With Friends Like These (Part One) - The Blunder Chicken

"The Log in Your Eye"

by 

Gerald Greysmith

It has been an interesting week for me. Since before the release of my last article and for a few days after that our hotline has been a hotbed of activity. I had a personal conversation with Mr. Bret Gordon who claims to be the head of a system known as American Yoshinkan Aikijujutsu. Gordon reached out to myself and my associate Mr. Cayce Lancaster on July 9th, 2020 directly before the newest material was published. (It can be viewed here.) 

In that publishing I spoke directly about the claims made by Gordon's teacher and the man he states he inherited his system from, a Mr. Stephen Hatfield and specifically the Judo credentials which Hatfield himself had claimed with relation to Mr. Jack "Papasan" Stern. Stern was proven in a court of law to have given ranks in Judo and Yudo that were not officially sanctioned by a governing body of either artform as well as being an admitted fraud in relation to Stolen Valor. He was convicted of this due to his possession of a Medal of Honor. These were just some of the lies Stern passed off as truths which were debunked back many years ago and as I stated previously so I state again:

Any licensure or ranking given by Jack Stern is one which I would consider highly suspect.

It was during this phone call Gordon continued to state repeatedly that his system of American Yoshinkan Aikijujutsu was authentic, he had inherited it from Hatfield (himself claiming to be an inheritor of multiple systems and arts), and that anytime we wanted to view the evidence of his title and position we could come to Florida to see the proper documentation as well as pictures of the founder who he claims was named Hasake Yutashi.

So I suppose you may be wondering how I have found myself looking into him in the first place? The answer to that is he and Hatfield came to my attention from Gordon's own blog, a video to be precise, where Gordon called out many of his detractors. Sigh, it seems that Facebook groups such as BSMA catch a lot of hatred for the simple reason that it does it's job quite well. The frauds are found and revealed there often enough and despite popular belief I just host my own work there (stated this fact many times, to include articles and what I feel are quite funny memes.) But BSMA is a necessary thing in the martial arts community as it stands to bring to the attention of others those who would pervert the integrity of what we all hold dear...our martial training. Frauds by nature seek to defame those who put the work in to get better. Sadly as a result they often teach "skills" themselves to unsuspecting students who don't know better and deceive them. I've heard many a horror story of those who were defrauded by these con-artists and swindled for thousands of dollars and years of time from their lives to find the work they put in would never be recognized.

Gordon is no exception as his audacious claims to training caught the eye of critics very fast. He was called to task in order to prove his lineage and the founder's existence. However this was not his first run-in with such detractors. As early as 2008 he was called out on Bullshido for advertising himself as a 4th dan which was found to have been purchased through Kang Rhee's World Black Belt Bureau. The respondents on the thread there gave Gordon slack due to his age...a ripe sixteen years old. During our phone conversation he readily admitted to this instance and stated since then he felt he had grown as a martial artist and an adult.

Pictured above is one of several emails between myself and Gordon on 7/9/20

But prior to these emails and phone calls back and forth with him something just did not set well with me. It was at this point reading Gordon's personal blog I found an article which he claimed would lay bare the truth of Judo coach Barron Shepherd.

I am going to say that during our phone call I informed him myself and my team had reached out to Shepherd about the allegations which Gordon had claimed against him. Among these included the lack of a teacher in Judo, and what Gordon himself called suspect credentials in Kenpo Karate under a Mr. Sam Lonewolf. 

In both the email and the call I informed Gordon that sadly for all of his journalistic endeavors I was going to have to debunk it thoroughly as Shepherd had not only openly spoken to us by that time but he offered mountains of evidence to back up his training, his legitimacy and would finally put to rest the issues which Gordon had claimed against him.

This brings me to some simple, no-nonsense facts as they really are in regards to this issue. Gordon has embellished...no, that's not the word I'm seeking....Gordon outright lied about Shepherd.

And I think it's time to tell the truth.



