Founding of the Official United States

Taekwondo National Governing Body

by Ken Min

The national governing body for taekwondo in the United States had its origin as the AAU Taekwondo Committee on October 19, 1974. The committee took on the name US AAU Taekwondo Union in 1981, and then was incorporated as United States Taekwondo Union (USTU) in 1984. The following describes one man’s experience leading up to the foundation of the governing body of United States National Taekwondo.

Today, taekwondo is one of the most widely practiced martial arts in the world and is part of the Olympic Program. But—like Korea itself—not that long ago taekwondo was unknown to the international community, and was faced with established competitors and an uncertain future.

Growing up in Korea in the 1950s and early 60s, I was unable to compete in taekwondo since it was not then an organized sport, not even in its homeland. Nevertheless, I trained in extensively self-defense and martial arts, and was a successful judo competitor in the early 50's.

Instead of pursuing the chance to compete for Korea in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, I journeyed to the United States to study Physical Education. I began to teach taekwondo in 1963 as a graduate student instructor at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia. I took the opportunity to hold demonstrations during half time at varsity basketball and football games in the NCAA Southeastern Conference in order to promote Taekwondo to more of the public.

In 1966, after four years of studies at Oglethorpe University and the University of Georgia, I received a Master of Education from the University of Georgia and moved to Montana to teach judo and wrestling as credit courses at the University of Montana. I also organized taekwondo as an extra-curricular activity during the evening.

I moved in 1968 from the University of Montana to Eastern Montana College, Billings, as Assistant Professor of Physical Education. I taught health education, judo, taekwondo and soccer as Physical Education credit courses and founded soccer, judo and taekwondo club teams. 

While at Eastern Montana, I was able for the first time to participate in local, state and national judo championships, and to organize local, state and regional taekwondo events. These activities allowed me to become acquainted with national sports leaders of the AAU and NAIA, as well as the USOC. In particular, I was fortunate to meet Mr. David Rivenes, then AAU President of the State of Montana and who later became National AAU President; as well as Dr. Frank Spechalske, an Executive Committee member of the NAIA.

Dr. Spechalske recommended me to the USOC Judo Committee as the sole representative of NAIA since, at the time, I was serving as Vice President of the US National Collegiate Judo Association. These connections and friendships helped spark the goal of making taekwondo an official AAU and NAIA or NCAA sport.

***

I left Montana in 1969 to take a position at the University of California, Berkeley. I was hired as an activity Professor of Berkeley’s Physical Education Department, primarily to teach judo and other activity classes including Korean Karate.

The San Francisco Bay Area in the late 60's and early 70's was home to an abundant variety of martial arts, especially the Japanese and Chinese styles, including judo, kung-fu, karate, kendo and aikido. Korean karate (taekwondo) was just taking hold. After I took the job at Berkeley, I faced challenges from karate powers such as Mr. Nishiyama, Shotokan Head Master in the US and also the UCLA karate instructor, along with his followers at the other nine UC campuses.

Karate had already become an official AAU sport in 1972. At that time, even though the NCAA and NAIA trained the majority of athletes through the universities, it was the Amateur Athletic Union of America that governed all amateur sports policies in the United States, including selection of Olympic Team members.

Because Karate was an AAU sport, a regulation was passed requiring Korean karate (taekwondo) competitors to follow karate competition rules at the nine-campus system of the University of California. Competition rules are the major guidelines for the curriculum development of physical education instructors. I found this regulation to be unacceptable because karate and taekwondo had (and have) completely different competitive styles with different organizational philosophies and organizational structures. This environment gave me great motivation to clearly separate taekwondo from karate.

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To have more tools to work with, I established the UC Berkeley taekwondo club team and also revived the judo club team. This allowed Berkeley to compete in local, state, and eventually national championships. This also required constant efforts to develop an organization and mandate policies for competition and rank recognition for the long-term growing vision of taekwondo.

At that time the challenge was educating taekwondo master instructors as to why it was important for taekwondo to join the AAU. In the 70's most taekwondo instructors in the United States were operating taekwondo as a private, small business ventures instead of promoting taekwondo as a sports education endeavor similar to swimming or gymnastics.

To be fundamentally effective, an organization had to be formed that would be recognized by all taekwondo instructors; first in the state of California, and, eventually at a national level. Unity and harmony were the best means of development to contain the ongoing challenges from different martial arts styles.

To create an effective state and national-level organization, I had to leverage the knowledge gained from my activities in the field of judo, including positions such as President of the National Collegiate Judo Association, Chairman of the Collegiate Committee of the US Judo Federation, Chairman of the Judo Committee of Montana, and also as a member of the USOC Judo Committee. Understanding how these mature organizations functioned and interacted with other sports bodies was critical.

