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'Grandmaster' was Angelo Karate Pioneer
San Angelo Standard
Times
By Rick Smith, Staff
Writer
July 9, 2003
During his time, James ''JC'' Cummings Jr. wore many hats:
Welterweight boxer, Army paratrooper, Angelo State University
student, Tom Green County probation officer.
But his many students remember him as ''Grandmaster,'' the
founder of the Tang Soo Do Karate Association and one of the
first and finest martial arts instructors in San Angelo.
The martial arts expert held his first San Angelo karate
classes in his back yard in the early 1960s, said former
student George Howard. Before JC arrived, ''judo was the only
thing we knew about,'' George said. The karate instructor
created an instant stir. ''He had people from all over the
block just bring down chairs and watch. It was a very big
thing.''
Later, JC founded his Martial Arts Academy on
North Chadbourne Street. Tang Soo Do is a Korean form of karate. JC studied
martial arts while in the military and perfected his technique over a
lifetime of work. He never stopped learning. He earned his eighth-degree
black belt in December 2001, at the age of 62.
George said JC was more than a mentor and teacher to his
hundreds of students - he was a friend.
''No student was ever too young or old, too gifted or too
unyielding to benefit from James' teaching,'' George wrote, in
a eulogy to his teacher. ''He simply would not consider
allowing any of the hundreds of students whose lives he
touched each year to go away without some bit of knowledge,
some shred of empowerment to make them a better martial artist
- and a better person.'' |
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Grand Master James Cummings Jr.
In 1982, Standard-Times reporter Neil Landsman visited JC's
Martial Arts Academy.
''To Cummings, the martial arts are a way of living,'' the
reporter wrote. ''The discipline pertains to school, social
and family life. At the academy in north San Angelo,
self-defense is more than a karate chop, grunt and high kick.
It's a state of mind.''
That year, the academy's students ranged in age from seven
to 57. JC worked as a probation officer by day and taught at
his academy at night.
During a 1985 interview, JC
told another reporter that he enjoyed the sport because it
emphasized internal strength, spirituality and it built self
confidence.
''The thing I emphasize,
especially with younger kids, is that martial arts is a way of
life,'' he told the reporter. ''We try to be an extension of
the family and stress enrichment of life.''
George said JC left San Angelo in the mid-1980s. The
grandmaster died July 1 at the VA Hospital in San Antonio
following a brief illness. He was 64 years old. His Tang Soo
Do Karate Association will hold a memorial for him on July 26
during a karate tournament at Glenn Junior High in San Angelo.
''James was as excited talking karate 'shop' with a
6-year-old brand-new white belt as he was with another
grandmaster,'' James wrote in his eulogy.
JC, he said, ''was a man of great dignity, strong in his
beliefs and willing to let everyone and anyone into his inner
circle.''
He made martial arts a way of life. And he made a
difference.
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Loosing a mentor
Frank H. Jakobs
"Loosing a mentor, honored teacher or friend;
leads to feelings that are difficult at best to describe, most likely
close to impossible to put down on paper. Today, July 1, 2003 marked the
passing of Grandmaster James Cummings mentor to the chosen, honored
teacher to hundreds, and friend to all who knew him. To summarize his life
in a short paragraph would be futile, and best left to a professional
writer. However, to describe a man that most of us have come to know like
a grandfather and strong figurehead for our association of Martial Artists
over the course of his life, is a task I'll attempt here. No student was
ever too young, or old, too gifted, or too unyielding to benefit from
James's teachings.
He simply would not consider allowing any of the hundreds
of students whose lives he touched each year to go away without some bit of
knowledge, some shred of empowerment to make them a better martial artist,
and a better person. To me personally, James was a man of great dignity,
strong in his beliefs, and willing to let everyone and anyone into his inner
circle. James was as excited talking Karate "shop" with a 6 year old brand
new white belt as he was with another Grandmaster. From his seed, the tree
of the Tang Soo Do Karate Association sprung so many years ago. I could
write paragraph after paragraph describing the man, his love of the martial
arts, his ever-present smile, and his continual quest for knowledge, but
I'll leave off here and perhaps allow others to add their own thoughts to
this message. James Cummings, it was a pleasure to know you, and learn from
you.
Chinese Proverb:
Life is a dream walking, death is going home.
Thank you from all of us at the Tang Soo Do Karate Association. You will not
be forgotten!"
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