Scottster

This includes some interesting facts about Sensei Klase. ST. PETERSBURG - In Vietnam, where Bill Klase sharpened his skills in the martial arts, he was called "Young Tiger." Returning home, he acquired other names: life saver, parachutist, trainer of police - and bail agent who knew how to get his man. When Mr. Klase, a martial arts grand master, began developing his own American Karate System, which modernized some of the traditional techniques, he called it the "Way of the Tiger." Mr. Klase, 54, who opened the first commercial karate school in Pinellas County in 1969, died Saturday (April 17, 2004) at Bay Pines VA Medical Center of liver disease, said a sister, Katrina Ray. He was awaiting a liver transplant, she said. Speaking Tuesday of another facet of his career, bail bondsman Kevin McClory said, "He did skip tracing, finding people, taking people back to court that didn't want to go. Some of them were high risk. "There was a guy out in Arizona who refused to be taken alive," McClory recalled of one case involving Mr. Klase. "He was taken alive and is in the Florida State Prison." A founder and director of the Police Tactics Instructors of America, Mr. Klase taught his karate system to police officers and sheriff's deputies, McClory said. "Karate and martial arts are real good," McClory said, "but they have to be adapted to street situations. People are on drugs and with different types of weapons. They present unique problems." R. William "Bill" Klase was born in New Haven, Conn., and got training in the martial arts early. His father, William, a police officer, began teaching him judo when he was about 5, according to a biography from American Tactical Karate in Apache Junction, Ariz. He moved here in 1958 from Springfield, Mass., and started boxing about age 10 and studying judo at the St. Petersburg YMCA. Enlisting in the Army in 1966, he worked with Korean-style karate at Fort Jackson in South Carolina. During a tour in Vietnam, he trained with the Korean Army's White Horse Division and received a black belt in TaeKwonDo. Back from Vietnam with a Purple Heart medal, he opened a karate school at Madeira Beach and later operated it near St. Petersburg High School and under the name American Executive Karate Center on 49th Street N. He was a founder of the Bronze Dragons, a skydiving exhibition team that demonstrated aerial formations to entertain gatherings of military veterans and for charities. The skydiving name was borrowed from the Vietnam Service Medal, which is bronze-colored and features a dragon flying through a cluster of palm trees, Mr. Klase once explained. The team held its first exhibition July 4, 1993, during a veterans gathering at the Pasco County fairgrounds. Mr. Klase took up the sport in 1992 and had made 1,468 jumps. In 1991, he received a Certificate of Merit for Life Saving from the Suncoast Tampa Bay Chapter of the American Red Cross. He was honored for helping to save an infant boy with a high fever who went into convulsions and stopped breathing. He was a National Rifle Association trainer and had coached the St. Petersburg High School karate team. He was a member of the World Martial Arts Hall of Fame Sokeship Council, U.S. Karate Association, Civil Air Patrol, U.S. Parachute Association, Florida Sheriffs Association, Police Athletic Association and Vietnam Veterans Association.

To answer your question, yes he claimed it in the style he founded. I have been a part of 5 different schools. Mostly because I have relocated a few times. I have never found a superior style and I certainly have never had a better instructor than William Klase and Torasamado AKA "The way of the Tiger". Generally speaking, when I have gone to other schools and I demonstrate a technique from Torasamado that I have learned, I usually get high praise for the technique. He was an outstanding teacher and martial artist. Regardless of rank.

