2014, 1st Edition, Zanshin-Ryu-Association, 8 ½ by 11, perfect bound, soft cover, 120 pages & front matter, $30

I have two friends who are martial arts instructors who have leant me copies of this book. I do not believe I have met Mister Eggleston, but we have mutual friends. The copy I have is, I think, a pre-release copy issued to those interviewed for the book. There are a number of basic typos that I assume will be corrected before a general release. I have long thought that such a book should be written and am glad someone has spent the many hours necessary doing it.

How do I categorize the history of Grandmasters & Masters of the Martial Art in Baltimore Maryland?

This is not in any way an instructional or even technical reference of martial arts methods. It is clearly a labor of love. This tome is a strictly concerned with the history, association, and lineage of prominent area martial arts instructors. Mister Eggleston has done a valuable service bringing to light the contributions of a number of black martial artists who were the prime movers in the combat culture of the 1970s when Bruce Lee films were all the rage and inner city Baltimore youths often joined martial arts clubs rather than forming gang sets. I know a number of Black Muslims who were involved with this movement. I have also worked with two boxing coaches who networked with the men who formed these karate clans and took up kickboxing.

The 1970s were a heady time for martial artists around the United States. The Baltimore scene was no different. Mister Eggleston keeps a high positive tone throughout. It has been pointed out to me that some of the instructors that have operated predominantly on the north and east outskirts of Baltimore out in the suburbs have perhaps inflated their image when sitting for interviews with Rodney. A work such as this is necessarily prone to this type of thing—but even the self-aggrandizement of strip mall karate ‘masters’ alongside the modesty of actual urban fighters, is a central aspect of American martial arts culture. Indeed this phenomena is as old as Musashi, who noted it 1643.

There are two aspects of Baltimore Martial Arts history that I would like to see Mister Eggleston cover in his Second Edition, which appears to be in the works as I write.

1. Although Rodney mentions some old time boxers who impacted life in Baltimore, there is little information on Baltimore’s greatest martial artist, Joe Gans, who boxed over a hundred fights with gloves no heavier than what MMA fighters wear today. We also have a former world welterweight champion coaching boxing today in East Baltimore.

2. I do understand the reluctance of practitioners of Asian-based martial arts to recognize an American art. However, many Baltimore area boxing coaches helped prepare men such as the first person listed in Mister Eggleston’s dedication to three Baltimore Area Masters on page VI, “Grandmaster Riley L. Hawkins, Shorin-Ryu-Karate, first Black Man from Baltimore to fight Chuck Norris in 1968.”

Rodney L. Eggleston has prepared, and generously distributed, an important record for Baltimore area martial artists and I hope he continues his work.