The Fable of the Sports Karate Museum - How Gary Lee Got Busted Stealing the Legacy of Sam Lonewolf

On May 1st, 2022 I received an email from Gary Lee regarding my previous article posted on April 28th, 2022. 

Dear Sir , 

I have no reason to live another man’s Legacy  , let alone Sam he was my friend , I missed him deeply , however out 

of respect  to his daughter,I have  no longer ties with anything todo with Sam Lonewolf..

I have my own dealings to deal with , had a major Stroke, cannot walk , I am sorry about the loss of Sam , however I am done , sir 

The accolades I have accomplished have been years of work as you researched me , you will see I have need to build on another man’s legacy 

Thank you 

I have never paid for any of these great honors and moments and stood my ground on the pay for fame thing going on in American martial arts even my expenses have been taken care at most of the events and each producer one by one is special in their own way,too,,,Osu

Very Honored , lucky Hawaii Boi

Professor Gary Lee ***Hawaiian Martial Arts
Who’s Who in the Martial Arts 1st edition 1982
Who’s Who in the Martial Arts 2nd edition
Okinawan Kobujutsu Association & Martial Arts Federation.
Historian Award 

Nominated 1997 “Competitor of the Year
Black Belt Magazine
NBL Texas Hall of Fame
AOK “Golden Greek” MVP Hall of Fame
World Martial Arts Association Hall of Fame
Universal Martial Arts Hall of Fame.

Nominated 1998 “Man of the Year
Black Belt Magazine
Hawaiian Martial Arts Hall of Fame
AFKA Martial Arts Hall of Fame
Masters Hall of Fame
Karate Masters Hall of Fame 

International Black Belt Hall of Fame
Black Dragon Fighting Society “The Gate Keeper Award”
Kumite Hall of Fame Scholarship fund
United States Black Belt Hall of Fame Historian Award
International Ryukyu Karatejutsu Research Society
Honor Roll
Martial Arts USA Alliance Hall of Fame 

All Pro Tae Kwon Do Hall of Fame
Who’s Who in the Martial Arts 2016 edition
AMAA Who’s Who Living Legends Award
Four Seasons Samurai Hall of Fame
Kenpo International Black Belt Hall of Fame
Who’s Who in the Martial Arts 2017 edition

Ed Parker's Hall of c Fame , 2020, Las Vegas trike ou ou

So of course I responded.

Mr. Lee,

I hate to hear you are in such bad health. My prayers for a speedy recovery. Allow me to be clear and up front that this is in no way meant to harm you, however you have made some very distressing claims to a lineage that you do not have a link to.

You stated you do not need to build on another man's legacy. Interesting. Then why is it that it seems the following things took place:

1) You claim to have inherited Sam Lonewolf's system, and you cannot deny this as there are many screenshots of this claim in my possession and others', when it turns out you and he were not friends according to the family. 

2) Lonewolf left two inheritors and neither are named Gary Lee. I have seen the document myself.

3) You are using Lonewolf's name and signatures on certificates which are being issued through you. Don Miskel has one as well.

4) You have in your possession items belonging to the Lonewolf family that his widow gave you on your claim to have been his friend. 

You need to return those items to Glenda and Samantha Lonewolf. I have not released everything as yet. But you have direct ties to several, shall we say, less than desirable folks in the martial arts world. This includes Frank Dux among others. You cannot sit there with a straight face and tell me you still plan to give him and others like him a place of honor in your museum/man-cave, can you?

Please set this right. My next articles are pending per your response. 

Give my regards to the rest of them and tell them I said straighten up. Folks are sick of fraudulent claims in the martial arts and this kind of thing causes people much distress if they spend money on it to have something worthless in return. 

Sincerely, 

Gerald Greysmith

One would honestly think at this point that Gary having been caught with his hand not only inside of but wedged inside the proverbial cookie jar would finally own up to how he tried to steal the legacy of Sam Lonewolf. 

It isn't like I can't substantiate my claims for this story (and others.)

But my friends that would most definitely not be the case at all. If it were, yours truly wouldn't have written a new article on the matter.

Cue dramatic music.

The Fable of the Sports Karate Museum 

How Gary Lee Got Busted for Stealing the

Legacy of Sam Lonewolf

In the last article I wrote about how Gary Lee managed to steal the entire legacy of Sam Lonewolf from his grieving widow and several years went by before the daughter of Lonewolf, Samantha, found out what had taken place.