I know I am late to this post. I just happen to see it when I googled torasamado. I happened to train under Bill Klase - the style founder. Then the style was called "The way of the Tiger". Even though we had an approximate time that you would expect to test, the testing was scheduled only after it was determined you were ready based on class performance. I would stick with that rule and it should be unlikely that you will need to fail anyone. Scottster

Bill Klase never hid the fact that he founded the style. I still have the training manual that explained the style, its origin, and requirements for rank. Along with information of other styles. Soke Klase always encouraged his students to learn from other styles as well. He often taught us things that he had learned from other styles. I studied under him many years ago when he was a 5th Dan. I unfortunately went off to college and then moved away from the area. But I have resumed training and I am now 3rd Dan. I can tell you that after training with some 8th Dan instructors, Bill Klase, in my opinion, has demonstrated the rank of 10th Dan. Also knowing Bill Klase, he really would not care. He wrote a poem that was included in my training manual that explains how he felt about humility. He also required certain things from his students to insure that humility was exersized. In the next few days, I will post his poem here. Scottster

I agree. Bill Klase has done nothing but earned the respect of everyone that has ever come in contact with him. I have enjoyed the years that I was his student and also studied with his brother Dean Klase - a former full contact world champion. Bill Klase has developed and promoted a great style. I do not believe that the measure of a style is in it's popularity. Because I know several VERY popular (well known) styles that I would not waste any time with. Mcdonald's has the most well known hamburger in the world. More people eat it than any other. But no one actually thinks it is the best. I can say that Bill Klase is possibly one the greatest human beings that I have ever met. I consider it an honor to have studied under him. Scottster

Since I was no longer in contact with Bill Klase when he became a Grandmaster. ( I moved out of state). I talked to a few friends about him and ask who supported his promotion to GrandMaster. As far as we know there were atleast three notable names that acknowledged his rank. GrandMaster Peter Urban GrandMaster Joe Lewis GrandMaster Mas Oyama GrandMaster David Dye? I know that Bill Klase studied under Peter Urban, Mas Oyama and Joe Lewis because I had the privilege of meeting them. I am not sure about David Dye, although I know that Bill Klase was very knowledgeable in Aikido. Anyway, if just one of these guys think you deserve a 10th Dan then I don't think that anyone here could argue with that. The whole credible certification thing is a bit of a joke anyway. Its sort of like winning the 100m gold medal in the Olympics and then being called the fastest man in the world. How do you know until you have raced everybody in the world. You only know that you were the fastest guy in the race. Some guy somewhere may be faster, he just never bothered to race. Scottster 3rd Dan

Since I was no longer in contact with Bill Klase when he became a Grandmaster. ( I moved out of state). I talked to a few friends about him and ask who supported his promotion to GrandMaster. As far as we know there were atleast three notable names that acknowledged his rank. GrandMaster Peter Urban GrandMaster Joe Lewis GrandMaster Mas Oyama GrandMaster David Dye? I know that Bill Klase studied under Peter Urban, Mas Oyama and Joe Lewis because I had the privilege of meeting them. I am not sure about David Dye, although I know that Bill Klase was very knowledgeable in Aikido. Anyway, if just one of these guys think you deserve a 10th Dan then I don't think that anyone here could argue with that. The whole credible certification thing is a bit of a joke anyway. Its sort of like winning the 100m gold medal in the Olympics and then being called the fastest man in the world. How do you know until you have raced everybody in the world. You only know that you were the fastest guy in the race. Some guy somewhere may be faster, he just never bothered to race. Scottster 3rd Dan

I studied under Shihan Bill Klase for several years. Along with his Brother Dean. At that time it was at the Pinellas Institute of Karate and the style was called "The way of the Tiger". Shihan Bill klase deserves the rank of 10th Dan. I moved away from the area and have studied with several others of the 8th Dan ranks in different styles. Respectfully, I have not found any of them able to match the knowledge and contributions that Bill Klase represents. Furthermore, Soke Bill Klase is a member of the Florida Martial Arts Hall of Fame. Which means that his contributions are recognized by his peers and other Grandmasters. All of which are probably better judges than anyone writing in this forum. Now, my children are students and I have been discouraged because none of the styles in my area can compare to what I have learned from him. I am saddened to hear about his death and now I feel compelled to honor him by teaching my children and anyone else that wants to learn, what I have learned from him. Furthermore, I will honor him by telling others of his outstanding contributions. As we used to say as a class at the conclusion of each lesson. "Thank you for teaching us Sensei" Thank you for teaching us William "Tiger" Klase