
• Official website
• William J. Dometrich and Victor Moore