And boy as you all remember she wasn't exactly thrilled. Taking Gary Lee to task on the matter Lee in turn brought into the dialogue one Donald Miskel of BDFS fame and together they attempted to make Samantha drop the case. 

Such as it is, however, she didn't. Instead through a series of emails it was proven that not only had Gary Lee took from her step-mother (after the funeral no less) Lonewolf's belt and gi top he had also obtained his chops, and a certificate it would appear. Through the use of modern technology Lee would begin giving out certificates with Lonewolf's signature on them. Why, he even gave himself one or two.

Probably this one here sporting a signature of Sam Lonewolf, the man he claimed to 

be best pals with yet never, ever met according to the family. Lonewolf's signature

can be seen clearly at the bottom left along with his chop.

Lee has always maintained that this was the wish of Lonewolf that he would inherit this system and carry it forth. That unfortunately for him is an outright lie and documents exist to prove otherwise. 

Additionally Lee has stated in various emails with Samantha herself which she has shared with me that he stated he wanted to place her father's uniform and belt on a mannequin inside his museum....which is at his house....in a remodeled room much like a man cave....and very less like a museum.

According to his archives on Google, this is the location of that fabled place, 

the Sports Karate Museum which is conveniently located at...Gary Lee's home?

And where would funding for such a grand vision come from? Why, dear readers, I'm so glad you asked. It seems Lee has maintained for years a very solid Go Fund Me just for his own legacy.

Looking through the comments one can see a lot of people very happy to donate to what they consider such a worthy cause. But despite this in order to operate such a prestigious organization or business as it were, doesn't one need to have it registered with the State of Texas and all the tax items up to snuff? Let's take a stroll over to Bizpedia real fast and get the skinny on that.....

Oh.

That's right my friends. It seems the Sports Karate Museum has no current tax-exemption status and is not operating under the current laws of Texas. Coincidentally it was filed just months prior to Lonewolf's death in 2013, but I assume that was a coincidence. But as it stands at this time the Sports Karate Museum is not operating as it should under the law. Now I welcome Lee to provide documentation that it was current at the time of this writing or, even more so offer that he has rectified that situation post haste and I will be glad to update everyone on that.

Moving Along

Now many people asked me after the last article came out why it was so important as to detail how and why he made off with the items belonging to Lonewolf. Well, mainly because according to many involved with Lee he was using the rank certificates with Lonewolf's name to make a few bucks on the side.

Boy the quality of these things appear to be worse as time goes on, don't they? But

they have Lonewolf's signature on them as well as his chop again....

so they have to be real. Gary Lee said so!

One major issue with these certificates right off the bat is that they have the signature of a man long past gone from this world. Why would anyone want to have Sam Lonewolf's signature on their certificate is beyond me. More so than that is the fact that Lee's claims of inheriting his system he doesn't even have the name correct on these things. To quote a recent video by a legitimate martial artist these are worth about as much as toilet paper.

But you all know how we here at Greysmith Investigations love evidence and eye-witness testimony. Our job is to tell the story we are presented with. And in the process of preparing this article I was introduced to a nice gentleman by the name of Randal McFarland. He came forward after my last write-up dropped and offered to present his own story, as well as that of his wife, and their encounters with Gary Lee. In an email dated April 30th, 2022, Randal told me his story.

Hello Gerald,

As promised, here is our story. I am going to have them in this one email as my wife told me I am much better with words than she is. The seizures have done some damage and she sometimes knows what she wants to say but can't come up with the word. The first one is mine.

I began training with Gary Lee around the middle of 2001. When I began training, he said he was teaching Okinawan Karate-do. He also included that he some of what he taught was from Kyokushin Karate (I have a Gi top he gave me with the Kyokushin patch on it). Not too much later we were told that he couldn't give out those patches anymore. According to him, he began the Living Legends events to bring a group of his high ranking black belt friends to be witnesses for his son's, Garrett, 1st degree black belt test. Garrett was 9 at the time and he had him fighting full grown adults and it was said that one of them sidekicked Garett into a wall. He was also running the museum at this time. There was no mention of Sam Lonewolf or Kosho Ryu Kempo at this time either.

