Rhee Jhoon-goo (January 7, 1932 – April 30, 2018), commonly known as Jhoon Rhee or Grandmaster Jhoon Rhee, was a South Korean

master Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans *Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...

Taekwondo ''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast kicking techniques. T ...

who is widely recognized as the 'Father of American Taekwondo' for introducing this martial art to the United States of America since arriving in the 1950s.Grand Master Jhoon Rhee returns home to serve as Youngsan Univ.'s Chair Professor
''The Seoul Times'', September 2004. Retrieved on 28 July 2007.Kang, S.-W. (2008)

''The Korea Times'' (10 January 2008). Retrieved on 26 January 2010. He was ranked 10th ''

dan Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), including a list of people with the name ** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark * Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa **Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoi ...

''.

Early life and education

Rhee was born on January 7, 1932, in Korea, during the period of Japanese occupation. He began training in the martial arts at the age of 13 in 1945 without his father's knowledge.JhoonRhee.com: Philosophy
Retrieved on 29 January 2010. Rhee received martial art training under Nam Tae Hi and graduated from the

Chung Do Kwan Chung Do Kwan, created by Won Kuk Lee in 1944, is one of the first of nine schools or '' kwan'' teaching Tang Soo Do. Later, the school began to teach what came to be known as taekwondo. This style of Tang Soo Do is known for its overall powe ...

.Kang, W. S., and Lee, K. M. (1999)
The Modern History of TaeKwonDo
Retrieved on 14 October 2007. While an officer in the Korean Army, he traveled to attend

Southwest Texas State College Texas State University is a public research university in San Marcos, Texas. Since its establishment in 1899, the university has grown to the second largest university in the Greater Austin metropolitan area and the fifth largest university ...

in 1956, and later returned to attend the University of Texas at Austin for an engineering degree

Career

During the 1960s, Rhee befriended

Bruce Lee Bruce Lee (; born Lee Jun-fan, ; November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973) was a Hong Kong and American martial artist and actor. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy drawing from different combat disciplines that ...

—a relationship from which they both benefited as martial artists. Lee taught Rhee an extraordinarily fast punch that is almost impossible to block. Rhee named this the "Accupunch". During his educational years in Texas, Rhee issued his first US-awarded black belt to Pat Burleson, and his first fully US-trained to Allen Steen, who together teamed up to establish the influential Southwest Black Belt Association (later became the American Black Belt Association) resulting in many competition champions. Rhee upon graduation relocated to the East Coast and opened his first U.S. based studio in 1962 in

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

, and over time expanded to 11 studios in the DC Metro area. In 1973, Rhee made his only martial arts movie, titled ''

When Taekwondo Strikes ''When Taekwondo Strikes'' (Chinese: 跆拳震九州, also known as ''Sting of the Dragon Masters'' and ''Taekwondo Heroes'') is a 1973 Hong Kong martial arts film directed and written by Feng Huang, and produced by Raymond Chow. The film is kn ...

''; he was also in a very small role in ''Fist of Fury''.. In 1975 Rhee met

Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, a ...

before Ali's

Thrilla in Manila Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier lll, billed as the "Thrilla in Manila", was the third and final boxing match between WBA, WBC, and '' The Ring'' heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali, and Joe Frazier, for the heavyweight championship of the world. T ...

fight with

Joe Frazier Joseph William Frazier (January 12, 1944November 7, 2011), nicknamed "Smokin' Joe", was an American professional boxer who competed from 1965 to 1981. He was known for his strength, durability, formidable left hand, and relentless pressure fi ...

. Rhee demonstrated the Accupunch to Ali, who was unable to block it and asked to be taught it. Rhee was Ali's head coach for Ali's fights with

Richard Dunn (boxer) Richard Dunn (born 19 January 1945, in Halifax) is an English former heavyweight boxer who was the British (1975–76), European (1976) and Commonwealth (1975–76) Champion. He unsuccessfully challenged Muhammad Ali for the World Heavywe ...

and

Antonio Inoki Muhammad Hussain Inoki (born ; February 20, 1943 – October 1, 2022) was a Japanese professional wrestler, martial artist, politician, and promoter of professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. He was best known by the ring name , a homag ...

. In the mid-1980s, Rhee operated a network of 11 martial arts studios across the

Washington D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

region. Rhee was well known in the Washington, D.C. area for a television commercial that has a jingle by

Nils Lofgren Nils Hilmer Lofgren (born June 21, 1951) is an American rock musician, recording artist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Along with his work as a solo artist, he has been a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band since 1984, a membe ...

and features Rhee's daughter uttering the catch phrase, "Nobody bothers me," followed by his son saying "Nobody bothers me, either." In 2000, Rhee was the only

Korean-American Korean Americans are Americans of Korean ancestry (mostly from South Korea). In 2015, the Korean-American community constituted about 0.56% of the United States population, or about 1.82 million people, and was the fifth-largest Asian Americans ...

named amongst the 203 most recognized immigrants to the country by the National Immigrant Forum and the Immigration and Naturalization Services. Rhee was inducted into the Taekwondo Hall of Fame in 2007,Taekwondo Hall of Fame 2007 Banquet
Retrieved on 12 January 2008. (Although the reference's address contains "2006," the event was actually held in 2007.) in which he is listed as both the 'Pioneer of American Taekwondo' and the 'Pioneer of Taekwon-Do in Russia'.
Retrieved on 12 January 2008. Rhee is listed as a pioneer in the USA (1950s, 1960s, and 1970s) in Chang Keun Choi's list of taekwondo pioneers.Choi, C. K. (2007)
Tae Kwon Do Pioneers
Retrieved on 15 March 2008.

Death

Rhee died on April 30, 2018 in

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county is ...

at the age of 86.

Notes

References

External links