Read Online Against All Odds: My Story by Chuck Norris, Abraham Norris, Ken Chuck, Chuck Ken; Norris Abraham, Ken Abraham - Free Book Online

tournament was the Internationals, held in Long Beach, California. It was the largest amateur karate tournament in the world, with more than three thousand fighters entered. I fought in the middleweight division and lost again.
    Rather than being dejected, I continued training with increased vigor, concentrating on my weak points: I had to improve my timing; I had to learn to close the space between my opponent and me more quickly; and I had to develop more confidence as a fighter. I also worked on perfecting some of the techniques I had learned in Korea, including the spinning back kick. I felt I could use it effectively in future contests because I could perform the move fairly well while it was still unfamiliar to many Americans.
    In May 1964, our second son, Eric, was born. I was thrilled with our new baby, but I was obsessed with winning a karate tournament. As soon as we brought Eric home from the hospital, I threw myself back into my training. A few days later I entered Tak Kubota's All-Stars Tournament in Los Angeles.
    In those days the point system for scoring varied according to the tournament and the region in which the match was held. In some matches the winner was the first contestant to score two points; in others the contestant who scored the most points in the allotted time won the match. In the All-Stars Tournament, a match lasted two minutes; the fighter with the most points at the end of that time was the winner. The Japanese judges, all senior black belts themselves, were stingy with points. Unless a technique was flawless, they usually awarded only a half point.
    I made it to the finals and was feeling quite confident until I learned that the man contending for the championship was Ron Marchini. An American who fought in the Japanese style, Ron stood about five foot nine inches tall, had a closely cropped batch of blonde hair, and was known as a strong, tough competitor.
    Our match began, and we approached each other cautiously, knowing that one careless move could cost the championship. Neither of us was able to score on the other until about halfway into the match, when Ron feinted a kick but unexpectedly followed through with a stepping punch that I attempted to block.
    Too late! His timing and control were superb. I could feel his knuckle prints on my solar plexus. Three of the side judges held out their white flags horizontally to signal a half point for Ron.
    The match restarted, and Ron began to fight defensively, holding onto his lead, as the time ticked away. I glanced at the clock and saw that just fifteen seconds remained. I attacked, grabbed Ron's gi , swept his feet out from under him, and punched him in the ribs. I followed up with a shuto (edge of the hand) chop to the neck just as the buzzer went off, signaling the end of the fight. Four judges held their red flags up vertically to indicate that I had scored an ippon (full point). I had won the championship by half a point!
    It was my first win and a high point in my life. The satisfaction of knowing that I had finally won a tournament increased my confidence and motivated me to continue competing. More importantly, as I had hoped, my increased visibility also increased the number of students wanting to learn karate in my schools.
    Next I set my sites on the California state title. I went to the tournament with twelve of my students, ranging from white belts to black belts. I won the Middleweight Championship with my spinning back kick, a move that was rapidly becoming my trademark and most effective weapon. But I lost the Grand Championship. Eleven of my twelve students won their matches, and the Norris School dominated the tournament!
    The matchups for the first fight are often determined by who is standing next to you, so before long, when other competitors saw the school patch on our gi , they would attempt to reposition themselves in the line to avoid having to fight a Norris student first. Our students took that as a compliment, and