SENSEI CLARENCE ALLEN

Clarence Allen replaced one of the original Karate 5 Senseis. In this photo he was
receiving a promotion from the legendary Master Harold Long. He always trained
hard and was one of our dear friends. We miss you, dear friend!

Remembering Clarence, by Jon Whitehead


I first met Clarence Allen a short time after I joined the Karate 5 Dojo.  My friend Jim Dykes
and I were getting our in first lesson  in Veejitsu from Master Lee.  Clarence arrived  shortly
after we started and joined in the class, and  we spent the evening working
on the  " V " step and humanized makiwaras.

After class, Clarence opened his gym bag  and began pulling out an amazing variety of
martial arts weapons.  Sticks, knives, nunchaka......Clarence used to demonstrate the Philippine balisong knives in exhibitions.  I remember Master Lee shaking his head and commenting " if he gets pulled over,  he's going to jail "

I was a brown belt returning to training after an extended absence.  Clarence was a second degree  black belt.  He also had been on a hiatus from martial arts training; he had been working a second job.  We both were  ready to get back in shape and hungry to learn more.

Clarence told me that we were going to rely on each other for motivation because  of the strenuous training we had to endure. Since both of us had not trained this way for a while , we could help each other. This would help me in my new studies of Vee-jitsu and Sanuces Ryu.
 
Clarence always watched each student closely.  His specialty was in not having a specialty, he concentrated on filling in any gaps he saw in a student's training.  If we had been sparring a lot,  Clarence would look at  our katas.  He worked to make sure no important areas were  overlooked in our training. We practiced the humanized makiwara and stick drills from Veejitsu  regularly.  We also ate a lot of hot dogs together at Hardee's after class.

It is sad that Clarence didn't live to see the recognition the Karate Five Dojo
began to receive in the late 1990s, but his spirit is with us today.

Rest in peace brother, we all miss you.

INSTRUCTOR RICHARD STONE

Instructor Richard Stone a great martial artist and friend. Brother Stone came to Master Mason after a stint in the Marine Corps. He was in the system as we evolved from strict Shorin-Ryu to KajuKempo and the other arts. He met then Professor Moses Powell on a vacation trip to New York in the late '70's and was the link to getting us involved with Sanuces and later on Vee-Jitsu. As a result of that affiliation we all became better martial artists. Too bad the Good die young!!

INSTRUCTOR JOHN SIMS

Instructor John Sims a great martial artist and unique individual was the first  student of Master WilliamMason starting in 1966. They trained together in  harmony for over 30 years. Instructor Sims had a great understanding of the mental  aspect of the martial arts as he could lull an opponent to sleep by making him  become over confident. Despite his "girth", he moved like lightning and his  touch was as heavy as lead when he wanted it to be. We still miss him!!