” If you know Slomanski and his teachings, you know his Master Instructors and their teachings. “
Excerpts From Grand Master Al Tracy’s Site at one time; Was Elvis Really A Black Belt, we thank Grand Master Al Tracy for the use.
“By comparison, his karate classes made the airborne training seem like an afternoon tea. As Bruce Lee’s #1 student, Dan Inosanto recalls, “He ran the class just like boot camp and he liked to make contact. Until I studied other styles, this is what I thought Karate was.” – Bruce Lee’s #1 student- Guru Dan Inosanto
Over the years I have known a few of Hank’s students and they all had certain traits in common. They were all tough! And they all loved to fight!”
This style has produced a student who is in the Guinness Book Of World Records for taking full blows to the throat illustrating techniques, from what he was taught by his Master, Soke John B. Burkhardt. All students were taught in the same and manner. This one took it to a public forum…Wide Word Of Sports with Howard Cosell Circa 1975
Excerpts From Grand Master Al Tracy’s Site at one time; Was Elvis Really A Black Belt, we thank Grand Master Al Tracy for the use.
“By comparison, his karate classes made the airborne training seem like an afternoon tea. As Bruce Lee’s #1 student, Dan Inosanto recalls, “He ran the class just like boot camp and he liked to make contact. Until I studied other styles, this is what I thought Karate was.” – Bruce Lee’s #1 student- Guru Dan Inosanto
Over the years I have known a few of Hank’s students and they all had certain traits in common. They were all tough! And they all loved to fight!”
This style has produced a student who is in the Guinness Book Of World Records for taking full blows to the throat illustrating techniques, from what he was taught by his Master, Soke John B. Burkhardt. All students were taught in the same and manner. This one took it to a public forum…Wide Word Of Sports with Howard Cosell Circa 1975
I had just finished Rigger School at Ft Lee, VA in July 1963. I was sent to Ft. Benning, GA to pack parachutes for the Jump School students. I was told that I had to get a “pay jump” in before the end of the month was out.The easy way to do this was to jump with the Jump School Class. The class I was jumping with had two jumps done, you have to have five to get your jump wings, and become Airborne. Before that, they and any in the military are considered “legs”.
In the Army you can wear your Class A uniform with your pants “bloused” in your boots, when you get your silver wings and are classified “Airborne”. With this background, this is how the story begins and how I met lst Sgt. Jump Master, Melvin Louis Sauer.
Now the one thing that separates Melvin from the thousands of troops at Ft. Benning is the black baseball cap with his “Master Jump Wings” on it. There are not many of them walking around Ft. Benning. He is a Jump Master and to all the students that are going through Jump School, he is “God”. There is no rank displayed on any person while going through Jump School. In other words, the person next to you could be a General or a Private, until he gets his wings and while he is in Jump School, it’s a mystery. You can understand why, because of the people training them, otherwise they could pull rank. Now there is another color hat that received tremendous respect from the Jump School students, and that is a red baseball cap with a set of “Rigger wings” on it. There aren’t many of them walking around the base either. Just remember the student depends on them for their chute to open.
So here I stand with the class, with my spit shined boots looking like glass, fatigues starched, my red baseball cap with “Rigger wings”, my sewn on jump wings on one side and rigger wings on the other, with my helmet under my arm. Jump School students did not have the luxury of starched fatigues, they all had to wear a little green baseball cap, which was issued in Basic Training. There was no question I stood out. So what we had was 60 or so “legs” getting ready to make their third jump, along with one Rigger who is standing tall and proud.
There is only one guy who has more pride and prestige than me and here he comes looking like a Bulldog with all the strips you could get on his arm, Master Jump Wings, Combat Patch, Ranger Patch and wearing a black baseball cap on his head. I’m standing at the end of the line and here he comes, right into my face. “Leg” take that damn cap off and put on your helmet. I snapped to attention and said OK Sergeant, but I’m not a “Leg”. He said, “you are exactly what I want you to be….this is my jump class”. I gave him a pissed off look, and out of the clear blue sky, he said “if you don’t like it, meet me at the Main Post Gym at 1800 hours today”. I said, with my chest out, “I will be there”. I thought, this could be a problem, but pride stood in the way, I had to show up.
