A Legacy of Lies: Frank Dux and the Truth of his Lineage

When I began the journey to uncover the truth of Sam Lonewolf's lineage and how it was stolen by Gary Lee and Donald Miskel I never knew the road I was embarking upon would take me where I am at this moment. Within days of the first article's release I began to receive communications from various people across the country who knew of Lee, his Sports Karate Museum, or had received certificates from him or Miskel. Each told a story about how they were ranked in the system of Samuel Lonewolf who passed away in 2013.

Suddenly there came the phone calls across Facebook Messenger. Different members of the Black Dragon Fighting Society began calling me regularly wanting to know about their certificates in particular arts, the claims they had heard among the members they knew, and finally they came to the question of whether or not I was telling the truth about Lee and Miskel. You see for years since Sam Lonewolf's death Gary Lee had inserted himself into the place of "inheritor" of the system which Lonewolf taught. He did this so often and so much that the number of links you can find on it are almost too many to count. While these have been covered in other articles Samantha Lonewolf, Sam's daughter, came forward and took the two men to task.

Samantha Lonewolf has stated numerous times her father had no association with the Black Dragon Fighting Society and now Frank Dux has inserted himself into the investigation of Sam Lonewolf. 

On August 2nd, 2022 on Twitter Frank Dux stated the following in response to me:

 

It is time for some of these recent claims to be examined. Dux wanted my attention now he damn well has it.

All of it.

A Legacy of Lies: 

Frank Dux and the Truth of his Lineage

 

By Gerald J. Greysmith

Where To Start? Digging into Frank's Claims of Training

I think Frank Dux needs no introduction. At this point if you haven't at least heard of the film "Bloodsport," you apparently have been under a rock. 

Pictured here: not Frank Dux

Even now years after being debunked by various magazines, making most everyone around him despise him for his lies, and has alienated almost any legitimate martial arts practitioners who would have been allies he still contends that he was trained by the mysterious neighborhood ninja master. Dux spun out these tales so badly in his home to his friends that even his mother would often roll her eyes at him when he wasn't looking. 

It seems today Dux has altered his claims to fit a new era. He now claims to have knew and/or trained with the infamous John Keehan....or as he liked to be called "Count Juan Raphael Dante," or simply "The Count."

Various versions of this story exist. Some witnesses have said Dux claimed to them that he trained directly under Count Keehan at his Chicago Dojo. Others have stated they heard him say he merely knew Keehan. Yet other witnesses said Dux told them he trained under Keehan's students. 

Ashida Kim has maintained a collection of these stories over the years on his own website, and they seem to begin in 2009. One such story is as follows:

"....This is the Dim Mak, the Poison Hand, the Delayed Death Touch made famous by John Keehan, also known as Count Dante. Frank Dux knew him back in the day. He explained that Count Dante was the name John Keehan fought under in the Kumite and other underground matches of the period. Hanshi Dux was trained by Tiger Tanaka, but he learned the Dim Mak strike shown in Bloodsport where he breaks the bottom brick in a stack of seven from Grandmaster Lawrence Day, a personal student of --------------- and John Keehan in Chicago in the 1960s."

Dux would also claim to know former Karate fighter Victor Moore. Countless stories arise over the years of he and Moore having a very close relationship. In the link above he recounts an alleged statement by Moore telling him he was the best fighter ever. In this link Dux also recounts how he first heard of the Kumite through the BDFS and John Keehan. 

In an excerpt from it Dux states:

In this story Dux claims that he fought Victor Moore at the age of thirteen, met Lawrence Day the same...um, day....and was inducted at that time into the Black Dragon Fighting Society as the youngest member ever. If Dux's claim on this is correct it would roughly make the year around 1969.

One more article online tells still another variation on the tale. The writer, calling themself "Illmatical" discusses his findings here. It reads:

"When it came time to discuss the infamous “Kumite,” Dux said that the only reason he was invited to the underground tournament was due to his teacher, Tiger Tanaka, who was a former champion. He also intimated that when he went to the Kumite, he replaced Count Dante as a representative of America. According to Dux, Dante was too flamboyant or too controversial. The truth of the matter is Frank Dux co-opted Count Dante’s “Death Matches” story, and used elements of martial arts fantasy to create his fictional real-life story, which was portrayed in the movie Bloodsport."

Dux co-opted this? Could it be possible? It seems that over the course of the last decade or so has been riding on the coattails of a lot of stories that involved people other than him. And if you look across his many stories you can see Dux does have an issue with inserting himself into lineages and histories which he was never a part of. 

The Reality of the Claims

Honestly at this point the stories range from slight variations to completely different tellings. But the truth is a bit more simple. A gentleman named Floyd Webb has been working on a documentary about John Keehan for several years. Dux found out about this documentary and wanted to be in it. This would be roughly some years ago and we will need to talk about a couple of things leading up to that.

The fact is that by that time it appears Frank was having some issues with finding a niche. No one bought his ninja master shtick anymore as it had been debunked numerous times. What exactly during the mid-2000's could Frank use as an opportunity to restore some of his credibility which was slowly seeming to run out? Inserting himself into lives of martial artists who are long-deceased.

Webb is a man who has been on a mission for years. He has been working on a documentary covering the life and times of John Keehan. I spoke to him via Facebook Messenger beginning July 25th, 2022.

 

 

 

Webb was very clear about how Dux had inserted himself into the story surrounding Keehan when he spoke to me. According to Webb he first spoke to Dux in 2006 and he was NOT a member of the BDFS. But wait a second....Frank claimed in one article above that he was inducted by Laurence Day at the young age of thirteen....the youngest member ever invited into the BDFS! 

Webb notes as you can see above, Dux was NOT a member around 2006. Dux was only invited to functions because of the film, that film being Bloodsport most likely.

