Thomas Lapuppet

[Dojo02]

Hello everyone, i am wondering if anybody can give me some information on this man. My lineage can be placed back to him but i know nothing about him meaning that the only thing that i know is that hes a great tournament champion and thats great but i wish to know more. He's like the grandfather you hear about but never met. Does somebody have any instresting bio on him. Thank you ever so much.

[hobbitbob]

The only mention of him I recall comes from Corcoran and Farkas' "Catalog of the Martial Arts (I think!)" published in the late '70s. If I remember correctly, he was a shotokan stylist. He was also a firefighter as a profession.

[GPerry]

Greetings All,

 

Thomas La Puppet trained and taught out of the Tong Dojo in Brooklyn, New York. He trained under/with George Cofield. The style they taught might be considered to be an US version of Shotokan Karate.

 

Mr. La Puppet was a very well known east coast tournament competitor mostly in the 60s and 70s. He traveled the country and became VERY successful tournament fighter. Chuck Norris once said that La Puppet was one of his toughest oponents.

 

He excelled in kata and point fighting. Later on, before retiring, he performed empty hand self-defense demos with Alex Sterberg.

 

He also became an excellent coach and trainer of national and international MA fighters. He trained hundreds of black belts in his time, I can vouch for that! He traveled the world promoting karate as an art as well as a sport.

 

It should also be noted that Thomas La Puppet was the second person to be inducted into the Black Belt Hall of Fame (?), and the first black person!! He appeared in many matial art related magazines.

 

Many well known martial artist attended his funeral, a long list of who's who!

 

Thomas La Puppet was always the gentleman, strong sprit, soft voice, soft heart.

 

I know I'm leaving something out, but I hope this helps.

 

Respectfully,

 

Glenn Perry