I got in touch with Warhog, a member here at bushido. I asked him what he knew about Richard Lee and kenpo. This is his response:
“My instructor actually trained originally under someone name Ron Lee (someone who also changed his name to sound more ‘Asian’ like Richard).* He had created his own style called ‘West Wind Kung Fu’.* Do a search of the Bullshido articles or forums and you can find out more about them.* Bunyip wrote the article about taking their introductory course.
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Once my instructor had gotten fairly far into the system he realized this ‘West Wind’ was not an original art, it was a spin off.* After much coaxing he found out that Ron Lee had trained with Richard Lee (Now running a school in Alamo Ca I believe).* My instructor trained with him for a period of time not known to me.* He asked Richard where he had learned his material - To which Lee replied easily “Al Tracy”.
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I guess that was around 15 years ago.* As soon as my instructor found out about Mr. Tracy, he contacted him and started training under him.* Al Tracy was able to prove that the system and techniques he taught are the ones that go back to Japan and China.* Since then we have been teaching the Tracy System of Kenpo and never looked back.*
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I have met both Al Tracy and Richard Lee on numerous occasions.* As far as Richard’s experience, from what I understand, starts with getting his Green belt in Tracy’s.* He then went off to run his own school.* I believe this is when he started his own system, taking what he knew from Tracy’s and making it stretch to Black belt while putting his own spin on things.
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As time went on Richard Lee was then instrumental in contacting the Chinese masters and setting up meetings and demonstrations in China, as well as bringing them over to the U.S.* It was from these people he was able to accumulate more material and put a lot more emphasis on the Chinese parts of Kenpo.* It was because of this ‘Opening of the doors to China’ contribution to Kenpo and years of teaching his ‘own’ style that Al Tracy has given him a 10th Dan ranking.* The way I take it is that Al Tracy has acknowledged that Richard Lee is the head of his own system, and that the system has roots in Kenpo.* It is also distinguishing that Lee’s style of Kenpo is not the same style, or techniques that were being taught by the original Kenpo masters (Mitose, Chow, and the early Parker).
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Personally, I have not seen a lot of the practical applications of their techniques - I have only seen their forms practiced in the air.* It seems that they put a lot more emphasis on the ‘Art’ forms and not as much on the ‘practical’ moves (not as much ‘hands on’ that I am used to being brought up in Tracy’s Kenpo).* Their art fits very well with the more contemporary Wushu and other modern Kung Fu styles.”
As far as I knew, Ron Lee was totally made up. Something is still very fishy, regardless, and I’ve always figured it revolved around the “Ron Lee” person/a.
The timeline is weird. According to Scott Flint’s website, which used to say that Ron Lee founded both West Wind and BFD, Ron founded WW in 1969, even though Richard Lee founded BFD (and, I assume, began teaching it) in 1967. So, for someone to learn enough stuff in 2 years to found their own school, sounds unreasonable. However, if all Richard knew was kenpo up to the green belt level, then perhaps 2 years was enough time to learn the entire curriculum. Still, I talked with Master Buckley at Lee’s school, and while he could be mistaken, he says a former BB of Lee’s founded WW in the 70s.
My brain is fried. I have asked for Warhog’s instructor’s info, so perhaps I will be able to ask that person some more stuff.
Hopefully one of you guys can figure something out that I have been unable to see here.
:XXbuzzsaw :XXbuzzsaw :XXbuzzsaw