Randall Kleck (born ''c.'' 1950) is an American martial artist and three time world champion. Retrieved on October 12, 2010. In a martial arts career spanning over 40 years he has been a student, competitor, judge, instructor, and author.

Martial arts competition

Kleck is best known as a martial arts competitor. He won two world titles from the Martial Arts Fighting Federation and an amateur world title from the International San Da Federation. He has title belts from

kickboxing Kickboxing is a combat sports, combat sport focused on kicking and punch (strike), punching. The combat takes place in a boxing ring, normally with boxing gloves, mouthguards, shorts, and bare feet to favour the use of kicks. Kickboxing is pract ...

, sanda, and

Muay Thai Muay Thai ( th, มวยไทย, , ), sometimes referred to as Thai boxing, is a combat sport that uses stand-up striking along with various clinching techniques. This discipline is known as the "art of eight limbs", as it is characterised ...

and won numerous national and regional titles in

sport karate (; ; Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the influence of Chinese martial arts, particularly Fujian ...

. He was ranked #1 nationally by the National Blackbelt League (NBL) in point fighting and among the world's top competitors in forms, fighting, and weapons by the North American Sport Karate Association (NASKA). NASKA ranked him #2 in the world in fighting, #4 in weapons, and #7 in forms. Kleck qualified to be a member of U.S. teams and fought in multiple countries against fighters from all over the world. In his 50s he was still competing successfully in Muay Thai and sanda, as well as winning tournaments in adult continuous sparring. Besides being a student of Muay Thai, wrestling, boxing, and

Shotokan is a style of karate, developed from various martial arts by Gichin Funakoshi (1868–1957) and his son Gigo (Yoshitaka) Funakoshi (1906–1945). Gichin Funakoshi was born in Okinawa and is widely credited with popularizing "karate do" throu ...

karate, Kleck has also served as a coach and tournament volunteer. He has judged at major NASKA, NBL, and

World Association of Kickboxing Organizations The World Association of Kickboxing Organizations (W.A.K.O or WAKO) is an international kickboxing organization counting over 120 affiliated countries representing all five continents. WAKO is a major governing body of amateur kickboxing and is ...

(WAKO) events and is a certified judge for the World Sanda League. Kleck's efforts have been recognized by a number of organizations. Among the organizations that have honored him are the World Karate Union Hall of Fame (Lifetime Achievement Award), Action Martial Arts Magazine (Hall of Honor), WAKO-USA (for coaching kickboxing), the American Freestyle Karate Association (Hall of Fame), and the World Kung Fu Masters Association.

Personal

Kleck is an ordained elder and deacon at Laurel Presbyterian Church and, according to one ratings website, is regarded as a helpful instructor of mathematics at

Howard Community College Howard Community College (HCC or Howard CC) is a public community college in Columbia, Maryland. It offers classes for credit in more than 100 programs, non-credit classes, and workforce development programs. In addition to the main campus in C ...

. Kleck has B.S. and M.S. degrees in mathematics from

Michigan Technological University Michigan Technological University (Michigan Tech, MTU, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Houghton, Michigan, founded in 1885 as the Michigan Mining School, the first post-secondary institution in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. ...

. He also writes the ''BLACK BELT INVESTMENT LETTER'', an investment publication whose model portfolios have greatly outperformed the market. Kleck also coached basketball at the Laurel Boys & Girls Club for many years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kleck, Randall American male karateka Sportspeople from Joliet, Illinois Living people American finance and investment writers Year of birth missing (living people) Michigan Technological University alumni