Debunking Those Claims "One At A Time"

Gordon's own blog over at his USAMA site has an article dated 5/13/20 detailing what he claimed was a "well-researched" piece of work that would lay to bare the alleged fallacies in Barron Shepherd and his martial arts background.

And it's riddled with so many holes it appears to have been hit with buckshot.

One major issue I want to state before I even get going is that the entire thing seems to be a personal attack on Shepherd.

I'm not going to retread this part specifically because I have already proven the existence of Mr. Tucker in my last article. Gordon was nice enough to admit to this in an edit on this masterpiece of journalistic integrity:

Forty-seven people should probably come read this article.

Gordon said it best, let's take these claims one at a time, shall we?

The Winter Haven Judo club has not been just Shepherd's school as Gordon puts it. It has been a city
recreational program since 1973. Korean born Hoong Woo (Jack) Ro started the club in that year and he was present for Shepherd's black belt test in 1998. Terrell R. Tucker took over the program when Jack Ro retired. When Tucker decided to quit teaching at the city recreational program it was then that Shepherd took over from Tucker and started teaching Judo directly afterwards.

 

Shepherd (right) pictured with Tucker assisting instructing a class at the Winter Haven Judo Club.

To make this even simpler I used Google to search up Mr. Tucker despite the evidence given to me by Shepherd in Winter Haven, Florida. Not only does his name pop up in the search function but his construction company of which he is the executive director of appears as well. His personal contact information was easy enough to obtain on the web and matched perfectly what I was given by Shepherd in our discussions, which went nicely with all the photos and newspaper clippings he also was nice enough to provide that only served to further prove his side of the story here.

Always nice when you can see real evidence to back a claim, isn't it? All I had to do was ask.

Moving right along through the blog post here....

Well you see, Barron did indeed prove he was a member (again that pesky evidence.) First off you can NOT get a coaching certification if you weren't a current member in good standing with the USJA. Additionally Shepherd competed in the Sunshine State Games the year he received his Shodan and placed 2nd in his division. Oh, and you CAN NOT compete in that tournament or any FJI tournaments for that matter if you are NOT a member of one of the THREE recognized Judo Organizations. Kodokan cards do not count as membership to one of the these official organizations, either.

Another one of those searches on that little known site known as Google...again....gave me this link which showed the results of said tournament and verified Shepherd did compete and place that year.

Well  , Gordon...that's a lot of claims blown slap out of the water....

It is interesting to me that Gordon passed on all of Shepherd's current credentials and he picked a 1998 USJA Coaching Certificate and implied it was fake. I find it hard to believe that the USJA would have recently promoted Shepherd to Sandan and is a national level USJA coach if his credentials were indeed fake.

Totally not a Kodokan Membership Card.

Still totally not a Kodokan card.

That pesky Google strikes again! 

And with that, I think we can move from the Judo background of Mr. Shepherd and go right along into his previous Kenpo training which by the way he no longer teaches.

Funny enough Shepherd never claimed to have been a direct student of Paul Mills but he was affiliated with his organization the AKKI under Rick Brumby who was the owner of Premier Kenpo in St. Cloud, Florida. If anyone had bothered to contact a gentleman by the name of Joe Whelan he would have learned that Shepherd had left the IKKA and became involved in the AKKI.

A statement was provided to prove this which I procured weeks ago during my own investigation into Shepherd's background because typically journalists reach out to legitimate people who know something about the subject. Here it is in full detail:


JUNE 27, 2020
Mr. Barron Shephard

Dear Mr. Barron,

I am recalling how I came to know you as a Kenpo Instructor and friend.
In 2012, I moved to Winter Haven, Florida for work after the height of the
recession. Once there, my feet planted firmly in the ground with a good
job and a decent place to live, my next task was to find an American
Kenpo Karate instructor. I wanted to continue my Journey in the martial
art that I loved…

At my work place I found out that our safety director Terry Tucker was a
martial artist. I became friends with him because of comradery with our
work knowledge and martial artist.

