Funeral & Family

It’s officially been one week since the Funeral of one of my teachers…Jesse Raymond Glover, Bruce Lee’s 1^st student & founder of Non-Classical Gung-Fu (NCGF), father figure, and friend to many.

I still feel a bit numb. 

It wasn’t till one of my “brothers” in NCGF, Mike C. read a poem that Jesse had wrote when I, like many, started tearing up. Here is a link to read Jesse’s words. Many others gave a short speech about what Jesse meant to them. And one of the great things that stand out in all those speeches is how generous and kind this man was…especially with his time. He was always willing to listen to everyone, and check up on people…as a friend would.

One shining example of this was when, at the funeral, I met a world-renowned teacher by the name of David Peterson. I was surprised to see him there, because I knew he lived on the other side of the world, and that Jesse had gotten a long with him; I just didn’t know that their relationship would be that strong that he would travel from so far, and for so long to be here. He told me how he really appreciated Jesse’s friendship, and how Jesse would call him up and check up on him especially when David had being going through some things in his life. David flew 36hrs to be at the funeral, and would have to endure that travel time again only to have to teach his class 2hrs after arriving home after this somber trip. That’s just one powerful example of what kind of impact Jesse had on people’s lives.

I sit here now, thinking about how thankful I am for Jesse, and how lucky, thankful & honored I am that he allowed me to be his student, even if not as long as I wish it could’ve been. Sijo James DeMile always said to me that if it weren’t for Jesse none of “us” – people in the Bruce Lee lineage, would be here. He got Bruce to teach him, which in turn gave many of the men who would make up the original group of students under Bruce the opportunity that they had to learn from him and share their interpretations with countless others; and for some, like DeMile, make a life altering change. That’s something that I can say for myself as well. If DeMile never had his chance thanks to Jesse’s actions, I wouldn’t have ever had a chance to learn what I have or even know who Jesse Glover was, or even get the chance to meet him!

Even more so, I’m thankful for how Jesse introduced me to many people who in the past year and ½ have become and still are very influential to me; especially Steve Smith, and all of Jesse’s students, my brothers & sisters in NCGF who I have trained with or am still meeting. In fact, even after this great man’s death “he’s introducing me” to people. I met another Bruce Lee Original student and friend Leroy Garcia for the first time. And the other day I went back to visit Jesse’s grave site to give my respects once again, and met Taky Kimura – another member of that special group of Original students; and many other world class teachers who mutually cared for Jesse.

I gotta say that I’m extremely thankful for meeting, making friends, and being a part of the group of people that make up Jesse’s personal students. These people embody what I’ve always envisioned martial artists to be; what I’ve only experienced in the close friendship I have with Ron Ogi & Sijo DeMile - that we are all just people. Sure we train in something that unites us, gives us a sense of protection, and helps us feel better about ourselves because we’re growing at something, but many people might have this horrible view of us as being “bad asses”. But what I love about my NCGF family is that they don’t carry themselves as most martial artists do. They don’t walk around like they’re the shit. They don’t perpetuate this attitude or energy that gives us martial artists a bad rap…the kind that is “don’t mess with me or I’ll kick your ass”. They don’t even do so in a joking manner. When I look at my NCGF brothers and sisters I realize how difficult it would be to pick them out in a crowd as being Gung-Fu people or martial artists in general. I’m not saying I’m super perceptive like Sherlock Holmes, or some special guy, but like me, it would be easy for you to pick out who the martial artists are in a crowd once you know what to look for. It’s like for these people, even though Gung-Fu is major part in their lives, it’s almost like an after thought in the sense that you can tell these people know that there’s more to life…there’s interaction…there’s FRIENDSHIP! The same things that were so evident in what made Jesse such a great teacher and person…his willingness to interact, and become a friend, or at the very least as caring as one.

So in FRIENDSHIP, I say thank you to Jesse Glover, thank you to the NCGF family! I hope I can be just as great as you all already are in Gung-Fu, and especially as a person, just like how you all ARE great people!