Tales of Simon's Greatness
I recently read a post by Current student where he made this comment: "Simon is famous for reading everything he can get his hands on..." Right afterwards, amusingly, he states "I pretty much discount the third party hearsay stuff..." I couldn't help but picture a wide-eyed instructor whispering to a new student that "Simon is famous for reading everything he gets his hands on..." as the student nods reverently, appreciating this small but telling detail about the great man. It got me thinking - it would be interesting to hear other's "Tales of Simon's Greatness" - from the small things as mentioned above, to the bigger whoppers, like the Bruce Lee story, Chuck Norris defeat, et al. It seems clear that these sorts of rumours are started and circulated amongst the students by the TKF employees - many of whom seem to believe the stories wholesale. One of my favourites was a chief who used to always refer to him as "Dr. Simon" but made sure that none of the students ever did, as it went against Simon's buddhist vow of humility...! How about Simon being the keeper of the plates from the Shaolin urn, even though historians agree that the urn never existed...?

Corpse Play
Another good one had to do with Simon's alledged proficiency with knives... Simon alluded, during a KF Club, to the fact that he used to practice knife techniques on the bodies of dead russian soldiers; raising his eyebrows, nodding affirmatively, and making the international gesture for "slit his throat from ear to ear" before a silent crowd of admiring students... I have to admit, my buddies and I all looked at each other with the same thought -- "this guy is badass!!!"

I've blocked most of them from my memory... I heard he once held a deep horse stance fo 60 minutes with a 10lb weight in each hand... Or maybe it was 5 lbs for 30 minutes, or was it 25lbs for 15... does it matter??

I remember that one! Only I remember it was 'just under three hours' in a deep horse stance with 10lb weights... and of course it was 'for charity'! LOL

Actually, this idea is quite popular in other systems. I prefer the tale where he could leap 8 feet into the air using his calf muscles alone.

How about doing Kempo 1 on rolling logs in under 4 seconds...? Where does one find rolling logs on which to practice kempo 1, anyway?

Wow - MrE - that's a good one. I hadn't heard it before. It reminds me of a story about the grandmaster of Chung Moo Do / Oom Yung Do -- an insidious cult that - and this pains me to say - is FAR worse than TKF. On their website is an obviously doctored photo of a man in a side-kick position, alledgedly soaring through the air. This is taken from the caption: "In 1970, Grandmaster “Iron” Kim demonstrated Kyong Gong Sul Bope by jumping from the equivalent of an 11-story building. In 1972 Grandmaster “Iron” Kim again demonstrated the Kyong Gong Sul Bope movement by jumping from the equivalent of an 8-story building, landing without injury on a sloped surface below." I guess Olaf has to have someone to look up to as well :wink:

I heard that during one of his live demonstrations he stated that if close enough he could disarm a weapon from anyone. So this native dude from the audience went out to his truck and came on stage with a tomahawk (Remember this is Alberta in the 60's/70's). Simon said "Are you sure you want to attack me with that"... the guy just nodded and then swung at him. In a flurry of arms the tomohawk went flying into the crowd, barely missing the spectators and the Indian dude was unconsious before he hit the ground, Olaf standing above him. Heck it's probably true it's so nuts... Once the local SWAT team in Calgary or Edmonton had some crazy guy with a large knife holed up in a house with his wife hostage. He was some x-Marine Navy Seal dude and even the most experienced SWAT guys were nervous. Olaf had developed a name for himself locally by then, having taught MA to the local police in those days. They called him in to help talk to the dude and more importantly disarm the guy. Olaf said this guy was the real deal, expert with a knife. Olaf's arms got cut pretty bad by the dudes RAMBO blade but he managed to take the guy out. That was the story anyways

Hello Drunken Monkey, That is so cool! Off of 11 stories, you say? I wonder what the first 10 stories were about? Have you ever read “Forbidden Fighting Arts of the World” Volume 1? It is chock full of myths and legends. Regards, MrE2Me2 Hello Grasshopper, That is a Great Tale! I’d like to believe it. Regards, MrE2Me2

"I wonder what the first 10 stories were about? " :-P Enjoy: http://www.oomyungdoe-cfl.com/?page_id=32 How can you not love a book called "Forbidden Fighting Arts of the World Volume 1"!? - sounds like a fun read. Grasshopper - I remember those stories as well. One instructor claimed that he'd seen the bullet holes in the wall at a police academy in Alberta where Olaf had insisted that a man attack him with a loaded gun... God we were stupid.