I found out thru our friendship that Terry was a Judo Black Belt and had
ran the Winter Haven Judo Club since 1974… Terry knew a lot of the
martial arts schools in the Winter Haven area. Terry let me know that the
martial arts world was a small world in the Winter Haven, where many of
the high ranking instructors knew each other in the area in one way or
another.

After befriending Terry, I asked him if he knew of an American Kenpo
Instructor that maybe teaching privately since I could not find a Kenpo
school in any of the surrounding towns. Terry told me that he knew of a
Kenpo Black Belt by the name of Barron Shephard.

Terry told me that in all the years that he taught, he promoted very few
black belts in Judo. Terry stated that you were one of his most dedicated
and skilled judoka and “You” were his First Black Belt he ever promoted.
Terry told me that he knew you to be a high ranking Kenpo Black Belt.
Terry said he would contact you and let me know if you were accepting
any students to teach.

After Terry talked with you, he passed your phone number to me, so I
could call you.

When we had our first conversation, I let you know that I was a Kenpo
practitioner with the rank of senior brown belt. I let you know that I had
moved to Winter Haven and that the travel to my previous instructor was
too far for me to be able to continue to train for my Kenpo Black Belt.
You informed me that you were indeed an American Kenpo Black Belt
with the rank of 6th Degree. You informed me however, that you were now
studying Paul Mills AKKI Kenpo under an Instructor named Rick Brumby
and not continuing with ED Parker Kenpo at that time. I was interested in
what the difference was and you explained how there was a focus on
ballistic movement for a more practical use of Kenpo principles in real
fighting situations… I was extremely interested in continuing training, as
well as learning this new interesting form of Kenpo.

In the coming days after I introduced myself, you let me know that you
were going to start giving classes at the Winter Haven Recreational
Center and that I could continue my education there..

In that period of time Rick Brumby your AKKI Kenpo instructor came to
visit our School at the Winter Haven Recreational Center. He gave a
seminar on timing patterns and on how key they were to break free from
the stop and go motion that some Kenpo schools have instilled in the
more power based methods of execution.

I studied AKKI Kenpo with you for over a year and a half, until you
decided to change your focus back to Judo and continue the legacy of the
Winter Haven Judo Club.

For that year and a half period I trained with you, it was the first time in
my Kenpo Journey that an instructor was so focused on showing me that
Kenpo can work if you practice hard enough and have the mindset of
Combat.

After I left you to study with Mr. Brumby with your blessing, I decided to
move to St. Cloud. It was at that point that I continued my studies with Mr. Brumby with the
AKKI Curriculum and Paul Mills style of American Kenpo.
Mr. Brumby just retired from teaching the Paul Mills Style of Kenpo this
April 2020, just before the Covid 19 Pandemic. Under Mr. Brumby, I
achieved the rank of 3 rd degree Black Belt.


I am now training in Lake Mary with Mr. Friedman, Ed Parker American
Kenpo. I am training to finally achieve my Ed Parker American Kenpo
Black Belt I so Covet…

I hope this letter receives you well, and is able to help dissuade any false
claims of your skill, Kenpo Rank or abilities, and proves what I know
about you as such as skilled martial artist… I have had the pleasure to
learn Kenpo under several highly skilled instructors…

As a Kenpo Instructor, I hold you in very high regard…

Sincerely,

Josh Russo


(Note: I spoke to Mr. Russo on 7/17/20 and he confirmed this entire statement and spoke quite highly of Shepherd and his background.)

Gordon further states on his blog article regarding the allegations Shepherd was not trained in Kenpo:

Sorry Bret, I'm going to have to burst your bubble here as well. It seems you got all of these from old and now defunct websites and from there attempted to pass them off as something current despite Shepherd had shut his Kenpo program down several years ago. Shepherd did this to commit full-time teaching and training to Judo. Additionally, he also has not claimed his ranks in Kenpo since that time since he only teaches Judo today.