At Berkeley I also benefited from a tremendous stroke of luck. The full-time position I filled was originally developed by the late Dr. Henry Stone, a wrestling coach and PE professor who had studied and introduced judo to the PE Department in the 1930's. Dr. Stone was the individual who spearheaded and founded judo as an AAU sport, benefiting from his wrestling connections and support, and he has been called the Father of American Judo. Dr. Stone’s invaluable collection of AAU correspondence had been donated to the University of California by Mrs. Henry Stone following the death of her husband. This correspondence was my roadmap for the successful bid for taekwondo independence.

***

But even with relevant experience and a roadmap, the journey was not easy. Despite extensive efforts by Taekwondo Master Instructors in California to organize taekwondo at state and regional levels, we faced continual disappointment for over two years.

A more fundamental link was needed to help draw masters together. The “Kwans” were academies or schools of taekwondo in Korea. American taekwondo participants were associated to one Kwan or another, and applied for rank through them. The first action, then, was to choose leaders from the different Kwans. I needed help for this and selected the World Taekwondo Federation, founded in 1973, as the official international affiliation. I contacted the WTF Secretary General, Grandmaster Jong Woo Lee, and asked him to provide names of leaders in the United States with whom I could work. 

Since I had been away from Korea for over 10 years, I had to educate myself about the Korean Amateur Sports Association (KASA) and the Korean Taekwondo Association (KTA). The KTA was formed in 1961 by joining together nine different Kwans and then became affiliated with KASA in 1962. Mr. Un Yong Kim was elected its president in 1971; his plan was to build Kukkiwon which opened in 1972, and then organize the 1st World Taekwondo Championship at Kukkiwon during May 1973. This was the inaugural assembly of the world taekwondo movement and I was the United States Delegate as US Team Manager.

I needed as much support as possible to successfully organize a taekwondo movement in the US, so I contacted President Kim Taik-soo of KASA as well as the World Taekwondo Federation President Un Yong Kim and asked for their support for the United States AAU taekwondo movement.

Upon my recommendation, and without hesitation, President Un Yong Kim extended an invitation to AAU President Mr. Dave Rivenes, AAU Administrator Jim Stevens, and myself to visit Korea from April 16-21, 1974. This was the first ever visit to Korea of any United States amateur sports leader.

While in Korea our delegation visited Mr. Taik-soo Kim who was also the Majority Floor Leader of the Korean government's ruling party; Mr. Chang K. Young, an IOC member and publisher of the Korean national daily newspaper, Hankook Ilbo; and Mr. Un-Yong Kim, vice president of KASA and KOC, and President of the KTA and WTF. We also visited Kukkiwon and the National Korean Sports Training Facility.

This visit established the foundation to make AAU taekwondo the sole representative to the World Taekwondo Federation, as well as helped create an exchange with other sports and collaboration of sports politics in the international arena between AAU and KASA, and opened the door for continual exchange among sports and sports leaders.

***

After participating in the 1st World Taekwondo Championship at Kukkiwon, Seoul, Korea, I thought that the time was right to push for taekwondo recognition in the AAU. I conducted extensive research through all the published material of the judo case and developed documents to demonstrate why taekwondo should be an independent sport/art. A survey at that time published by Black Belt Magazine, the oldest USA martial arts monthly magazine, indicated that the Korean style of karate was the most popular, followed by the Japanese and Chinese styles. This was consistent with my own survey of national university martial arts activities.

I gave a nickname to the group of instructors who competed in judo and also taught taekwondo in the USA: Judokwan. I considered them all Judokwan even though they earned their black belt from different taekwondo Kwans and maintained those affiliations. As a matter of fact, some of them began training in taekwondo earlier than judo and their knowledge and skills in taekwondo were much higher than in judo. However, they competed in judo as a combative sport and trained in taekwondo as a martial art or self-defense. But when we got together in the early stages of the AAU taekwondo movement the Judokwan members provided enormous support and participation in the formation of the USTU since most were trained in the physical education/sports field and were already experienced with national sports organizations after establishing their dojang, studio, or teaching at the YMCA's or colleges, etc.

Whenever I had the opportunity to convince the AAU and NCAA decision making leaders or opinion spreaders such as the media, I expressed my strong feelings about the misconception that karate is karate, whether it comes from Korea, China, or Japan. 

