Ed Parker

Ed Parker (1931–1990) is the founder of American Kenpo Karate and one of the most influential figures in the history of Western martial arts. Born in Hawaii, Parker studied Kenpo under William Chow before moving to the US mainland, where he opened one of America’s first commercial martial arts schools in Provo, Utah, in 1954. He founded the International Kenpo Karate Association (IKKA) and created the Long Beach Internationals tournament—one of the most important martial arts competitions in American history—which famously introduced Bruce Lee to the American martial arts community in 1964. Parker systematized American Kenpo into a comprehensive self-defense curriculum of 154 named techniques, making it one of the most thoroughly documented martial arts systems in the world. Elvis Presley was among his most famous students.