Best Marietta Martial Arts presents Joe Corley, Atlanta Extreme Warrior Official Karate Magazine Ninja Turtle article

ONE MORE ROUND

Atlanta's Martial Arts guru, Joe Corley, 9th Degree Black Belt and Master Instructor at Atlanta Extreme Warrior and Joe Corley Karate, is the author of a regular column in Official Karate Magazine.
This latest column involved the Masters Hall of Fame, into which Master Corley was inducted this year.

Master Joe Corley and his world class staff of instructors have earned the awards of being named Best in Atlanta, the Best of Cobb Life and the Best of Atlanta in Creative Loafing magazine. Joe Corley's ring name was Gentleman Joe Corley, and his column, One More Round, is penned under that name.
For more information, contact Joe Corley at 678-236-8100 and visit the website at http://AtlExtremeWarrior.com
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One More Round

by Gentleman Joe Corley

HUMBLE WARRIORS

From Fort Worth, Texas, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 

The Men Were Men, and the Women Were (still) Proud of It

It was Saturday night, June 7, 2014 AD, and many across our land were looking around wondering where  we Americans and our country are.

Those of us in the Ft. Worth Hilton were not wondering.

We stood tall, with hands to hearts, as country music icon Eddy Raven delivered a moving, soulful Star Spangled Banner followed by America the Beautiful. 

We applauded Eddy’s  passion-filled salutes to our land, and then we cheered each other. We knew from where we had come, and we have faith we can make a difference going forward.

Grandmaster Pat Burleson hosted the Texas Brand of the MASTERS HALL OF FAME, eloquently presented in the Ft. Worth Hilton and produced by the tireless and creative Jamie Cashion. 

There was more than 3,500 years of experience represented in this one ballroom. Platinum, Gold and Silver ranked Masters of the Martial Arts moved powerfully across the stage to receive not just another award, but to stand on a red carpet with peers they may have beat on in a previous life. Tonight, they are relishing a bond—a bond of courage, character and class—Texas, America style

The gentleman who is J Pat (GM Burleson) had his quiet signature on this atmosphere of humility of greats. 

John Rushkin said about Humility, “I believe that the first test of a great man is his humility. I don't mean by humility, doubt of his power. But really great men have a curious feeling that the greatness is not of them, but through them. And they see something divine in every other man and are endlessly, foolishly, incredibly merciful.” These Warriors on this night in Ft. Worth were models of Humility.  This Atlanta 70's Warrior calls it the Clint Eastwood Assertive Paradigm. All these men and women  here "walked softly", but they all carried "A BIG '44'". 

Their era had been preceded and modeled for them by their parents of  “America's Greatest Generation", the men and women from every walk of life who went after the Nazis and the Pearl Harbor murderers with a passion. These honored martial artists on this night had presented their world with a peacetime version of this ethic, and they had set a Standard we pray will be replicated in a new generation. 

Today's martial arts instructors are themselves cut from a different cloth and have been raised in a "kinder and gentler" world. Their students of today are daily pressured by the mind-numbing, often mind-less, digital revolution where words mean different things and/or are often meaningless--a world where bullies can now be anonymous "keyboard warriors", lurking, insulting and name calling from the murky shadows of the Internet. A world where every one is a Master of Something. 

This Southeastern Warrior has observed a special brand of men and women from the Southwest, molded by and modeled after J Pat Burleson and Allen Steen. I always admired and respected their toughness. And pride. There was never begging for "contact" points, before or after safety gear, shaking off whatever clobbered them with "I'm OK, let's go".

Losers bowed and shook the winners’ hands. No whining allowed. Parents and coaches respected the calls of the hard working officials. There was honor. Respect.  Courtesy. American Warrior style. 

Yes, the men were men. And yes, the women were proud of it. 

And I, a visitor from another place, was honored to have been invited to join this group on this June night, some 4 decades later.  In months and years ahead, it will continue to be my mission to share with the world at large the intensity, the integrity and the fierceness that was represented in Ft. Worth at this Masters Hall of Fame.

And for our friends who do not have a frame of reference to identify personally with what I have tried to convey here about these humble warriors, please search out their names to see what you can find on YOUTUBE and GOOGLE via Masters Hall of Fame in Ft. Worth, Texas. . What great legacies you will enjoy!