In particular, the competition rules were very different between the non-contact, stop-go scoring system of karate and the ongoing competition of taekwondo. I emphasized that two different styles competing together would result in extensive injuries since taekwondo is contact with 70% kicking techniques, while karate is non-contact with 70% hand techniques to the facial area. In addition, the international governing bodies were also different; karate was led by the WUKO (World Union of Karate Organizations) in Japan, and taekwondo by the WTF (World Taekwondo Federation) in Korea. Each utilized their own language as official terminology for the rules and regulations. 

***

After an extensive campaigning, I was invited by AAU President David Rivenes to attend an Executive Committee meeting in West Yellowstone, Montana on October 8-13, 1973. I left the Berkeley by automobile after class ended at the university on Friday afternoon, October 12, 1973, and drove overnight from California to Montana to participate in the meeting on the following day. I had to drive as fast as possible all the way without stopping except to fill up the gas tank (and to pay for a speeding ticket in Idaho). I was fortunate that in those days Nevada and Montana did not have speed limits. I arrived on time for the Saturday, 8:00 AM meeting.

I was able to present my case thoroughly, distribute brochures to each member of the Executive Committee, and for over 40 minutes answered critical questions from the AAU Executive Committee members. The result was successful, and I was overwhelmed with the joy

Mr. Rivenes was the person who trusted my word and gave me an opportunity to present the taekwondo case, and the majority of members of the AAU Executive Committee responded positively. I assume Mr. Rivenes’ leadership influenced their support. The Executive Committee approved the resolution pending passage, as a formality, at the May 1974 AAU Executive Committee meeting.

Next I had to move quietly to pass the resolution in order to eliminate possible active opposition from karate leadership. But eventually I had to let the world know since official approval by the Board of Governors would be required at the annual AAU Convention in Washington, DC in October 1974. This would require nationwide support of AAU Delegates representing all 33 sports, and I had to organize national taekwondo leaders from whom I desperately needed extensive assistance. I also needed support from the World Taekwondo Federation.

Taekwondo was accepted by the AAU at the 87th AAU Convention, Shoreham-Americana Hotel, Washington, DC. It was accepted as an official sport by an overwhelming majority vote of 814 to 149 on the last day of the convention, October 13-19, 1974 after being defeated one day earlier due to the Karate Committee's aggressive campaign against taekwondo admission. Judo Committee members along with AAU Judo Chairman Wey Seng Kim, late Professor In Soo Hwang of Yale University, AAU Basketball Committee Chairman Frank Spechalske, and members of the Wrestling Committee were active in an overnight groundwork session to successfully re-introduce taekwondo as an official sport at the end of the Convention while some of the taekwondo master instructors headed for a golf outing after its defeat in the first round.

With recommendations from Grandmaster Jong Woo Lee, Secretary General of the World Taekwondo Federation, 33 taekwondo leaders in the US, plus a few judo leaders, and the AAU leadership, joined together to organize the inaugural taekwondo leadership of the AAU taekwondo movement. As I recall, up to this point I was exhausted and did not desire to become part of the leadership of the new AAU sport which would require an extensive sacrifice of personal investment and family life. Therefore, I asked taekwondo leaders, headed by the late Grandmaster Ki Hwang Kim, to recommend a national leader for the newly formed national Taekwondo Committee leadership. After meeting among themselves, they came up with the recommendation of Mr. Jay Hyun from Minnesota as Vice-Chairman who would continue as Chairman after the first term of two years, under the condition that I would serve as Chairman since I had known enough to make taekwondo an official AAU sport which would require an extensive effort to establish groundwork.

I was asked to run as a candidate for Chairman, with Jay Hyun as Vice-Chairman; Chuck Portnick of Ohio as Secretary-Treasurer; and Henry Cho as Technical Director. The immediate agenda was propaganda of the newly developed Taekwondo Committee of the AAU to all taekwondo leaders and practitioners, those who still identified themselves as Korean Karate or simply Karate. A fortunate development was that the 1st World Championship had already been held in 1973 and the 2nd would be held in 1975 in Seoul, Korea. We, the committee leaders, determined to organize the 1st National AAU Taekwondo Championship immediately to be hosted by an established organization such as Yale University and Dr. In Soo Hwang who had a rich experience in hosting judo events. Professor Hwang was able to introduce taekwondo as an official program at Yale University, along with judo. Incidentally, the 1st Taekwondo World Championship held outside of Korea was hosted by Mr. Kyung Sun Shin who owned a highly successful martial arts supply company.

***

It had long been clear to me that elevating taekwondo into an AAU sport would create the opportunity for it to join the Olympic program. But this was a long shot. Taekwondo’s independent recognition by the AAU was the first acceptance of taekwondo by an Official Amateur Sports Governing Body other than it its homeland, Korea. Taekwondo remained unrecognized by any amateur sports governing body other. In addition, the Olympic program was dominated by European sports, which was natural given that Europe was where the Olympics were conceived and developed.

