John Sepulveda, who has over 50 years experience in American Kenpo and holds an 10th Degree Black Belt (Master of the Arts). Mr. Sepulveda was one of a very few who was a direct student of Senior Grandmaster Parker before his untimely passing. Mr. Sepulveda is featured prominently in Tom Bleecker's recent book, The Journey, which profiles prominent students of Ed Parker. To the uninitiated, this is a singular honor.

Mr. Sepulveda has actively and successfully competed in many Open, National and International tournaments and has many junior and senior students who have also competed successfully at the same levels of competition. His students are known for their speed and explosive power as well as their character. Mr. Sepulveda has also appeared on television, and in national and international martial arts magazines, and has written numerous articles on the art of American Kenpo as perpetuated by Senior Grandmaster Ed Parker.

Mr. Sepulveda is the founder of the "Advanced Kenpo Training System" TM. This organization boasts member schools in the United States, from coast to coast. The European Kenpo Karate Association is AKTS affiliated under Mr. Sepulveda. He is one of the founding members of the "American Kenpo Senior Council" which boasts some of the best Kenpo practitioners worldwide. He has been recognized worldwide for his committed efforts in promoting Kenpo, which has included receiving many awards, including the California Karate League's "Official of the Year Award," and the Associated Teachers Association of the Martial Artists (ATAMA) "Hall of Fame Award." In 2007 he was inducted as a Charter Member of the Kenpo Hall of Fame, in 2008 he was inducted into the World Martial Arts Masters Association Hall of Fame, and in 2009 he was inducted into the World Master's Hall of Fame. At the present time there are over 50 schools affiliated with Mr. Sepulveda throughout the United States, Europe, and South America. Mr. Sepulveda also holds the annual AKTS Spirit camp. 2019 marks the 25th year that the camp has been held.

For more information on the AKTS visit: www.akts-js.us

Arguably, one of the most widely known Kenpoists. There are many in EPAK that say Stephen LaBounty is the true definition of the "Warrior Spirit." Having started with a background in Judo and in 1962 under the Tracy Brothers who were students under Ed Parker at that time, and earning his Black Belt (only their third). Mr. LaBounty went on to distinguish himself in the martial arts, carrying Mr. Parker's banner wherever he went.

Both a National and International Champion he is widely sought after on the seminar circuit where he is legendary for his "fighting/coaching drills". Spending over 20 years in Law Enforcement as a Deputy Sheriff and then to Police work, he also was active in Basic Academy Training for those seeking a profession in Law Enforcement.

He is at times outspoken, yet is more than willing to support events and causes that he feels will bring the Kenpo family closer together. A friend to many in the martial community he is often sought after for his wisdom and experience and was one the founding members of the American Kenpo Senior Council.

Mr. LaBounty carries the title of "Sigung", which is a Chinese title with several meanings, but for him it is relative to the title of "Grandfather". He is aligned with the American Kenpo Training System whom he has a close familial relationship with.

Mr. LaBounty's promotions, with the exception of his 1st degree, were awarded by Senior Grand Master Edmund Kealoha Parker. He now is honored to be a 9th degree awarded with the late Sibok Thomas Kelly, through verbal acclamation at a meeting held in Pipe Creek Texas. It was awarded by popular vote of 25 Black Belts of 4th degree and above. …It was, and always will be, his last promotion ever.

Updated December 2018.

Mr. LaBounty was promoted to 10th degree black belt along with Mr. Sepulveda, Mr. White, and Mr. Wedlake.

Updated June 2020

Unfortunately Mr. LaBounty passed away on Thursday, May 28 2020 after a short illness and recovering from surgery. Mr. LaBounty was well loved throughout the Kenpo Community and will be sorely missed. Mr. Crehan spent many hours on the mat training with Mr. LaBounty, either in seminars or private lessons. Mr. Crehan will really miss those times on the mat, but it's the hours and hours spent off the mat talking, laughing, working on his property, driving in the car to goto seminars, going to breakfast in Grass Valley, going to lunch, dinner, and all round just spending time with him. Mr. Crehan feels very honored that Mr. LaBounty was one of his instructor along with Mr. Sepulveda.

Passing up a professional baseball career at a young age, Master Bob White has been contributing to the art of American Kenpo for over fifty years. On the tournament circuit he won numerous state, national, and international fighting championships. Bob White fought on the National All Star Black Belt Team, which went undefeated in 1973 and 1974. As a teacher and coach, he has consistently turned out some of the world's finest karate fighters.

