Perhaps the biggest reason this Black Belt Classic from our May 1968 issue is so intriguing is it relies on input from three martial artists who at the time were fairly ordinary people. Chuck Norris was not a movie star, Ed Parker was not the man who founded a hugely popular art and then died way too young, and Fumio Demura was not the icon of the martial arts world that he’s known as now. The second reason is the roundtable discussion shines a spotlight on the problems with competition, some of which are still extant 50 years later.
— Editor, 2018
Black Belt invited three active karateka who are also producers of tournaments to discuss some of the problems of competition. Participating are Ed Parker, one of the foremost tournament operators and a sensei of several dojo; Chuck Norris, the national champion and a dojo and tournament operator; and Fumio Demura, a sensei at the University of California, Irvine, who held his first tournament in 1967.
— Editor, 1968