Ted Wong (November 5, 1937 – November 24, 2010) was a

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; a ...

practitioner best known for studying under

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 ...

Early life

Wong was born in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

in 1937. His father, a native Californian of Chinese descent, was stationed there while serving in the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

. His family moved back to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, California in 1953 and a few years later to

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

. After completing high school and college, Wong served in the

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

as a Lieutenant for 2 years in

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

. After serving, he returned to San Diego in 1962.

Martial arts

Wong's first encounter with

was in 1967, in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, where Lee was giving a Kung Fu seminar. Wong had no martial arts training, and was interested in western

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

and some martial arts. He was so impressed by Lee, however, that he decided to study at Lee's kwoon, the Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute in Los Angeles. Shortly after beginning his studies, Lee accepted Wong as a private student. Wong became Lee's sparring partner and close friend. Wong was present as Lee developed Jun Fan Gung Fu into Jeet Kune Do. He was present to see Lee train other martial artists, including

Karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the ...

Champion Joe Lewis and basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Wong was one of only a few people to receive rank in the art of Jeet Kune Do by Bruce Lee. Wong never learned another martial art besides what Lee had taught him, thus he never taught anything other than what he learned. Wong gave seminars and continued to teach privately until his death. He coauthored several books about Jeet Kune Do. Some of his students included Bruce Lee’s daughter

Shannon Lee Shannon Emery Lee Keasler (born April 19, 1969) is an American actress and businesswoman. She is the only living child of martial artist Bruce Lee and retired martial arts teacher Linda Lee Cadwell, the granddaughter of Cantonese opera singer L ...

. Wong was a lifetime board member of the

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

and the Jeet Kune Do Society. Ted Wong had a core group of long-time students whom he certified as instructors such as Lewis Luk, Albert Grajales, Bill Mattucci, Richard Torres, Mike Gittleson, and others around the world.In Italy Alberto Costanzo and Davide Gardella. These instructors are continuing practice the JKD as taught by Ted Wong, as taught to him by Bruce Lee, at their own locations. Ted Wong was inducted into Black Belt magazine's Hall of Fame as the "Man of the Year" in 2006.

References

Books co-authored by Wong

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External links

Tribute to Ted Wong
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wong, Ted 2010 deaths American Jeet Kune Do practitioners Chinese Jeet Kune Do practitioners 1937 births