So there I stood, one half-hour early, at the Main Post Gym. I checked it out and the place was gigantic. I didn’t see my challenger anywhere around. So I found one big room with bleachers and about 30+ people sitting there, both in uniform and civvies. They were wearing all kind of rank. I figured I would have a seat and see what was going on. Once again, I was wearing my starched fatigues and red Rigger hat, to make sure he could identify me. I was really hoping that this wasn’t the room he was associated with. As I sat there waiting, I watched about 14 guys wearing karate gis and all different color belts, beating the sin out of each other. This was not fake wrestling. While I was sitting there I overheard two guys speaking and they said “He showed up”. This could have been my imagination running wild, but I don’t think so. The guys on the mats were some tough SOBs. As I looked around, took a deep breath and thought “he’s not here”. I can leave with my dignity in tact, there is a God! As I started to leave I heard the Brown Belt say in a loud voice “Hike”. The thirteen or fourteen students bowed like white penguins, including the Brown Belt . . . and didn’t move. I looked to my right, surprise, surprise….no one other than the Jump Master who challenged me. I figured this isn’t going to be good. No way to escape. He was wearing a gi bottom, shower shoes and a Hawaiian shirt. His black belt was wrapped around his gi top and slung over his shoulder. He took off his shirt, put his gi top on and tied his black belt with four lines on it around his waist. He bowed and said “Make a circle”. The Brown Belt, Gabe Navar, stood in the middle of the circle. His brother, Ernie, was wearing a Green Belt and they entered the service about the same time.
Back to the circle, I was mesmerized by what they were doing. They were doing what I was to learn was the “breathing exercise”, or internal power. It didn’t take me long to see that the 5 or 6 white belts were the lowest ranking belts. As Gabe walked around he was punching full power to the solar plexus while they were doing their breathing exercise. The first two collapsed to their knees and were spitting up their guts. He went on to the 5 blue belts and while they were in their full breathing exercise, he started chopping to their throat area. One or two of them faded out and dropped to their knees. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. How could this be kept behind closed doors? He then went to the 3 green belts. He indicated to them, while they were in their breathing exercise, to bend over slightly, and then kicked them with full power kicks to the solar plexus. He knocked them back, but not down. Tremendous chops to the throat….it echoed like a small fire cracker going off. Once again, they took everything he threw at them. At this point, Melvin pointed to each one of the green belts and told Gabe to do Kata #1. He positioned the green belts in certain areas, so they could “attack” Gabe in the Kata. There was no defensive move towards them, other than taking everything they threw at him. He then simultaneously dispatched each and every green belt taking part. It appeared like a full grown man tearing apart a young kid, so I could see the difference between a brown and a green belt.
Continue….
“There is no material gain in spreading the word about Henry Slomanski and what I have learned personally under him, I just feel compelled to do so.”-John B. Burkhardt
In the Army you can wear your Class A uniform with your pants “bloused” in your boots, when you get your silver wings and are classified “Airborne”. With this background, this is how the story begins and how I met lst Sgt. Jump Master, Melvin Louis Sauer.
Now the one thing that separates Melvin from the thousands of troops at Ft. Benning is the black baseball cap with his “Master Jump Wings” on it. There are not many of them walking around Ft. Benning. He is a Jump Master and to all the students that are going through Jump School, he is “God”. There is no rank displayed on any person while going through Jump School. In other words, the person next to you could be a General or a Private, until he gets his wings and while he is in Jump School, it’s a mystery. You can understand why, because of the people training them, otherwise they could pull rank. Now there is another color hat that received tremendous respect from the Jump School students, and that is a red baseball cap with a set of “Rigger wings” on it. There aren’t many of them walking around the base either. Just remember the student depends on them for their chute to open.
So here I stand with the class, with my spit shined boots looking like glass, fatigues starched, my red baseball cap with “Rigger wings”, my sewn on jump wings on one side and rigger wings on the other, with my helmet under my arm. Jump School students did not have the luxury of starched fatigues, they all had to wear a little green baseball cap, which was issued in Basic Training. There was no question I stood out. So what we had was 60 or so “legs” getting ready to make their third jump, along with one Rigger who is standing tall and proud.