I became suspicious when I went to find diagrams for the katas he was teaching, and continues to teach. I wanted them to help my daughters remember how the katas went. I could find nothing. I thought that maybe, with it not being a mainstream system, like Shotokan, that I just wouldn't find them. In December of 2007, I tested for my 2nd Dan and this is where I heard of Sam Lonewolf and Kosho Ryu Kempo. It was stated that we were going to be changing to this from Okinawan, which seemed odd to me at that time as well. The bunkai for those kata were called into question by a member of the panel. The man identified as Sam Lonewolf never said much during the test. He was there by himself, no wolves, no wife and no kids were with him. I would also like to point out that my student was testing for an Kyu rank and was put up against Garrett, being about the same age, and Garrett was allowed to make face contact with no control. My student's nose was cracked as a result, something he has not forgiven or forgotten to this day. This was before I found out that a lot of systems use the same katas with slight variations. It wasn't until I moved to Tucson and began training with a man named Ben Couch and showed him the katas I learned from Gary that I began to seriously question things. Ben is trained in Tae Kwon Do, Akido, Iaido, and Karate. He told me that he had never seen any kata like those and that they lacked real bunkai. I gave him the explanation of the katas given to me and he told me straight up "those would never work in a real fight." This was from between 2011 to 2014 that I lived in Tucson. I married my current wife in 2013.

We moved back to Houston because I got a job here. I remember I told my wife to not let me get involved with Gary Lee ever again. She tried. In fact, when Garett found out I was back in town he invited me to train with him at his new school in Anahuac. His main selling point to me was "Pops has nothing to do with this school. It's run how I want to." This was 2015. Three years later, I was involved with a health and wellness company called IDLife and wanted to set up a booth at a martial arts event. I knew the Living Legends event was coming up, so I contacted Gary to get a booth for my products. While there, I did mention to Garett that I wanted to see about being tested for my 3rd Dan. This could have been 2017, the date is on the certificate I sent you. It was during this time they stated that Sam Lonewolf had willed the system to Gary Lee and that it was to be passed down to Garett. I was aware that GM Lonewolf had passed at this time. There were several other people there that were high ranking black belts that did not question it, so I dismissed any thing that seemed off. I ended up being tested that night and when I got my certificate I thought it was odd that Sam Lonewolf's signature was still on it. From my understanding, once a system has been passed down the new Soke is to sign the certificates. I tested for my 4th Dan the following year but was awarded a different certificate. This was the event that he had me make copies of the rank certificates for.

Gary Lee has done many questionable things, so it does not surprise me he would do something like this. There have been times he has attempted to pass things off as something else, such as gold plated items as real gold or something that can be found on Walmart.com as being "from Japan." He has made a career of doing fraudulent things and has a reputation as a hustler and "used car salesman." For him, everything is about the sale, not if what he is selling is the real thing. He just wants to convince you that it is. As for me, I am a horrible salesperson. I was told by a used car dealership owner looking for salespeople that he couldn't use me because I was too honest. I don't find a use in lying because you will always be found out. Honesty is always the best policy.

 

Now I will give you my wife's story as she dictates it to me.

Sonya's story

The first time I ever met Gary Lee he was arrogant and a jerk. He didn't seem respectful of anybody. He would sit and bark orders to people, not just Randy. As I was sitting in the museum and walking around, I heard several people speaking about him; about how he was a tyrant and treated people badly. Some even called him a crook. He told me that Sam Lonewolf's style was who he represented and that it was gifted him, the organization that is. Being that I didn't know anything about karate, I thought that it was cool. He talked about people he knew that he inherited with the organization as students, none of which I know. I thought it was funny that Sam Lonewolf's signature was stamped on the certificate, I did not know that he had died. 

I remember that Gary Lee told me that he had been given permission by Sam Lonewolf to be giving out black belts under the Kosho Ryu Kempo style. By the time I realized he was a crook, we had already been doing events for him (running his "museum" booth, etc) for some time. The coup de gras came after he had his stroke and had an event in South Carolina, that we had to drive him there. Most of the people in attendance didn't even know who he was. He demanded that people do things for him, he never asked. It was "you're doing this" not "could you do this for me?" I actually watched him berate his own daughter, Robin Shockley, as she was doing her live interviews for her web show "Robin On The Go." He was throwing things at her and disrupting the interview she was it. It seriously upset her. After that, we cut ties with Gary, cutting all communication with him.

Randy again.

I would like to add that after my break with Mr. Lee, I reached out to Bruce Juchnik in Hawaii. He personally called me and I explained that I was interested in continuing in my studies with Kosho Ryu Kempo. I told him whoy instructor was and that he claimed to have inherited the style from Sam Lonewolf. GM Juchnik informed me that he knew who Sam Lonewolf was but had never heard of Gary Lee. That Sam Lonewolf was pretty much over the Nevada area and the guy in Texas was not Gary Lee. I don't remember who he said it was, but this also encouraged me to keep my distance and question the rank given under that.