Over the past 40+ years, Bob White's Karate Studio has had many World Champion fighters and each year throughout the 1990s his students accounted for at least one of the Black Belt Grand Champions at the International Karate Championships. Bob White and his wife Barbara conduct seminars throughout the United States, South America, and Europe. They are both professional instructors who enjoy sharing their Kenpo and being in service to their students.

Bob White was involved in the original "Karate Kid" movie and appeared as a referee in the film. BWKS had over 50 students that appeared in the movie as tournament competitors. Mr. White was also involved in The Karate Kid part 3 and worked to promote the new “Karate Kid” version with Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith.

Master White along with his wife Barbara and a great team from BWKS promote an annual karate tournament, The Bob White Invitational, that raises money for the Royal Family Kids. Royal Family Kids is an organization that provides a week long camp for abused and neglected children. The Bob White Invitational began in 2005, and to date, has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for RFK. Not only have hundreds of children been helped through the tournament, but the Kenpo community throughout the world has gained an awareness of RFK, and a desire to become involved in this cause. This involvement of the Kenpo community continues to grow, and contributions are coming in from all over the world.

In the 1980’s Bob White was promoted to 7th Degree Black Belt by Senior Grand Master, Ed Parker. This was the highest rank that Ed Parker ever promoted. He was one of only a very few to earn that rank. Master White has been inducted into many different Hall of Fame’s and recently he was the 2012 Keynote Speaker for the Master’s Hall of Fame in Southern California.

Bob White has been featured in various books including The Who’s Who in Martial Arts, The Journey, and most recently in The International Journey. He has also been interviewed on many television and radio shows.

Besides Martial Arts, Bob enjoys game fishing, running, and is an avid tennis player. Bob, Barbara and their children live in Costa Mesa, California.

Whatever rewards Bob White has achieved in his life, he owes to the grace of God and gives thanks to Him daily.

https://bwkenpo.com/

Lee Wedlake started studying Judo in 1967 at the Shindo Kan school in Chicago, IL., run by Blaise Joseph Zorich, where he achieved the rank of Brown belt. In November, 1972 he initiated study of Chinese Kenpo at a school in Evergreen Park, IL. He left that school as a Brown belt and was later promoted to first degree Black belt on June 2, 1975 by Michael John Sanders, a Kenpo 5th Dan, of Sterling, IL., who later promoted him to 2nd Degree Black in 1978. After Sander’s death in July 1979, Mr. Wedlake began studying with “The Father of American Karate,” Edmund K. Parker, at Pasadena, CA. starting in November, 1979. He was trained by both Parker and Frank Trejo for two years and promoted to third degree in 1981. He was introduced to Richard “Huk” Planas at the 1982 International Karate Championships and studied concurrently with Planas and Parker. Parker, Trejo, Planas and Joe Palanzo promoted him to fifth degree in September 1986 . Ed Parker promoted him to sixth degree on November 19, 1990, approximately one month before Parker’s passing. Trejo and Planas promoted him to 7th degree on June 27, 1993. In October 1998 during the annual Kenpo Camp in Ft. Myers, Huk promoted him to 8th degree. He and Planas parted ways in 2002. In October 2006 he assumed the rank of 9th with the approval of Kenpo seniors and peers.

Lee has written and published eight books on Kenpo. They are Kenpo Karate 101, Further Insights into Kenpo, Kenpo Karate 201, Kenpo Karate 301, Kenpo Karate 401, Kenpo Karate 501, Kenpo Karate 601 and his work on Ed Parker entitled Lessons with Ed Parker. In early 2015 his next book, The Kenpo Karate Compendium, is expected to be released by Blue Snake Books. In addition he has had numerous articles published in several martial arts magazines including the Journal of Asian Martial Arts, as well as the Mensa Bulletin and aviation magazines. He has a DVD series and you can find more information on his website.