However, another Asian combat sport, Judo, had recently been elevated to the Olympics. This gave me the encouragement to continue despite the long odds.

Even after AAU admission, recruiting responsible leaders to fill a national was an almost impossible task. Nothing but the title of AAU was available. There were no funds or manpower provided, and everything was some new kind of challenge. Fortunately, the World Taekwondo Federation under the dynamic leadership of President Un Yong Kim was able to furnish the necessary assistance. The WTF provided a timely schedule for worldwide organization by holding world championships and issuing technical regulations on time. We held a very successful national championship on April 25-26, 1975 at Yale and duly selected the United States Team for the 2nd World Taekwondo Championship. We successfully bid to host the 3rd World Championship in the USA which was approved by the 2nd Assembly of the World Taekwondo Federation prior to the championship on August 26-30, 1975. 

The Committee began normal business in the promotion of AAU Taekwondo by establishing championship and competition rules and regulations and rank promotion which had never been introduced to the AAU. We had an agenda to cover competition rules adoption, rank promotion procedures, referee certification procedures, championship site for 1976, selection of 3rd world championship site, etc. at the national AAU Committee meeting being held in conjunction with the 1976 Convention at Braniff Plaza Hotel, New Orleans, LA during the first week of December. However, an unexpected thing happened after the USA Team returned from Seoul: Vice-Chairman Jay Hyon, slated to take over the position of Taekwondo Committee Chairman as my replacement, resigned on 11/12/75 due to a conflict in managing his taekwondo schools in Minneapolis plus spending time and personal funds for the AAU taekwondo movement as leader of the national organization. His resignation forced me to implement emergency measures to build the organization to carry out national taekwondo activities, which were expanding on all fronts, to meet the challenging growth as a national sports organization. We decided to have two Vice-Chairmen work in the position of Chairman by selecting Master Hwa Chong from the University of Michigan who had been active since 1975, and Dong Ja Yang who I recruited since he had succeeded me as President of the National Collegiate Judo Association and was a professor at Howard University with a similar academic environment. These two gentlemen assisted me to build the AAU taekwondo movement from 1976-1979 until my second term as a national chairman was over.

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The final effort toward recognition of taekwondo by the US Olympic Committee was approved as a formality by the USOC at Lake Buena Vista, Florida on April 14-15, 1978. Taekwondo admission to the USOC was a crucial step toward applying for recognition by the International Olympic Committee, leading to eventual competition in the Olympic Games. It was a great feeling to accomplish the foundation of an organization for my great adopted country of the United States of America.

Final Remarks

In closing, I would like to bring a few important facts as the IOC moves from Avery Brundage's pure Olympic amateurism to Samaranch's Olympic professionalism which changed the total picture of US amateur sports movement as the years go by. The NGB (National Governing Body) is the tail end of movements of a major force such as gender equality and the Amateur Sports Act passed by Congress in 1978. The total picture of the amateur sports movement was changed in the late 70's and even more so the Olympic Games. Commercial success of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics will provide another giant step for future amateur sports movements since windfall funds from the LA Olympics will be available for all NGB’s including taekwondo. Another point I would like to make is that the USTU is still run by volunteers and membership fees. Therefore, those who provide their time and effort by sacrificing their personal life and those schools that are continually increasing membership for the USTU should be adequately recognized and rewarded.

Thank you for the opportunity to write about my involvement in building the foundation of the USTU movement. Like any other major venture, it began as a humble kitchen table operation with a lot of energy, enthusiasm, and personal funds and will grow ever stronger and popular, although there will be growing struggles from time to time like any other organization. I am very proud to have served in a positive way in my most productive age, and extend my gratitude to members of the University of California Martial Arts Program who provided an endless contribution to the development of the national and international taekwondo movement. They strongly believe taekwondo is a very important part of the educational process for the successful contribution to humanity.

Needless to say, I owe my successful four-year national chairmanship to all those who served as members of every sub-committee and special project, especially the national officers and special events organizers with their selfless commitment to the ongoing development of taekwondo as the best combative sport in the nation as well as the world, and to the nameless volunteers. I hope the United States will be able to provide visible leadership in national and world taekwondo development. 

Thank you.

This article was written as a personal recollection for the USTU Historian on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of taekwondo’s National Governing Body of the United States Olympic Committee. The story covers the founding and second term (1974-1978) of the United States Taekwondo Union, Inc. and can be traced through documents of the founding and early stage of the official taekwondo movement in the United States.

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