Emails from the Past

It was on August 2nd, 2022 that Dux would open against me on Twitter. I guess the fuss was over a video I had posted to my Tik Tok account. 

Frank saw the video I posted on Twitter and was immediate in his response:

 

Working the name of Sam Lonewolf into the dialogue was intentional. I wanted to see what he would say. 

So you're just going to stand there after all the shit Samantha and I gave

Gary Lee and Don Miskel about her dad's stuff and proudly state

you have her dad's knife? Have you folks no shame?

In one fell swoop he made it clear he, too, was involved in covering up a lie regarding Sam Lonewolf. He asserted he himself was friends with Lonewolf, had his knife....a knife that if it exists should be back in the hands of the family.

Let's see what Samantha Lonewolf had to say on that matter of Frank and her father:

"As for the Black Dragon Fighting Society, I believe you have the email from 2009. My Father told them through a Mr. Dukes that he wanted nothing to do with them. Quite frankly it was because of the lies that were permeating thru that organization. I have the emails that show my father’s disdain with what was going on. People claiming to have trained with others when they actually did not. My father wanted no part of them. As you have read he made it known and wanted it sent out to everyone in that organization. My father figured then that they might try and attempt to insert themselves into his. This is what led him to do what he did later with his system to protect it from being hijacked."

Samantha has made this clear before in another email I released for her in another article:

Oh, right. She kind of sent that to Gary Lee and Donald Miskel when they 

were found to have printed certificates with her dad's name on them.

I have another email from Sam Lonewolf here between he and Frank Dux:

“I am asking that you please forward this email to all Black Dragon Fighting Society Members. For more years than I could care to say and count, I have been an original

member of the "Black Dragon Fighting Society", and I will continue to wear the original emblem on my Gi. This something that none of you can say I can't.

I have know Hanshi Frank Dux for quite some time, and I am not happy with the way he is interpreting the history of Grandmaster John Keehan and Headmaster --------'s Black Dragon Fighting Society.

We were never of any Black Dragon Fighting Society from Japan and for Hanshi Dux to put it into the history of BDFS born in Chicago is totally wrong. And after reading the website you all have put together, it seem that Hanshi Dux wants it to be all about Him. And that is wrong. No original member of the BDFS, ever made it to look at me attitude and everything is written in Hanshi Frank Dux. History about the BDFS is not correct.  Therefore at this time, please understand that I am leaving the Original Black Dragon Fighting Society of Frank Dux on my own accord."

According to Samantha Lonewolf her father was tired of the way many members to include Dux were treating his friends and lying about training with John Keehan and others. With that clear, however, we have one more important piece of information we should release to everyone to see. It's an email regarding Frank Dux and several members of the BDFS.

It's dated from October 2008:

In an email from 2008 originally from Stoffel Van Vuuren we see the Black Dragon Fighting Society moving to coordinate how to insert Dux into Keehan's history. 

Why are they all rushing about trying to get their story straight in this email? What's the purpose? I thought if the stories added up Frank was there when these things took place. It matches up to Floyd Webb's statement and Floyd is the expert on John Keehan and his life. When I think about it there isn't even a picture of Keehan and Dux together at all.

Keehan and students, but no Frank Dux....

Even Lawrence Day's defenses for Dux would be suspect at this point but not for the reasons most think. See around this time Day was very sick as pointed out by his student Joe Cayer.

At this time in 2008 through the time of Day's passing I am going to assume he wasn't very healthy. This means it was possible Dux and others took advantage of this to insert his own persona into the stories as they stood....which he has done multiple times throughout his life. It stands to reason Frank has twisted this story around about his involvement with the BDFS, Keehan, and this casts a big shadow over Tanaka ever training Keehan, either. And personally I belong to the school of thought that Tanaka never existed in his life.

Tying Dux to Lonewolf

The email above from Stoffel Van Vuuren shows that the current members who run the Black Dragon Fighting Society actively worked together to get information into Frank Dux's hands for a documentary. It seems that in 2009 Sam Lonewolf confronted Frank Dux with his lies in an email presented above. This was the point at which Lonewolf turned his back on anyone he knew associated with the BDFS.

If Frank was there in all those years ago with Keehan why the need to join the BDFS in 2008? 

I wonder how many people helped him cover this up? Could many of the same ones who covered up the theft of Lonewolf's system also have had a hand in bolstering Frank Dux's involvement in the Black Dragon Fighting Society?

 

So, yeah....Miskel and Lee both have fake certificates in Lonewolf's system, 

you claim to have his knife, and  he's friends with them....

Going Ahead From Here

It seems we are just touching the edge of the stories revolving around Dux's claims to fame around John Keehan. For years he and several high ranking members of the BDFS have been hanging on for dear life with these stories as their lifeline.

It appears Dux has a lot riding on his claims to John Keehan. It ties a lot of his already infamous stories up into a fabricated history. They are now being found to involve themselves in legacies not of their own, and one mistake that has cost them is attaching themselves into Sam Lonewolf's history. 

I'll have you know this mask has only been worn by me, you hussy!

Dux's list of allies grows small now it seems. A lineup of the BDFS looks like a comedy troupe before any kind of fraternal order of martial brotherhood. This is based on lies and fabrications. 

Get out your quarters, everyone! You know you'd play it!

Frank Dux, in an effort to avoid any scrutiny claimed a friendship with a man who in 2009 called him out on his lies regarding Keehan. Frank Dux was not someone Lonewolf wanted to be associated with. 

Sam's own emails made this clear.

But hey, lies and more lies....I guess that's the ninja way, huh Frank? It seems to me that you and your associates didn't expect that after all these years Lonewolf would have the last word, huh?

Bummer.