Bruce Lee
&
His Contributions to Sports and Physical Education
Trey Thomas
Final Research Paper
11/29/12
2
Abstract
Bruce Lee developed his skills and knowledge of martial arts through life starting when
he was 13 when he learned Wing Chin style of GUNG FU from Master Yip Man. Lee’s passion
and love for martial arts inspired him to open two martial art institutions and at this time in the
United States martial arts was not popular the only physical art that might be listed in the yellow
pages was Judo. Even the name ‘Karate’ was not a familiar term. After Lee’s fight with the
gung fu man, Lee was far too upset over the fact that he could not put him away in less than 3
minutes. This is where Bruce Lee created Jeet Kune Do “The Intercepting Fist.” Jeet Kune Do
unlike other martial arts has no real form or positions one can learn. “In Jeet Kune Do, all
technique is to be forgotten and the unconscious is to be left alone to handle the situation. The
technique will assert its wonders automatically or spontaneously. To float in totality, to have no
technique, is to have all technique.” (Lee, 2012) Jeet Kune Do is a martial art where every
block is a hit and every hit is a block. By adding these two types of fighting (a defensive and a
offensive) you save a whole lot of energy and time “A hit (hand or foot) is made by using the
stroke which corresponds to that of the opponent, taking advantage of the opportunity to deliver
it with proper timing.” (Lee, 2012)
Bruce Jun Fan Lee or better known as Bruce Lee was born in the hour of the Dragon,
between 6A.M. and 8A.M., in the year of the Dragon on November 27, 1940 at the Jackson
Street Hospital in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Both Lee’s name and birth day had monumental
meaning to the Chinese and would shed some light on which he was to become. Lee’s birthday
being the hour and year of the dragon in Chinese astrology was a strong omen of the powerful
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life that was to be lived and the explosive impact his life would have on countless others. Lee’s
Chinese name on the other hand was full of symbolism. In Bruce Jun Fan Lee, JUN means “to
arouse to the active state” or “to make prosperous,” and the FAN syllable refers to the Chinese
name for San Francisco, but its true meaning is “fence of a garden” or “bordering subordinate
countries of a big country.” Thus the true meaning of Bruce Lee’s name -JUN FAN- was “to
arouse and make FAN (the United States) Prosperous,” and to his name Lee’s parents wanted
him to shine and shake the foreign countries, which he certainly succeeded in doing.
With the understanding of Bruce Lee’s full name and his timely birthday in the hour and
year of the Dragon, we may now begin to understand his contribution to sports and Physical
Education. Lee’s contribution began at the age of 13 when he was introduced to Master Yip
Man, a teacher of the Wing Chun style of GUNG FU. He started practicing GUNG FU because
in his teenage years he was exposed to the common practice of unfriendly taunting by English
school boys who appeared to feel superior to the Chinese. It is not surprising that Lee and his
friends retaliated by returning the taunts and sometimes getting into fights with the English boys
this atmosphere laid the background for Lee to begin his study of martial arts. When Lee first
took up GUNG FU, he used his new skills to pummel his adversaries, but it did not take long for
him to learn that the real value of martial arts training is that the skills of physical combat instill
confidence to the point that one does not feel the constant need to defend one’s honor through
fighting.
In high school, lee was no longer a weak child and begun honing his body through hard
training. One of his accomplishments was winning an interschool Boxing Championship against
an English student in which the Marquis of Queensbury rules were followed and no kicking was
allowed. Given the graceful movements in his fighting, it was to no surprise that Lee was also a
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terrific dancer, and in 1958 he won the Hong Kong Cha-Cha Championship. He studied dancing
as diligently as he did GUNG FU, keeping a notebook in which he noted 108 different Cha-Cha
steps. It is easy to see that Lee possessed the traits of self-discipline and hard work.
Once Lee made it to college at the University of Washington he continued his martial arts
training as a philosophy major. Throughout his time at college, Lee wrote many essays relating
to Philosophical principles to certain martial arts techniques. He often wrote about the principles
of yin and yang and how they could translate into hard and soft physical movements. In this way
he was completing his education as a true martial artist in the time-honored Chinese sense of one
whose knowledge encompasses the physical, mental and spiritual aspects of the arts.
Lee was able to support himself in college by teaching GUNG GU. In the late 50’s and
early 60’s, “GUNG FU” was an unknown term. One of the first students in his group was Jesse
Glover who continues to teach some of Lee’s early techniques to this day. During this period
Lee and Taky Kimura became friends. Kimura became one of Lee’s GUNG FU students and the
first Assistant Instructor he ever had. Taky Kimura has continued to be lee’s staunch supporter,
devoting endless hours to preserving his art and philosophy throughout the 30 years since Lee’s
passing.
