Master Young Suh – Master Don Baird

Grandmaster Suh, back in about 1974 started asking me to lunch once in awhile. This, as you probably can tell from me even bringing it up, was a rarity. He didn’t associate with very many people. He was very much a loner except for the Korean community.

I was wondering why at first. We would sit a talk about his dreams and aspirations. He constantly was thinking how to make things work out. He was always asking questions and searching. There was never a time that he wasn’t planning how to be successful in the United States. It was very important to him to be wealthy – mentally, physically and spiritually and, of course, financially.

But soon, he was talking about me. He asked a lot about my life and my dreams. It wasn’t long before he clearly understood how important Martial Arts and Kung Fu were to me. Train harder was always his comment no matter how hard I trained or what I knew. There was always more that I could do to improve my skills, the way he saw it. “You must train hard” as I’ve mentioned so many times in our school.

I remember there was a moment in his parking lot that he asked me to stand still. He stood there. He walked around me. After a few moments, he adjusted my posture so my ears lined up a certain way with my shoulders. Then he talked about feet, knees, waste, abdomen, chest, neck and more. Before he stopped talking, he checked again to be sure my ears and shoulders were still in proper position!

Then, July 20th, 1976 he retired from teaching. The school was mine. There were three masters that Master Suh had promoted. I was the third one. I was excited and yet, I was extremely nervous – thinking I wasn’t good enough to do it well. Now, I was training hard! I knew what sweat meant times a hundred! There were no shortcuts. There was no way other than to train as often and as much as I could. I had to be the best of the best to follow his footsteps. The pressure was on!

Though he didn’t own any schools anymore, he continued teaching me until the late 1980s. Most of my lessons ended up over a lunch or dinner table with him talking about nearly every aspect of martial arts. It was an endless journey of learning. It was amazing!

But, too soon, it ended. And, once it did, he never talked about martial arts or kung fu again. He moved on and left it all behind. It’s our legacy. It’s now our responsibility to be the best caretakers we can be of this fine art. I truly believe we are up to keeping this alive and in good condition for generations to come. It’s my hope: it’s my belief. We need to do it!

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