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Editor note: ABBA is saddened with the loss of one our martial
arts family members, Dr. John David York 4th Dan. Dr. York passed
away on April 6th after a long hard fought battle against illnesses that
lasted for many years. Our deepest condolences go out to the York
family. Mr. Ritchie and Dr. York were very close friends and Doc
was a respected member of the Texas Martial Arts Community.
On a personal note Doc was
one of the kindest and considerate people I have ever known. Even
though Doc was dealt a bad hand of cards with his health he played them
like he had a full house. Even when he was ill he was more
concerned on how you were doing. Doc responded to every e-mail I
ever sent him, even if it was just a joke. He would thank me for
thinking about him and ask how I was doing. That was Doc, always
thinking our others before himself. I will miss you Doc, R.I.P Sir.
Below is Dr. York's
obituary and following it his biography that details his trials and
tribulations in the martial arts and how its aided him in his life.
____________________________________________________________________________________
John David (Doc) York, 56,
of McAllen, Texas, passed peacefully to his eternal rest in
the presence of his family and friends on Thursday, April 6,
2006.
John David was born in Houston, Texas,
December 1, 1949, and was preceded in death by his mother,
Margaurite Wooten York; his father, David Coleman York; his
brother, Paul York; and his daughter, Heather Maureen York.
John graduated from Bellaire High School and served his
country in the United States Coast Guard.
Doc was a loving family man to his
wife, Jacque, his sons, Eddy, Larry and David; his
grandchildren; his great grandchild; his brother, Bill; and
wife, Fay; and his sister, Bonnie Dubrow, and a part of too
many lives to list. He was graced with the friendship of
Tracy and Monika Hawkins, who befriended him and his family,
taught him to enjoy his life and come to terms with his
illness, and nursed him. He was blessed with Hilda Soliz,
who was always there to hold his hand. He loved and was
loved and supported by his co-workers at South Texas College
who worked with him, helped care for him, and gave him a
reason to get up every day to fight the good fight against a
consuming illness, and who were at his bedside when he
needed them.
Doc was graced to live in interesting
times. He was a 4th degree blackbelt who served as bodyguard
to Abby Hoffman, security to some of the great bands of the
60s and 70s, chronicler of sporting events, from Sam Houston
University Rodeo competitions to professional wrestling to
professional boxing. He was an avid shooter, gun and knife
collector, was a member of Mission Trap and Skeet Range,
Pharr Rifle and Pistol Range, and the indoor Hole in the
Wall Range. York received his Bachelor of Arts, Masters in
Sociology, and Ed.D from The University of Houston. He
worked as an instructor at Sam Houston State University, and
in the state prison system with Walter Bennet and George
Beto as mentors through Sam Houston State University, taught
at the University of Houston, but found his home with South
Texas College, where he served as the Project Director for
the accreditation sight visits. Doc also acted as mentor to
friends and associates of
STC in obtaining their doctorate degrees.
A visitation and wake will be held
from 6 to 8 p.m., today, Sunday, April 9, 2006, at Kreidler
Funeral Home, with family present to receive friends. The
funeral service will be held at 10 a.m., Monday, April 10,
2006, at Kreidler Funeral Home, 314 N 10th St, in McAllen.
Tracy Hawkins, Ray Pegoda, Dennis Ray Gotcher, Keith
Prewitt, Jose Cruz and Juan Mejia will serve as pallbearers.
All who wish to help celebrate Doc’s life are welcomed.
Memorial contributions in Doc’s name can be made to the
Humane Society of the Upper Valley, P.O. Box 3386, McAllen,
TX 78502
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Biographical sketch of John D. York, Ed.D.-4th
Degree Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do under the AKBBA
I currently work for a large community college in
South Texas. I oversee the scheduling of classes, program review,
accreditation issues, and I act as "a Jack of all trades" for the
Vice-President of Instructional Services. I earned all three of my
university degrees from the University of Houston. My B.A and M.A. are
both in Sociology. At each level I was given a cash prize in honor of
the Faculty voting me the outstanding student upon my graduation. I
attribute my academic success in large measure to my martial arts
background.
Preparing for and passing belt exams is a good
means by which to tackle more academically oriented subjects. Prior to
pursuing my doctorate in 1983 I trained especially hard to get in shape
and be worthy of taking my 3rd degree black belt under George Minshew in
the AKBBA. Mr. Ritchie and Mr. Tabares both helped me prepare for that.
After I earned my doctorate in 1988 from UH, I spent a number of years
acting as a freelance evaluator working on privately and publicly funded
evaluation projects. I also taught at six community colleges and four
universities in the period of time as well as serving as a Research
Scientist for The Center for University-School Partnerships.