With the help and encouragement from friends, Lee opened a real school of GUNG FU
called JUN FAN GUNG FU Institute that was located in a small basement room with a half door
entry from 8th Street in Seattle’s Chinatown. In 1963, having established a dedicated group of
students and having given numerous demonstrations at the university, lee thought he might
attract more students by opening a larger school at 4750 University Way, and it’s at this location
in 1963 where Lee taught Linda Emery and in 1964 Lee married Linda. By this time, Lee had
decided to make a career out of teaching GUNG GU and was planning to open a number of
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schools around the country and training assistant instructors to teach in his absence. Lee left his
school in Seattle in the hands of Taky Kimura, and moved to Oakland with Linda where he
opened his second school.
Up to this time Lee’s GUNG FU consisted mostly of Wing Chun techniques and theory
he had learned from Yip Man. Gradually though, because of his burgeoning interest in the
philosophy of martial arts and his desire for self improvement, he was expanding his repertoire.
A particular incident accelerated his process of self-exploration. In 1964 Lee was challenged by
some gung fu men from San Francisco who objected to his teaching of non-Chinese students.
Lee accepted the challenge and the men arrived at the Kwoon in Oakland on the appointed day
for the face off. The terms were that if Lee were defeated he would stop teaching the non
Chinese. It was a short fight with the gung fu man from the city giving up when Lee had him
pinned to the floor after about three minutes. The significance of this fight was that Lee was
extremely disappointed in his own performance. Even though he had won, he was winded and
discouraged about his inability to put the man away in under three minutes. This marked a
turning point for Lee and his exploration of his martial art and the enhancement of his physical
fitness. Thus began the evolution of Jeet Kune Do “The Way of The Intercepting Fist.”
Bruce Lee was able to bring his love of the Martial arts to the general public through his
acting career. Lee started acting as a child actor under the tutelage of his father, and by the age
of 18, he had appeared in 20 films. Once Lee turned 18 his acting career went on hold as he
went back to finish high school, and then onto college. Up to this point Lee had been working
and living with Ruby Chow who had a restaurant and had promised him a job and living quarters
above the restaurant. During the three years that Lee studied at the university, he supported
himself by teaching GUNG FU, having by this time given up working in the restaurant, stuffing
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newspapers or various other odd jobs. He and a few of his new friends would meet in parking
lots, garages or any open space and play around with GUNG FU techniques. In the late 50’s and
early 60’s, “GUNG FU” was an unknown term; in fact, the only physical art that might be listed
in the yellow pages was Judo. Even the name “Karate” was not a familiar term. The small circle
of friends Lee had gave him the courage to open a real school of GUNG FU and charge a
nominal sum for teaching in order to support him while attending school.
Up to this point after opening up two GUNG FU Institutes, Lee has relied on his martial
art teaching for income. This was all about to change when he met Ed Parker who invited Lee to
Long Beach, CA to give a demonstration at his First International Karate tournament. This was
one of the first glimpses the world had of Bruce Lee and his amazing skills in martial arts. Lee
used Taky during the tournament to demonstrate his blindfolded Chi Sao techniques. At one
point he used a member of the audience to show the power of his one-inch punch. After the
tournament Lee went on to making many popular movies that struck the world in awe for
instance “The Way of the Dragon,” also called “Return of the Dragon,” and “Enter the Dragon.”
“Enter the Dragon” was due to premier at Hollywood’s Chinese theater in August of
1973. Unfortunately, Lee would not live to see the opening of his film, nor would he experience
the accumulated success of more than thirty years of all his films’ popularity after his passing.
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Cadwell, L. (2006). brucelee.com. Retrieved from
http://www.brucelee.com/bruceleecom/file/biography.pdf
Bowman, P. (2010). Sick man of transl-Asia: Bruce Lee and Rey Chow's queer cultural
translation. Social Semiotics, 20(4), 393-409. doi:10.1080/10350330.2010.494393
Lee, B. (2012). Tao of jeet kune do. (Expanded ed.). Valencia: Black Belt Books.
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Enough”, Retrieved from http://bruceleefoundation.org/index.cfm/page/THE-WISDOMOF-BRUCE-LEE-This-Issue:-“Dealing-with-Reality”/cdid/10656/pid/10225