1936 J. PAT BURLESON 2021
When James Pat Burleson entered this world on April 27, 1936, his parents could not have known that by the time he was destined to depart — on October 31, 2021 — he would be renowned as a martial arts pioneer, a front-runner in the “blood and guts” era of American karate, a mentor to youth and an inspiration to tens of thousands of martial arts students, if not more.
Like many of his contemporaries, Burleson had his interest in self-defense ignited by boxing, which is not surprising when one considers how little instruction in the Asian martial arts was available in the 1950s. While stationed in Japan in 1957, however, he managed to devote several months to the study of wado-ryu karate. Not long afterward, the fun started.
“During my tour in the United States Navy, I spent some time in Asia and Indochina,” he told Black Belt in 1993. “While there, I fought some bare-knuckle, full-contact exhibition matches, and most of the time, the rules were not clear.
“The fights were supposed to stop when someone was knocked down or knocked out, but this was not always the case. As a result, someone often ended up with broken bones or his
