Recognition For Sensei `Overdue' -- Issaquah Man To Be In Karate Hall Of Fame

ISSAQUAH

When Bernie Collins found out he had brain cancer, doctors gave him six months to live. That was eight years ago.

Modern medicine helped Collins recover, but he credits the mental discipline of martial arts for helping him conquer his greatest opponent.

"You learn to control your mind," the Issaquah resident said. "To this day, I have a very different attitude toward death."

Collins, 54, will soon receive credit of his own as a hall-of-fame inductee of the World Martial Arts Council, based in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. The security manager who has worked for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and Boeing will be inducted in March, an honor that recognizes Collins' contribution to the martial arts by developing okuno-ryo, a style he created by combining fighting systems.

But martial arts were not always a part of Collins' life. Growing up in Jacksonville, Fla., in the 1950s, Collins said he witnessed many incidents of gang violence. He was 17 when a street fight introduced him to karate. One man was challenged by several others, he recalled.

"I saw that he didn't want to fight," Collins said. "The next thing I knew, he took care of these guys like they were nothing. I asked him how he learned how to do that. He said, `Karate.' "

After enlisting in the Army, Collins studied karate while stationed in Okinawa from 1962 to 1964. He progressed to black belt in that time, then continued his studies with several teachers after

returning to the United States. Studying under many masters exposed him to different fighting techniques that developed into okuno-ryo, which means "blending of many."

Okuno-ryo combines the speed and quickness of the Okinawan style with the hard, forceful strikes of the Japanese style, Collins said. In more than 30 years of teaching, Collins' students have won at least 15 national competitions.

To those students, recognition for their sensei, or teacher, is overdue. Jackie Mole of Cocoa, Fla., studied under Collins for more than 20 years and has won numerous regional and national awards. Mole attributes these feats to Collins' teaching. But Mole says the most important lesson he learned was self-restraint.

"My attitude changed because of his teaching," Mole said. "Anybody can be a bully, but it takes a karate practitioner to be meek."

Jim Stoddard of Fryeburg, Maine, also has 20 years of experience, but he took a more circuitous route to study under Collins. He describes the okuno-ryo he learned as "sport" karate rather than traditional techniques. As a teenager, Stoddard performed well in competition but felt that he did not have a connection to the origin of the martial art.

"The different styles have different philosophies to them," Stoddard said. ". . . I really wanted to see where it came from."

After tracing okuno-ryo's origins to Collins, Stoddard visited him this summer and spent time learning the traditional techniques that okuno-ryo is based on, practicing them as they were done centuries ago.

"It's really renewed a lot of the joy in the martial arts for me," Stoddard said.

Not all of Collins' students gave him the same respect. Although he opened one of the first nonsegregated martial-arts schools in Florida, Collins said some of his white students dissociated themselves from him at tournaments because he was black.

"They wouldn't wear the emblem, my symbol," he said. "They denied who they trained under. That was very painful for me to deal with."

But he continued to teach, at one time operating seven schools in Florida and teaching about 500 students. Induction into the hall of fame will give Collins the recognition that some students denied him years ago, said Stoddard, who nominated him for the honor.

It has been about 10 years since Collins has taught a class. The cancer that Collins conquered robbed him of his sight, but he still practices at least three hours each day.

Many of his students are now martial-arts teachers, and he speaks fondly about their accomplishments.

But when talk turns to his own martial-arts accomplishments - the awards are too numerous for him to count - Collins talks instead about okuno-ryo. "It all goes back to the martial arts," Collins said. "For our system to win, it must mean we're doing something right."

Frank Vinluan's phone: 206-464-2291. E-mail:fvinluan@seattletimes.com Eastside Profile is an occasional feature of The Seattle Times Eastside edition. Have a suggestion on someone we should write about? Contact us via the address or phone numbers at the top of this page.