In a screencap in a message between Gordon and Shepherd in 2017 Gordon had reached out to him. It was apparent he knew Shepherd was not involved in Kenpo and was active in teaching combatives and Judo, even going to so far as to ask him to write articles for his USAMA blog.

But Gordon did claim to not have known Shepherd prior to writing this article, correct?

Oh...and yeah there are some major issues with Gordon's blog entry here as well. He claims to have contacted the Tracys and was informed Lonewolf was never a student. However, a search of Tracy's old website reveals Lonewolf was promoted to Rokudan (6th Degree) in 1990. In 2005 his name mysteriously disappears from the Tracy Kenpo Family Tree.

Below are links to compare.

2004 search link

2006 search link

It was also claimed Gordon spoke to Professor Gary Lee. You see, I called Gary Lee myself. It would seem he never heard of, never spoke to nor does he know anyone named Bret Gordon nor did he recollect anyone asking him about Shepherd. He also said while he didn't know Shepherd he did say Mr. Lonewolf had several black belt level students and he did not know all of them. Over the course of Mr. Lonewolf's career he had a school in Florida, another in Texas, and across other States during his martial career.

There honestly is no way to know who all was a student of or a black belt under Sam Lonewolf.

But you can prove that Shepherd is a black belt under Sam Lonewolf.

In an email from Sam Lonewolf dated November 2010 to Barron Shepherd we find something quite interesting.

Sam Lonewolf not only acknowledged Shepherd as a shihan in his Kenpo style, but named him as one of TWO Nidai Sokes of the system itself. This email went to several black belts in his system as well as several of his martial arts contemporaries.

#journalism

Finally Gordon goes for what I assume he thought was the final blow in this alleged work of journalistic integrity.

Ironically for Shepherd it was his friend Greg Duncan, the son of the late Ronald Duncan who informed him of Gordon's article. You see, Shepherd has been friends with the Duncan family for years and had a very close bond with Ronald Duncan up until his death. His son Greg speaks to Shepherd regularly and the whole family considers him a Way of the Winds member.

According to Shepherd after his accident there were only two people that reached out to him on regular basis. One was his Judo instructor and the other was Greg Duncan. Out of all of Shepherd's friends these were the only two who seemed genuinely concerned with his health and well-being.

Shepherd also wrote a memorial for the passing of Ronald Duncan.

 The memorial is still on display at his website to this very day.

I could not agree more, Mr. Gordon.

What about Yutashi-sensei?

So this Hasake Yutashi person Gordon claims taught Hatfield and his step-father, Sirbaugh in California...where is he? Well according to Gordon when he spoke to us Yutashi is no longer with us. Seems to be that no one who allegedly met him is alive either. This is quite the quandary trying to figure out anything about the man. Especially considering that according to Gordon that Yutashi had several names throughout his life.

I believe Gordon summed it up all nice and neatly in a video he put out on his website.

The original upload can be viewed here.

Gordon has claimed multiple times that his system's founder was a practitioner of Yoshinkan Aikido and Daito Ryu Aikijujutsu. He then goes on to say that he founded American Yoshinkan Aikijujutsu, then taught Hatfield and his step-father, Sirbaugh. From there he claims that Hatfield inherited the system upon Yutashi's passing and from there on out Hatfield eventually passed it on to him.

Description of his style on his website.

On a separate site, however, he describes Yutashi as having studied Yoshin Ryu Jujutsu and then Daito Ryu, and even Goju Ryu. Quoting Gordon's own words from his blog:

"Growing up, Yutashi sensei first studied Yoshin-Ryu Jujutsu. Yoshin-Ryu's origins as a Sengoku Jidai (Warring States Period) art left a strong impression on Yutashi sensei, emphasizing combative efficiency above all else. As he got older, Yutashi sensei began studying Daito Ryu Aiki Jujutsu under a man he knew as Tanemura Shiko of Daito Ryu Kodokai."