There is only one guy who has more pride and prestige than me and here he comes looking like a Bulldog with all the strips you could get on his arm, Master Jump Wings, Combat Patch, Ranger Patch and wearing a black baseball cap on his head. I’m standing at the end of the line and here he comes, right into my face. “Leg” take that damn cap off and put on your helmet. I snapped to attention and said OK Sergeant, but I’m not a “Leg”. He said, “you are exactly what I want you to be….this is my jump class”. I gave him a pissed off look, and out of the clear blue sky, he said “if you don’t like it, meet me at the Main Post Gym at 1800 hours today”. I said, with my chest out, “I will be there”. I thought, this could be a problem, but pride stood in the way, I had to show up.
So there I stood, one half-hour early, at the Main Post Gym. I checked it out and the place was gigantic. I didn’t see my challenger anywhere around. So I found one big room with bleachers and about 30+ people sitting there, both in uniform and civvies. They were wearing all kind of rank. I figured I would have a seat and see what was going on. Once again, I was wearing my starched fatigues and red Rigger hat, to make sure he could identify me. I was really hoping that this wasn’t the room he was associated with. As I sat there waiting, I watched about 14 guys wearing karate gis and all different color belts, beating the sin out of each other. This was not fake wrestling. While I was sitting there I overheard two guys speaking and they said “He showed up”. This could have been my imagination running wild, but I don’t think so. The guys on the mats were some tough SOBs. As I looked around, took a deep breath and thought “he’s not here”. I can leave with my dignity in tact, there is a God! As I started to leave I heard the Brown Belt say in a loud voice “Hike”. The thirteen or fourteen students bowed like white penguins, including the Brown Belt . . . and didn’t move. I looked to my right, surprise, surprise….no one other than the Jump Master who challenged me. I figured this isn’t going to be good. No way to escape. He was wearing a gi bottom, shower shoes and a Hawaiian shirt. His black belt was wrapped around his gi top and slung over his shoulder. He took off his shirt, put his gi top on and tied his black belt with four lines on it around his waist. He bowed and said “Make a circle”. The Brown Belt, Gabe Navar, stood in the middle of the circle. His brother, Ernie, was wearing a Green Belt and they entered the service about the same time.
Back to the circle, I was mesmerized by what they were doing. They were doing what I was to learn was the “breathing exercise”, or internal power. It didn’t take me long to see that the 5 or 6 white belts were the lowest ranking belts. As Gabe walked around he was punching full power to the solar plexus while they were doing their breathing exercise. The first two collapsed to their knees and were spitting up their guts. He went on to the 5 blue belts and while they were in their full breathing exercise, he started chopping to their throat area. One or two of them faded out and dropped to their knees. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. How could this be kept behind closed doors? He then went to the 3 green belts. He indicated to them, while they were in their breathing exercise, to bend over slightly, and then kicked them with full power kicks to the solar plexus. He knocked them back, but not down. Tremendous chops to the throat….it echoed like a small fire cracker going off. Once again, they took everything he threw at them. At this point, Melvin pointed to each one of the green belts and told Gabe to do Kata #1. He positioned the green belts in certain areas, so they could “attack” Gabe in the Kata. There was no defensive move towards them, other than taking everything they threw at him. He then simultaneously dispatched each and every green belt taking part. It appeared like a full grown man tearing apart a young kid, so I could see the difference between a brown and a green belt.
Continue….
“There is no material gain in spreading the word about Henry Slomanski and what I have learned personally under him, I just feel compelled to do so.”-John B. Burkhardt
John B. Burkhardt Certificate
4th Degree Master Instructor’s Certificate issued by Henry Slomanski . Slomanski tested John Burkhardt personally for all ranks of his Black Belts. On December 20, 1965 Slomanski issued the highest achievable ranked black belt to Burkhardt. This 4th degree certificate was only issued after many years of Burkhardt being his student and training under him and Melvin L Sauer. He is the last surviving Master Instructor under Henry Slomanski. When Slomanski retired from the martial arts to be a Minister, everything, along with all authority was passed down to Soke Burkhardt personally by Slomanski, with Burkhardt having full authority to govern the teachings.