When I moved to the Rio Grande Valley I went to
work at the McAllen Independent School District as their Evaluator for
Special Populations. I held that position until the local community
college asked that I apply for a teaching position with them. Apart from
my current position I have also acted as the Chair of the Social and
Behavioral Sciences Department and acted as the Director of the
Institutional Self-Study that the College is required to do to keep
their accreditation with the Southern Association of Colleges and
Schools. I am currently overseeing the State mandated evaluation of all
workforce education programs and related areas for the College.
I first became interested in the martial arts in
the mid-fifties when I saw the classic Spencer Tracy film, "Bad Day at
Black Rock". He played a one-armed WWII vet combating corruption and
racism in a small western town. He combated the villains in the
film with takedowns, foot sweeps, chops, and hip throws. I was first
able to study Kenkoju kyu Shotokan in Houston for a brief period in the
early sixties in Houston. Several years after my first experience in
studying a martial art, I started studying Seibukan Shorin Ryu, an
Okinawan style of karate-do. I earned my first black belt in that style
in 1969. It was a traditional style. Great emphasis in that style was
placed on kata, basics, one-steps, self-defense training, and some free
sparring. My instructor Mike Richardson was killed in a car wreck
shortly after I earned my black belt. For several years I trained with
other traditional stylists such as Richard Sapp, Victor Cheng, Eddie
Grigson, Keith Prewitt, and other Houston based martial artists of that
time.
Dr. York (on the far
let) with ABBA staff in December 2001
In the early seventies I moved to Austin to train
with Mike Uselton. Uselton was an Allen Steen black belt. Even though he
ran a more traditional school than most of his peers of that period he
himself was a regionally rated fighter and all of his students were
expected to fight their way to higher rank. To get my first black belt
from Mr. Usleston I had to fight in as many tournaments as I would have
if I had been a white belt starting out anew. That would have been easy.
I had to fight as a black belt. If I didn't have to fight an
SWKBBA/AKBBA black belt I usually won. The fighters from the
SWKBBA/AKBBA of that time period were the best in the nation though. I
didn't win many matches when I had to fight those fellows.
I parted company with Mr. Usleston and went to
California to train with Robert Halliburton a nationally ranked fighter
of the late sixties and early seventies. Mr. Halliburton had me training
to test for my first black under him in Kenkoju kyu Shotokan. A changing
economy cut my west coast training short of my achieving that goal and I
returned to Texas. While searching for a place to train I either
rejected or was rejected by several then prominent Asian instructors as
being an American black belt and therefore too rowdy to participate in
their training activities. While I was never a first rate tournament
fighter my training and participating in dojo bouts and fighting in
tournaments with the best fighters of that era gave me an attitude
towards fighting that moved far beyond traditional stylists. To be
blunt, if we fought and you tried to kick or punch me I tried to kick
and punch you first and to hit, strike, and kick you harder than you did
me. That was considered unsporting by the Asian traditionalists and
their adepts.
Unfazed by my rejection by the Asian
traditionalists, which clearly had racist overtones, I started training
with what was then becoming the strongest stable of tournament fighters
in the nation the Houston based Black Belt Academies. While the
Dallas-Ft. Worth area had been the epicenter of blood and guts fighting
in the early sixties to the early seventies many of their most prominent
practitioners and instructors had dispersed across the southwest and
throughout the country. Such stellar fighters and notable instructors as
the Worley brothers, Ray McCallum, Dennis Gotcher, Larry Ritchie, Jimmy
Tabares, Linda Denley and many others either were working or were
training in the Houston based schools which were run by George Minshew.
In 1975 I tested for second black under Dennis
Gotcher in his school up in Waco. Gotcher who now is a police officer in
North Texas had a deserved reputation as being a hard case. His students
up there were no different than the Black Belt Academy students in their
fighting attitude, but none of them really knew me and when he told them
at the start of the test to take it to me they did so with gleeful
enthusiasm.
After that period I started training with and
working concert security with Mr. Ritchie. That was where I really
learned "what was for show and what was for go." Mr. Ritchie and I also
collaborated on any number of martial arts articles during the
mid-seventies through the early eighties for national martial arts
magazines, most notably Official Karate. An examination of Al Weiss's
compilation of the best of Official Karate (Mr. Ritchie has a copy in
his office) will reveal an unattributed cross section of our writing and
photography from that period of time.
My involvement with the martial arts came to a halt
in the early nineties when I was preparing to get in shape for my fourth
black belt under Mr.Minshew. That was when I came down with several
serious illnesses and one life threatening illness during that period of
time.
Only since June of 2001 have I felt strong enough
to start throwing technique again. Still let me emphatically add, that
like my involvement in studying for my university degrees, that it was
the discipline and the physical hardihood that I acquired from my
lifelong pursuit of the martial arts that allowed me to live through my
medical treatments and to survive the various aliments that still
afflict me. But then that gets back to the core of martial arts. One
should train oneself to overcome adversity.
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