Need a good accountant? Robert “Bob” Barnhart, owner of Barnhart Accounting in San Clemente, has been the official accountant of the Karate Institute of America for over thirty years. The reason? Bob is an excellent accountant, honest and personable. He does great work at a reasonable fee. If you need or are looking for a competent person to handle your tax needs, Bob Barnhart is a great choice. He’s easy to talk to and will give you excellent service. The KIA recommends him, so give him a call.

Our KIA feature of the week highlights another National Forms Champion who is also Founder and CEO of a very successful business enterprise.

Steve “Coyote” Vertun, Kiado-Ryu Black Belt #39, received his 1st Dan rating in December of 1995.

With a determined, relentless, never-give-up mindset, Coyote won the Brown Belt Forms Championship in 1993, a competitive circuit of thirteen major United States cities. Steve is one of four Karate Institute of America students to win a coveted national martial arts championship hosted by the North American Sports Karate Association (NASKA). The other three are Doug Krause, Steven Ho and Steve Maynock.

Here’s a wonderful flashback to the early 1980s and a Saturday morning KIA kids class with instructors Greg “Maddog” Bendel and Rose “Renegade” Hoberg. Rose became the 12th KIA Black Belt; Greg the 14th.

How cute these kids were! And they could never be tired out! The ages of these children were 5 to 7. Simply adorable.

A couple things of note:

1. This photo was taken at the main studio on the corner of Lambert and Aspen streets in Lake Forest.
2. Notice the blue bags on the floor. We still have them, although they’re quite worn. Real troopers.
3. The only Black Belts at the time were Steven “Widi” Ho and Jerry “Bones” Gentry, both 2nd Dans as is noticeable by the two red stripes on their Black Belts hanging above the mirror (Ho’s is the grey gi top in the foreground; Gentry’s the black gi top with the red bandana he used to wear). The KIA now has 64 Black Belts on its distinguished Wall. With an average of six years training time from white belt to Black Belt, one can appreciate how challenging it was and still is to ascend to the Black Belt level. It is an elite group, to be sure, representing 2% of all Karate Institute of America students throughout its continuing journey to date (March, 2016).

KIA Black Belts are diverse individuals. Mike “Shooter” Benedict is one such person. One of his hobbies is being a biker, and he’s placing that “Benedict focus” into a fun and healthy passion.

Shooter is the sixty-second Black Belt of the Karate Institute of America. He is also a second dan. His youngest son, Greg aka, “Earthquake,” is the fifty-ninth Black Belt of the KIA—another terrific father/son Black Belt duo.

What in the world is “A Black Belt Pinky Champion?” It is a rather interesting question, is it not? Well, the Karate Institute of America has its own one-of-a-kind Black Belt Pinky Champion?

He is Doug “Pinky” Krause, KIA Black Belt #48, who received his first dan rating on 1 February 1997, nineteen years ago!

Pinky’s National Championship was earned in 1993 on the North American Sport Karate Association (NASKA) circuit, which consisted of 13 cities in the United States hosting open, all comers tournaments. Mr. Krause won the Intermediate men’s open hand forms division.

The following quotation is from one of America’s greatest men, Dwight D. Eisenhower. It is highly germane to today’s environment. It is also important for millennial children to understand because America’s future will one day be in their hands.

If all that Americans want is security they can go to prison. They’ll have enough to eat, a bed and a roof over their heads. But if an American wants to preserve his dignity and his equality as a human being, he must not bow his neck to any dictatorial government.