grandmaster wiki / Thru the Years

Soke Hausel, thru the years

I started karate at the Black Eagle Federation Kyokushinkai Dojo in Salt Lake City in 1964 as a result of growing long hair and playing lead guitar in a rock n' roll band. Long hair was not looked on favorably in 1964 - so myself and the members of the band signed up for self-defense. I was told by other band members that I would not last a week in the dojo because of the intensity of training (I was a very frail and skinny kid) that included many hundreds of punches, kicks, blocks, squats, push-ups, full contact kumite (we had no protection other than a cup & all body parts were considered legitimate targets) and other unusual types of training such as jogging on the glass-covered asphalt at Irving Junior High. My instructors - Sensei Tom Anguay and John Becker were more like drill sargents with a bad attitudes.

The band members were right - I didn't last a week, I lasted more than 40 years in karate (to date). Martial arts are now a 'do', a 'way of life' for me. I know of no other way to bring the best out of people than through martial arts. If martial arts were taught in all of the schools in this country, we would see very little need for drugs and alcohol. Take a look at the Japanese and Okinawan societies.

Through the years, I was lucky enough to be the Sensei (teacher) of more than 3000 people. Those that trained directly under me are now very productive members in society and include professors, doctors, lawyers, engineers, architechs, geologists, botanists, biologists, linguists, archeologists, astrophysicists, law enforcement officers, soldiers, teachers and others.