Bruce Lee info Fact or Fiction?

Paul_C · Post by **Paul_C** » Mon Jul 19, 1999 7:39 pm

I have a question for anybody out there. I was raoming a Bruce Lee web page
(www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~chenj/brucelee/bruce_faq.html)

where I saw a most interesting fact. In an area of the web page where it listed a number of Bruce Lee's real life altercations. It stated that he defeted "Uechi in 10 seconds in 1960-61"

Thats all the info that was given. Now does anybody have any info on this? Is this "Uechi" a person and if so is it Kanei or Kanmei (sp) or just a common Okinawan name? Was it just some one who studied Uechi. Or is this guy just full of it? You really can't trust anything you read these day's.

Now obviously this piece of information dosen't mean anything. But being a Uechi practitioner I'd like to know if this is a true piece of History. Plus if it isn't true Them's fight'en words! Just kidding.

Post by **gmattson** » Mon Jul 19, 1999 7:58 pm

I've met Bruce on a couple of occasions and he was very aware of the style I taught. He never mentioned any match or fight with a Uechi practitioner. I know for a fact that he never fought a Uechi family member.

There are stories of Bruce having had full contact matches in Hong Kong before such activities became popular in the West. It is conceivable that he fought someone with the very common name of Uechi during his lifetime.

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GEM

gdonahue · Post by **gdonahue** » Mon Jul 19, 1999 11:26 pm

Bruce Lee was living in Washington during that period, and had already left his brawling days behind. I haven't seen anything in his diaries or notes yet about him fighting anyone named Uechi or anyone from Uechi Ryu. There is really only one documented "fight" after his youth, when members of the Chinese community tried to stop him from teaching kung fu to non-Chinese.

If you want accurate information about Bruce Lee, check out the Bruce Lee Educational Foundation site: http://www.bruceleefoundation.com/

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George
Nana korobi, ya oki.

Scott Danziger · Post by **Scott Danziger** » Tue Jul 20, 1999 2:24 am

I just visited the Bruce Lee FAQ site and emailed vandamme@uclink4.berkeley.edu whose email address was at the bottom of the page.

The following is what I sent him:

I read with interest in the Bruce Lee FAQ about Bruce Lee's fights "1960 or 1961: vs. Uechi. (Won in 10 seconds)."

Is this Uechi a person from the Uechi Ryu family? A Uechi ryu practitioner? Or just some guy named Uechi? Please be specific if you can. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Scott

Let's see if I get an answer. If so, I will post it here.

Scott

Allen M. · Post by **Allen M.** » Tue Jul 20, 1999 10:18 am

GEM,

Did Bruce REALLY say that? The statement on his website sounds so vague and is far from being detailed! He could have defeated a Uechi green belt; that would qualify 'his' words. I'm not getting down on Bruce, because he was one of my early-day
Idols and I still hold him in high esteem as a martial-arts great, but I just want to understand words on the BL website in proper perspective.

Bruce visited either the Hancock Street Dojo or the 'Y' way back then; I understand it was a cordial visit. Maybe he took back Uechi techniques with him to fold-over into his own style of Jeet Kune Do? Will you relate a little about his visit. Did he ever engage in crunching with Van? Jimmy Maloney? Arthur Rabesa? Bobby Campbell? Walter Mattson? Now that would be perspective...

While I think of it, years back, GEM, 1st and 2nd generation Uechi-ryu practitioners used to frequently spar with He Il Cho, the famous Taikwondo master now residing in CA who started nearby in Providence, RI in the 50s. Never hear anything about TKD defeating Uechi, but understand they were damn good workouts for both TKD and Uechi (When I was a kyu, some 25 some-odd years ago, I used to think workouts with He had influence on the development of Kyu-kumite because Kyu-Kumite is a defense and attack strategy matched so right against TKD).

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Allen - [email]uechi@ici.net">uechi@ici.net</A> - <A HREF="http://www.uechi-ryu.org[/email]

[This message has been edited by Allen M. (edited 07-20-99).]

david · Post by **david** » Tue Jul 20, 1999 10:57 am

Allen,

He II Cho was in Providence up to the 70's. I don't recall any of us Uechi people sparring with him. He had a big school. His cross town rival was George Pasare of kempo.

I watched He ll Cho as a kid at tournaments and was very impressed by his ability to kick cold. He used to walk around the floor, demonstrate something to a student, like sticking his leg in the air in an almost vertical side kick and held it. He also had some incredible jump spinning techniques. I was so impressed that I began working on my own on some of those jump spinning stuff.

Then, he fought Dennis Passerati from Pasare's school. Suffice to say, Dennis was even more impressive in a "down to earth" (knock your opponent down to earth, that is...) kind of way...

david

Paul_C · Post by **Paul_C** » Tue Jul 20, 1999 1:04 pm

Scott: Thanks, I didn't even think to go right to the source. Please keep me posted on any replies.

So Bruce Lee visited a Uechi dojo. Was it more for publicity or was it an actual workout?

Allen M. · Post by **Allen M.** » Tue Jul 20, 1999 9:46 pm

Hello David,

Typo on the '50s' date; thought it was in the 60s. Time flies... A few guys around Broctkton and North Attleboro used to talk about sparring with He on occasion.

Dennis was not impressed by He but he did the impressing. I can believe that.

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Allen - [email]uechi@ici.net">uechi@ici.net</A> - <A HREF="http://www.uechi-ryu.org[/email]

Scott Danziger · Post by **Scott Danziger** » Wed Jul 28, 1999 6:53 am

Well I finally got an answer to the question on who this Uechi guy is. The following is a complete cut and paste of the email I jusr received (which includes my question to him which was quoted)

--->>>

Subject: Re: Bruce Lee vs. Uechi
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 1999 19:29:01 -0700
From: vandamme@uclink4.berkeley.edu
To: Scott Danziger <scotttd@earthlink.net>

Haven't got a clue.

Jeff

At 09:27 PM 7/19/99 -0700, you wrote:
>I read with interest in the Bruce Lee FAQ about Bruce Lee's fights "1960
>or 1961: vs. Uechi. (Won in 10 seconds)."
>
>Is this Uechi a person from the Uechi Ryu family? A Uechi ryu
>practitioner? Or just some guy named Uechi?
>
>Sincerely,
>Scott

*--------------------

Don't you just love the internet for always being able able to find the truth in everything you read? I would imagine he will not remove the line in question on his "FAQ" website.

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Taking Charge - Cable Access Martial Art Show
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[This message has been edited by Scott Danziger (edited 07-28-99).]