Hello Drunken Monkey, Actually, I got it slightly wrong (my bad). The book is called, “Secret fighting Arts of the World”. The link is here. http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-reviews/A16DVNTU6L435K?_encoding=UTF8 Here is a bit about it from Amazon.com: "John Gilbey" writes a second satire! , January 8, 2006 What I said about John Gilbey's first book, "Secret Fighting Arts of the World," applies just as much to this book. The real author, Robert W. Smith, intended this book as a satire! Years after this book was published, Robert Smith came out and explained exactly how back in the early `60's he and a group of friends (all senior martial artists including Don Draeger who were Westerners trained in Japan and China) got the idea of writing a spoof about the martial arts. They made up the name, "John F. Gilbey," and invented a personal history for the name that combined their actual martial arts credentials. The first book, "Secret Fighting Arts of the World," turned out to be a great success, but not as they had planned. Unfortunately for them, so many people believed that "John F. Gilbey" was a real person and the book a completely true book, that it took on a life of it's own and only added to the wild tales about martial arts that became popularized in the West. This happened because Smith was so skilled at interweaving fact with fiction that he unwittingly produced a satire that many found believable as complete "fact." Robert Smith later wrote this second book, "The Way of the Warrior," as an even more wild sequel thinking this would finally enlighten people, but once again, he was wrong. Finally, he just came out in the martial arts magazine, "Journal Of Asian Martial Arts," and told the true story. He later repeated it in his book, "Martial Musings," which I highly recommend. "Martial Musings" is fact and includes actual photos rather than drawings. It also names many people, places, and events that can be confirmed via other sources, and many of which are famous in the martial arts.” Anyway, Enjoy! Regards, MrE2Me2

I was told he did a demonstartion in front of prime minister Deifenbaker and put a sword through the skin of his stomach( similar to putting a pin through the skin at the end of your finger) and once he was done with that he put lighter fluid on his arm and lit it on fire and let it burn out. Combine that with Rambo knife wounds on his arms and he must be a mess. Also was told he held two vehicles by the rear bumpers during a demonstration and as they tried to drive in opposite directions he was able to lift the back ends up and the cars just stayed there spinning there tires. A lot of the tales I think were started as part of his marketing ploy. Instructors were told the stories and they used them as part of there pitch....................................... Or are the stories true????? But hey, I have to wonder why do we listen to mystical tales of the shaolin monks of old, and all the feats they were capable of performing( as spectacular as some of them are ) and hold them in such high reverence. Yet we would not beleive it possible when said to be done by an instructor of our own??????? any thoughts. sifu shawn

Hello Sifu Shawn, You posted,” was told he did a demonstartion in front of prime minister Deifenbaker and put a sword through the skin of his stomach( similar to putting a pin through the skin at the end of your finger) and once he was done with that he put lighter fluid on his arm and lit it on fire and let it burn out. Combine that with Rambo knife wounds on his arms and he must be a mess. Also was told he held two vehicles by the rear bumpers during a demonstration and as they tried to drive in opposite directions he was able to lift the back ends up and the cars just stayed there spinning there tires.” I had not heard this. You also posted about how willing others are to disregard the feats of our predecessors. I was wondering the same thing. There seem to be people here who are willing to believe the worst of Olaf. Yet, I see little evidence that these people are willing to hold anyone but Olaf culpable. Maybe they don’t know how business is done and cannot separate the biz from the art. On a slightly different note, I saw a vid of Master Higgs beating Olaf with a stick on the shoulder. Olaf just took it without flinching (which is pretty impressive, btw). I also remember Wayne telling me how he watched Olaf deliberately burn his arm. It was during a breaking demo and the bricks were set on fire. Olaf deliberately burned his arm in the fire. Then he performed the break with the burned arm. A week later, Wayne saw the arm and it was healed with pink skin. (As though several months had passed.) Regards, MrE2Me2 Without prejudice E&OE

MrE2Me2 Very interesting to have two stories about GM igniting his arm, perhaps there is truth to it then. The two vehicle deal was a story told to me by My Teacher Sifu Ed . He actually witnessed this first hand. It was a demonstration in Edmonton by GM Simon. I think it was actually done behind the old klondike hotel. And just to head off any debunkers, I have already thought of the possibility that both drivers were doing " break stands". however even if this is the case , I think a degree of almost super human power would be neseccary to help hold the cars in place until the tires began spinning. I wish I could see the vid of Master Higgs hitting GM in the shoulder. That would be cool, as I kind of am of the Master Higgs "bloodline" anyways i must run for now, its always a pleasure see ya sifu shawn