According to another email with Randal it was made apparent that Gary Lee was charging fees for these ranks to the tune of around $100-$400 per certificate....with Lonewolf's chop and signature. 

Yes, just like this one here.

Up to this point Gary was claiming all along to Samantha Lonewolf and well, pretty much the entire world he was the inheritor of the Lonewolf style of Kempo. And he seemed to be pretty generous with rankings and even formulating what seems to now be a fake imposter to stand in for Lonewolf at a seminar in Texas during a year when, according to Lonewolf's widow, they weren't even in the Lonestar State at all.

Convenient, don't you think?

McFarland was even kind enough to provide us copies of his own certificates which we present here.

And wouldn't you know it?

Yes, that is Sam Lonewolf's signature.

Gary Lee Responds to Me

Seems by May 11th, 2022 Gary Lee wasn't happy with me calling his "museum" a man cave or even daring to look into these claims. 

My attitude is simple !I have done nothing wrong , when I WAS APPROACHED A FEW MONTHS AGO , EVERYTHING WAS DISPOSED OF , NO STORY HAS CHANGED, I HAVE NO MAN CAVE , I RECEIVED WHAT I DID HAVE FROM SAM PERSONALLY, DID NOT CHANGE ANYTHING , never sold any certificates, what he gave me is all been destroyed
I HAVE NOTHING OF SAM’S EXCEPT MEMORY 

Destroyed? Ever since January Lonewolf's daughter has been asking for her father's items to be returned. Nevermind an address to send them to was given to Lee about two weeks before this article was written. And if he and Lonewolf were, as he claimed such good friends why would he destroy these items? Samantha Lonewolf feels the same.

Currently at the time of this article those items have not been returned nor does the family expect them to be.

I wasn't the only person he sent such an email to, though. No, he sent one to Samantha Lonewolf as well. However she decided to answer it line by line.

Sent to her and forwarded with her answers in red, on the same day, May 11th, 2022:

I am going to respond to each pertinent statement line by line.

From: Gary Lee <sportkaratemuseum@icloud.com>
Date: Tue, May 10, 2022, 10:56 AM
Subject: Re: Subject dealing with Sam Lonewolf
To: Gerald J. Greysmith <gerald.g.greysmith@gmail.com>

Sir , I have nothing to with Frank Dux 

Sir , I had a personal relationship with Sam Lonewolf 

Yet he didnt attend my father's funeral service and only showed up days after his funeral and took items from my father's widow claiming he was going to put them in a museum. That never happened, there never was an actual museum, the items that he took ended up in his home.  

I have destroyed all that was given to me 

Gary Lee is telling you he destroyed the items of my father's that he took instead of returning them to his children and grand children. Don't you think someone who was such a good friend would want to make sure he got my father's stuff back to his family? Speaks volumes of his true character or should I say lack there of. 

Donsld Miskel had his own personal relationship with Sam 

Miskel sent me three emails in January claiming to have met my father in 2012. My father was unable to meet anyone in 2012. In Mr. Miskel's second email to me he admitted that he did not meet my father. 

Those certificates were given to me untouched by Sam 

The Linken and inventory list , his name has been removed 

He now has nothing to do with anything I do 

When he came for the seminars , he taught some techniques and that is what I meant by inheritance 

I dont think anyone interprets inheriting a system in this manner. He knows full well what using the word in inheritance would imply to most people. He is trying to make himself out to be more important than he really is. 

Other than technical technique I have inherited nothing.

How do you inherit a technique? He is saying here that if you go to a seminar and pick up a few techniques you can claim an inheritance to the entire system and even promote them in said system. His last words in the above line "I have inherited nothing" is entirely correct. Mr. Lee did not inherit ANYTHING and it is the only true statement he has made. 

I have no man cave , sir.  

Thank you, sir 

Wait a second here.....did  you catch what Gary said to Samantha on there?

Now hold on, because for almost a decade Lee has been swearing to everyone that he was the official inheritor of Lonewolf's system....

....and didn't he say he had nothing to do with the BDFS? Yet in this very post taken from his own social media in 2016 he proudly proclaims both of those very things.....

....but now states he inherited nothing....and in an email with me stated he had nothing to do with the BDFS.....

Way to go, Gary.

Oh my....this story is getting better by the moment....what could be next?