The 200th issue of Black Belt was dated August 1980. It was 76 pages long and featured 40-year-old Chuck Norris on the cover.
Chuck Norris on cross-training: "The Korean style (tang soo do) was good, but there is a lot more to learn than just that. So I started training with a Japanese stylist, and I got my hand techniques down a lot better. Then I started working a lot with the Chinese systems and learning the mobility of the Chinese systems. Plus I studied judo for five years, and so I started incorporating judo — the sweeping punch — and then I started studying aikido. I was just trying to absorb knowledge."
<p>- Likely the most expensive item featured in an ad in this issue of Black Belt: a full-size replica of samurai armor, $2,995.</p><p>- The U.S. National Karate Team flies to France to compete in the WUKO World Championships. Chuck Merriman and Alex Sternberg are the coaches. Among the American athletes is Billy Blanks.</p><p>- "The theory of 'no first attack' had no place in jujitsu," Alan Kitay writes. "It is because of the flexibility and adaptability of all the techniques — which can be offensive or defensive — that this is so. To merely parry and defend, as would be taught in an aikido school, has one major drawback: It allows your opponent more than one shot at you."</p><p>- On the subject of con men in the martial arts, Fred Hamilton of Jamaica, New York, sounds off: "What amazes me is that the kids are an incredible barometer for seeing through phonies. Every person that a kid has warned me about has always turned out to be a lemon. As a rule, [kids] have a good sense for people."</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img class="rm-shortcode" data-height="2412" data-rm-shortcode-id="0862b59d2135579c694d29b036e55962" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-runner-src="https://blackbeltmag.com/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDUzMTY1OS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNjk3NDU5NX0.zTxptjg_iHYkC6xt3Eh_6nSEC8IvEtLqqv0OG_52ePc/image.jpg?width=980" data-width="1800" id="f3893" type="lazy-image"/>
</p><p>- "The reason that this art has survived, then, is not because of its importance as a means of espionage but because it got back to the original purpose of enlightenment and personal development." So says Stephen K. Hayes on the history of ninjutsu.<br/></p><p>- A one-year subscription to Black Belt is on sale for $10.</p><p>- In perhaps the first instance of the word "combat" being used to describe a supposedly more street-realistic interpretation of a martial art, it's noted that 35 years ago, Col. Rex Applegate referred to his style as "combat judo."</p><p>- "The people who've called me since my TV appearances almost always preface their questions by demanding that I tell them my 'secret,'" says breaking sensation Richie Barathy. "I don't have one. There's nothing I do that is the least bit different from the mental training that can be gained through adhering to the requirements of any genuine martial arts training program."</p><script async="" src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>
<!-- Ads for after 400 Words -->
<ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-6047250114740887" data-ad-format="auto" data-ad-slot="4032314083" data-full-width-responsive="true" style="display:block"></ins>
<script>
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
</script><p>- The featured fighters in Century's new ad for Pro Pants and Sport Tops are Mike Genova, John Longstreet and Keith Vitali.§ "Everyone has a handicap," says blind judoka Jesse Pope, 25. "It's just that it doesn't always show on the outside."</p><p>- After outing a person who submitted faked photos, the editor of Black Belt reveals one way bogus breaking pix are concocted: "Pre-cut the ice, then use salt to join the block back together. The block then breaks very easily when hit." (You can guess what I'll be doing this weekend.) <br/>(Note: Back issues are not for sale.)</p>
Keep Reading
Show less
