A Look At The Man Himself

(This is a sample of the Old Days book I am trying to get together.)

In 1962 was my first meeting with Grand Master Woo, I went into his class but no one was there as it was in between classes so we talked a bit but he had no one to demonstrate the art so he brought out a projector and showed me films of his daughter Evelyn. She moved well and I was impressed with the efficiency of San Soo movement, he took me into the workout area and said to throw him a punch at him. I did and he moved in to my personal space as he short windmill blocked and his face was 8 inches from mine (I then knew he smoked cigars) taking my balance causing me to step backwards, he had me and I felt it, my life was on a new course with my new instructor. He was a flashy dresser who kept up with style, many old films show him teaching with Bell bottoms with a suit jacket and dress shoes, the next time he may have shorts, 2 strap shoulder t-shirt, and leather sandals it was hot in El Monte and all we had then was a couple of fans. He wore 3 large diamond rings, gold necklace with a one ounce ingot. In Chinese culture it is common for men to show the success by wearing valuable things. He also wore keys on his belt which indicated he owned rentals, which he did. You can see these things on many of the photos, even when he demonstrates showing a few techniques.

Funny early day story, When he wore his dress down clothes he wore a tubular coin changer on his belt (like ice cream drivers carried) because of his pop machine that probably only 20% of students could make it work. the coins had to go in just right. If if they needed change he would give it with his changer, if they could not make it work he would smile, shake his head and go do it. He had the weirdest brand which I have never seen to this day, it was good and hit the spot pineapple was my favorite. We worked out about 3 1/2 to 4 hours with maybe 2 pop breaks. He made good money on pop, his closet and back room had boxed stacks of it.

Many laugh at the old films at how lackadaisical he showed the lesson, that was not weak or lazy, it was his way of showing how only a small amount of movement could take someone down. He was a very complex person that you must understand it is not always what you think you see partly because he could not always explain and many did not learn to understand him. Even though he denied any relation to animal systems I do remember while doing a demonstration at his second teaching location, it was in a weight gym, We demoed on wood placed over a swimming pool, it had to be early 60’s. Evelyn was at the microphone explaining what San Soo was, her words about blocking were, “blocking resembles wing blockings of birds”. Above this article, I included a photo of how he dressed, look closely.

Ron Gatewood