Wow, what a pedigree! So Yutashi was trained in Yoshinkan Aikido, Daito Ryu Aikijujutsu, and Goju Ryu Karate-Do. He was travelling between America and Japan, maintained a permanent home in California (where conveniently the Daito Ryu community exists today as it did in the 1970's.)

Additionally someone like this would have been known, right? Except as Gordon so promptly informed me that Yutashi had several names and he would not release any photos of the man for identification purposes but I was welcome to come see them at his dojo anytime I wanted.

It was also strange to me that I informed him on that call my plans to travel to Japan personally and visit the Yoshinkan Hombu as well as go see the Daito Ryu community in California was met with protest by Gordon. (Sadly due to Covid-19 travel restrictions a trip to Japan was not able to happen at this time.)

As for the offer to view the materials in Florida Gordon is not a neutral party in this matter, and that is not how research is done. Since he would not prove his side to me personally and allow third party translators to view his materials and verify them I would need other ways.

Thankfully emails exist. I emailed the Yoshinkan Hombu and several Yoshinkan practitioners in the States. I also emailed the Daito Ryu community but have yet to receive a response.

I did, however, get this email.

What's this you ask? Well I reached out via email to the Yoshinkan Aikido Hombu. Notorious for their record keeping and details they had never heard of Hasake Yutashi. Now, of course he probably had another name as Gordon stated. But if a Japanese man changed his name to anything would it not have been something that actually sounds like it would be from Japan?

As it states, the name doesn't sound Japanese. Even the contacts I made inside the Yoshinkan organization in researching the history of this alleged master seemed to giggle at the name. It sounded, as they said, like a bunch of random syllables put together to sound Japanese and as one stated to me, "to fool others who didn't know better."

I swear I've seen this trick before....

 

Oh, right.

So at this point the ONLY proof that this teacher Gordon claims existed is in his possession and he is not allowing anyone outside of his dojo to view it. And of course that is his right. But I can say that at this moment it isn't looking too well. Scrolls and Japanese-sounding names do not equal proof. My offers to verify them as well as offers made by others such as Lordus Sapiens stand today. But it is up to Gordon to take them.



Final Assessment

At this point I do not believe this Hasake Yutashi existed. I believe he is a fictional character created merely for the convenience for Gordon to be the headmaster of a style that began in my personal opinion with Hatfield. I do not believe that the system exists beyond them and without proof from them all we have seen thus far are excuses to not provide the evidence.

Additionally I present the past behaviors of Gordon. Ever since he was a teenager he has sought to be a master in his own right in the martial arts. But there exists evidence even in his teenage years he embellished and lied about his actual ranks. He told another Karate practitioner I am friends with some years ago in a Facebook group dedicated to the art that he was a Judan (10th Dan) and a Soke at that point. This was disturbing to the friend and he informed me that he never believed Gordon nor did anyone else in the group.

Finally coupling all of this with the "journalistic" wonder that was his article I have to say for certain unless absolute proof is offered there never was a man named Hasake Yutashi, either under that name or another. Maybe he is the conglomeration of various people Hatfield himself trained with or he may have been a random Japanese man who they knew and took pictures with. People have done much more than that with souvenir pictures. What I do know is that everything he stated against Shepherd was a falsehood and I do not believe he thought anyone would take the time or effort to research it thoroughly.

In his own words he informed me in one email dated July 9th, 2020 that everything regarding Shepherd's credentials was verified. They were not. He could have reached out to Shepherd at anytime.

With this I leave him no excuse at this point. What was the entire idea of this charade? Maybe to cast doubt on a legitimate practitioner for the sake of one's own ego? To possibly quieten someone he felt was a threat only to have the entire thing swapped around onto him?

All I can say is that Gordon has added more scrutiny upon himself from the larger martial arts community who now wait with anticipation at whatever evidence he can at last show to verify his famed teacher and lay to rest all concerns.

Sadly that day may be quite a long way away.