Ken Gullette grew up in Lexington, Kentucky, and became interested in the martial arts while watching the Kung Fu TV show in the early Seventies. He was drawn to the program by the kung fu action, but became more and more interested in the philosophy as time passed.

In 1973, Ken was rooming in college with his cousin Bobby, who had started karate lessons. Ken remembers picking up a pair of nunchakus for the first time. "I swung it and one end flew around and cracked me on the forehead," he says. "I felt pretty silly." But he was fascinated with the martial arts.

"I was in a lot of fights growing up," he says. "I was always a nice guy but even in high school, I seemed to attract the bullies. Maybe it was because I was a nice guy, who knows? What they didn't understand was that beneath this easy-going exterior, I really love a good fight. I always tried to avoid it, but when I was pushed into a corner, I was a good fighter and never lost a fight. There was something about fighting and being the underdog that I loved -- the ultimate one-on-one encounter, where the strongest doesn't always win. Often, the smarter fighter wins."

Enter the Dragon and the Bruce Lee craze finally convinced Ken to start taking lessons. "When I saw Bruce Lee, I thought he was poetry in motion, and I knew that if I could defend myself half that well, I'd never have to fear any situation."

Ken's first teacher was Grandmaster Sin Kwang The. He studied Shaolin-Do Karate (actually kung fu) and earned a brown belt. He began competing in tournaments.

In the mid-Seventies, Ken decided to give taekwondo a try. He studied with Master Randy Chambliss, who had a school in Lexington at the time.

After moving to Cincinnati during his TV news career, Ken studied with T'ien Shan Pai instructor Karen Vaughn, who was consistently ranked among the best female competitors in the Midwest. The TV news industry often involves moving, and in 1987, Ken found himself in Omaha, Nebraska, where he met his most influential teacher, Sifu Phillip Starr.

Under Sifu Starr Yiliquan system, Ken began studying the internal arts, including Hsing-I Chuan, Yang Tai Chi, and Baguazhang. He also trained in qigong and acupuncture. Finally, after 14 years in the martial arts, Ken found what he enjoyed most -- the Chinese internal arts. His study intensified, attending class 3 or 4 times a week. Even when he moved to Sioux City, Iowa to become news director at KCAU-TV in 1989, he drove twice a week to Omaha to study. In 1990, Ken won more medals than any other competitor at the AAU National Kung Fu Championships (see photo at right). He won 2 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze. The gold medals were in Tai Chi forms and Weapons forms (with the broadsword). He continued to relocate, moving to Des Moines in 1991 and to the Quad Cities in 1993, but eventually Ken earned a black sash in Yiliquan and began teaching in 1997.

As he began teaching the internal arts, Ken researched other teachers and systems and began adding to his curriculum. In 1998, he met Jim and Angela Criscimagna (currently living in San Diego) at their home in Rockford, Illinois and was instantly drawn to Chen tai chi and the body mechanics that made it so powerful. He began driving the nearly 4-hour round trip to Rockford, sometimes twice a week, to learn Chen tai chi. It became the foundation for his internal arts, and he began incorporating the body mechanics he was learning into his Hsing-I and Bagua--particularly the silk-reeling, peng, whole-body movement and ground connection.

"Tai Chi is so deep," he says, "the deeper you get into it, the deeper it is. That's the exciting part. Everyone is at a different level. My goal is to continue learning and developing my skill as I pass along what I learn to others."

Jim and Angela introduced Ken to members of the Chen family, including Grandmaster Chen Xiaowang and his senior student, Master Ren Guangyi. Photo at left shows Ken in a private lesson with Chen Xiaowang. Eventually, Jim and Angela became disciples of Chen Xiaowang. Over the years, Ken also learned from other disciples and had some quality, private instruction from Grandmaster Chen Xiaoxing, Chen Xiaowang's younger brother who is in charge of Chen training in the Chen Village in China.

In 2005, Ken and his wife Nancy bought a building and moved their school there. Photo at right shows Ken practicing push hands with Chen Xiaoxing when he visited Ken and Nancy's home for a week in 2006. Just a few months before this photo was taken, Ken became a certified instructor in the U.S. organization that was tied to the Chenjiajou Tai Chi School through Chen Xiaoxing. Although Ken considers himself independent and no longer part of the U.S. organization, the certification is an indication of his dedication to quality internal arts, and an indication of the type of training that members receive through this online school. A photo at right shows the certificate awarded to Ken in November, 2005.

Another photo at right shows Ken, Master Ren Guangyi, Jim and Angela Criscimagna during the years that Ken studied with Jim and Angela. Ken and Nancy closed their Bettendorf internal arts school in 2007 to move to Tampa, Florida, where Ken took a job in media relations. He lost the job a year later due to massive state budget cuts, and it gave him the opportunity to work full-time creating this online school and producing DVDs.

Throughout his martial arts career, Ken has competed in and won dozens of tournament competitions in empty-hand forms, weapons forms and sparring. His students have won well over a hundred competitions. He is a friendly competitor who enjoys competing against talented martial artists. He has been praised by many judges and referees for his sportsmanship. He takes a fun and sometimes humorous approach to teaching. "I'm very serious about the internal arts," he says, "but I try not to take myself too seriously. There are already enough people in the martial arts who do that. I do like to test myself against other martial artists, though. It's a good way to put yourself under pressure and learn some things about yourself and your art." Photo at right shows Ken and Nancy after he won the Chinese forms division, the 50 and over sparring division, and was runner-up Grand Champion in sparring at the Gen-Ki tournament in Chicago, October 2003. Ken was 50 years old.

Join Sifu Gullette's Online Internal Arts School and expand your knowledge of the internal arts or study to earn rank. Whatever your reasons for learning, you'll find what you need here and at a very reasonable monthly "class fee."

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