George Byrd – one of our little known greats

Ron Glaubitz holds IKA flag. George Byrd is to the right. David Vaughn is
between them. George and David both made the 1972 U.S. team.

I promised some of his family members a while back that I would talk a bit about what I knew about George Byrd.

I first met George when he was a purple belt (6^th Kyu), training with fellow International Karate Association (IKA) black belt, Ron Glaubitz. I think Ron brought George to Ralph Castro’s old California Karate Championships in San Francisco. I later learned from someone that George, by profession, was a master lens grinder. He worked at labs that turned out prescription eye glasses.

George, even back then, was a tough fighter. I don’t remember how he did that day. But Ron ended up fighting great kenpo stylist Steve Saunders in the finals. Steve scored with a couple of hard punches to Ron’s face, which Ron never even attempted to block. I joked with Ron afterwards about him possibly working a bit harder on his face defense. He said his defense was perfect. He blocked everything Steve threw. I joked that he might not want to use his eye in the future to block his head. Eyes weren’t really designed for that purpose. I found out that Ron had been hit hard in the head during an exchange in an earlier match. He couldn’t see out of his left eye when he entered the ring to fight Saunders. He had fought with a concussion. But that was the kind of guy Ron was.

At some point, Ron opened a dojo in Mexico and George went with him, at least for a while. I was told that Ron, soon after his arrival in Mexico, went around to the other schools in town and invited the instructors to close their schools or train with him. Or they could have a private lesson on the spot. (I’m not sure if it was true or just someone’s fanciful image of Ron.)

George and Ron stopped for lunch one day at a taco shop. Ron bought a couple of tacos. Then, George went to the window to order. The clerk told him to beat it, they didn’t serve “N-words” there. George reached in through the window, grabbed the racist clerk’s lapels, and pulled him out through the opening. The two fought. George foot swept the guy and slammed him into the gutter. While he was working him over, Ron handed out business cards to those in the crowd that had quickly gathered to watch. He told them “I can teach you to fight like my student here.”

In 1972, a tournament was held at Los Angeles City College to select the U.S. team for the WUKO World Karate Championships in Paris. It was an unusual team trials. The officials employed what they called the “Brazilian System.” Most coaches hate using a straight elimination tournament to select team members because the outcome can rest on luck in charting. If the second best fighter is paired with the best fighter in an early round, someone who should be on the team could be eliminated. (This was later rectified by requiring double-elimination. For our team selection event for the Mexico City World Karate Championships in 1990, we used triple-elimination to make sure we had the best of the best. It made for a very long day.) With the “Brazilian System” used in 1972, the five officials could decide to advance one fighter or the other to the next round, as was normal. But, if both fighters were great, they could also advance both to the next round. If both were not strong enough, they could also decide not to advance either of them. It was also the first time a “control test” was administered, to make sure competitors could properly control their techniques.

George Byrd was one of the fighters who survived the elimination process and selected to represent the U.S. at the championships. I don’t know how he did in Paris. It was a strange event, with several national teams – including the U.S. and Japanese teams – walking out because of problems in the officiating.

The original charter called for the WUKO World Karate Championships to be held every two years. This meant that the next event should have been held in 1974. But it wasn’t – and I forget why. Instead, it was held in Los Angeles in 1975. (All others would be held every two years, as originally planned.) Not just one world championships, however, were held in LA that year. Both WUKO and Sensei Nishiyama’s ITKF held their world events there within a month of each other, if I remember right.

George was selected to represent the USA at one of the championships but I don’t remember which. However, when the event rolled around, he was too injured from a fight to compete.

I lost track of him after that, although I heard rumors on occasion. All in all, I didn’t know George well but liked him. He always seemed a loner and had a hard outer shell. But, underneath, he also had a good sense of humor.

George Byrd died many years ago. I don’t know the year or the cause. I only learned of his death after the fact. We’ve lost several great IKA karateka through the years, three or four within the last year alone. George Byrd was one of those who died far too early.