Page 29 - Martial Science June 2017

American actor and a martial artist. Mr. Speakman

began training in American Kenpo under his princi-
pal instructor, Mr, Larry Tatum, as well as under the
founder of the system, Mr. Ed Parker. Mr. Speakman

received his 1st degree black belt in American Kenpo
in 1984. He has subsequently obtained an eighth
degree rank in kenpo karate and also currently holds
a 7th-degree black belt in the Goju-Ryu Karate under
Grandmaster Lou Angel. Mr. Speakman

started acting in 1988 and became an
action movie star in 1991 with the
release of The Perfect Weapon, He

followed this up with the feature
film Street Knight. Other action
films followed, including The
Expert and Deadly Outbreak.

How did you get started in tHe martial
arts?

I began studying martial arts in 1978
in Joplin Missouri from a Black Belt of
Hanshi Lou Angel of Japanese Goju
Ryu. Although I was born and raised
in Chicago Illinois I left home at 17
years old to attend the University
of Southern Missouri State in Joplin
because of a friendship I had with a
class mate in High School whose
family moved there and lived on a
small ranch. In my first year there I
would get up at 5:30 every morning
to feed the cattle to pay for my room
and board and then go to school
45 minutes away. In my second
year I moved to Joplin and had a
roommate that was a Black Belt
with Mr. Angel and that is how I
met him and got started in my life
long journey in the martial arts.
How was tHe training witH
HansHi lou angel?

Although Japanese Goju is radically dif-
ferent from Kenpo the great thing was
the clarity of leadership that Hanshi An-