Mr. Wedlake served as Ed Parker’s representative in the Midwest for 11 years and was on the board examiners of the International Kenpo Karate Association (IKKA). He was the US representative for Jeff Speakman’s AKKS, on the board of the Worldwide Kenpo Karate Association (WKKA), was the Illinois State Representative for the American Karate Association (AKA) and is on the board of directors of the World Registry of Black Belts, Organizations and Federations (WRBBOF). The Chinese Karate Federation was co-founded by himself and Sean Kelley in the 1990’s while he lived in Florida. Today Lee serves as the senior instructor of the Progressive Kenpo Systems group, founded in the late 1990s, with schools across the globe. He was recognized as a Shihan “Chief Grandmaster Instructor” by Shidokan International’s 10th degree, Richie Bernard, in January 2009. In addition, he holds instructor certification in Russian Systema under Vladimir Vasiliev and has taught Yang tai chi since the early 1990s.

Lee Wedlake is also certified by the Federal Aviation Administration as a flight instructor in single and multi-engine airplanes along with holding an Airline Transport Pilot license. He holds a rotorcraft (helicopter) license and ground instructor ticket, too. The National Association of Flight Instructors (NAFI) recognized him as a Master Instructor in 2006. In the aviation community he was an Aviation Safety Counselor for the FAA and a Deputy Commander in the Civil Air Patrol (United States Air Force Auxiliary). He graduated from Squadron Officer’s School, earned the rank of Lt. Colonel and was the Florida Wing Standards and Evaluation officer, earning Commander’s Commendations, Circle of Excellence and Meritorious Service awards.

Today he lives just outside Austin, Texas.

In 1973 Professor Eddie Downey began his Kenpo career in Europe's first Kenpo Studio the Fitzwilliam Street Kenpo Academy in Dublin, Ireland. Professor Downey's first instructor was Senior Professor John Conway a 7th degree Kenpo Black Belt ranked by Grand Master Ed Parker. Professor Conway sadly passed away in 1992 after a short illness in Newhall, California.

He later trained with Professor Maurice Mahon in Baggot Street, Dublin. Professor Mahon instilled in him strong basics, stances and fighting skills. Professor Mahon currently holds the rank of 10th Degree Black Belt and has been an active leader of the Kenpo community in Ireland for the past forty five years.

During the 1970s Professor Downey had a very successful tournament career in Ireland which included taking first place in the All Ireland Kenpo Karate Championships. Professor Downey was a regular member of the Irish National Team for many years and represented his country at European and World Championships. Professor Downey also competed and officiated at Ed Parker's Long Beach International Karate Championships for fifteen years.

During his Kenpo studies Professor Downey became a close personal friend of Grand Master Parker and having known Grand Master Parker since 1974. Professor Downey was the principal organizer of Grand Master Parker's numerous visits to Ireland and in 1981 after testing for his 1st degree Black Belt Professor Downey began training directly under the supervision of Grand Master Ed Parker. He subsequently achieved his 2nd black belt from Grand Master Parker in 1985 and his 3rd degree black belt in 1988. Grand Master Parker appointed Professor Downey as a regional representative for the I.K.K.A. in Ireland and Professor Downey held this position until his resignation from the I.K.K.A. in April 1996 to take up a new appointment as the European Director of the American Kenpo Karate Systems (A.K.K.S.).

In 1990 when Grand Master Parker suddenly passed on, Professor Downey requested Senior Professor John Sepulveda to become his Instructor and for the last twelve years Professor Sepulveda has visited Ireland on a regular basis to guide and train Professor Downey and his students in Kenpo. In 1992 Professor Downey tested for his 4th Degree Black Belt in Long Beach, California. In 1996 Professor Downey was honored to test for his 5th Degree Black Belt with the American Kenpo Senior Council board of examiners.

In 1995 Professor Downey hosted an International Martial Arts training camp in Ireland and with Professor Sepulveda's support and assistance. Professor Downey achieved his 6th Degree Black Belt in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA in the year 2000. Professor Downey achieved his 7th Degree Black in 2006 and his 8th Degree Black in 2012. Professor Downey has been a personal student of Master John Sepulveda for the past twenty-five years.

Professor Downey has focused his Kenpo career on providing fair and honest leadership to his students and has worked tirelessly to learn and promote the Ed Parker Kenpo System with his member schools and students in Ireland. It has been a lifelong goal of Professor Downey to develop the Kenpo system in Ireland and Europe as envisaged by the late Grandmaster Ed Parker. He is the President and founder of the European Kenpo Karate Association (EKKA) and in this role he travels extensively throughout Europe teaching and promoting the Ed Parker Kenpo System. Professor Downey is also the International Director for the Advance Kenpo Training System (AKTS) and enthusiastically promotes the association around the world.

https://www.kenpokarate.ie/