Jesse Glover

{{Short description|American martial artist}}

{{Infobox martial artist

| name = Jesse Glover

| image =

| image_size =

| caption =

| birth_date = {{birth date|mf=yes|1935|10|15}}

| birth_place = Seattle, Washington

| death_date = {{death date and age|mf=yes|2012|6|27|1935|10|15}}

| death_place = Seattle, Washington

| martial_art = Non-Classical Kung-Fu and Judo

| teacher = Bruce Lee

| rank =

| students =

}}

Jesse Raymond Glover (October 15, 1935 – June 27, 2012) was an African-American martial artist. He was Bruce Lee's first student. He met Lee in 1959, as they both attended Edison Technical College{{cite web | url = http://www.jkdwednite.com/observingdif.htm | title = Observing The Differences Between Stages In The Evolution Of Bruce Lee's Martial Art |

author = Tackett, Tim | work = The Jeet Kune Do Wednesday Night Group | access-date = 2006-08-27 |year= 2004 | authorlink = Tim Tackett }} and practiced judo with Lee.{{cite book |title=The Dragon And The Tiger: Bruce Lee, The Oakland Years: The Untold Story of Jun Fan Gung-fu and James Yimm Lee |last=Campbell |first=Sid |author2=Greglon Lee |page=[https://archive.org/details/dragontigerbirth0000camp/page/69 69] |year=2005 |publisher=Frog Books |isbn=978-1-58394-118-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/dragontigerbirth0000camp/page/69 }} Glover was a psychology major{{Citation needed|date=January 2010}} and a champion judoka.{{cite book |title=Bruce Lee: Fighting Spirit |authorlink= |last=Thomas |first=Bruce |page=41 |year=2008 |publisher=Pan Macmillan |isbn=978-0-283-07066-2 }} The character Jerome Sprout in the 1993 film Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story was based on Glover.

Jesse started a Gung Fu class of his own and Leroy Garcia and James DeMile came along and assisted him, which was the first ever independent Jun Fan arts related class. Jesse Glover was not authorized to teach, though he did ask, but Bruce refused (Kung Fu Magazine, 1994, Jesse Glover interview). He has developed his own method which he calls Non-Classical GungFu.{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}}

Bruce Lee had his punching and closing speed measured with an electric timer at Glover's house. In the book "Bruce Lee - Between Wing Chun and JKD", Glover states, Lee could land a punch in around 5 hundredths of a second (0.05 second) from 3 feet away, and could close from 5 feet away in around 8 hundredths of a second (0.08 second). While Glover's own times from 3 feet were between 11 and 18 hundredths of a second (0.11 and 0.18 second). Closing from a distance like 5 feet they were in the low twenties (0.21–0.23).{{cite book|title=Bruce Lee Between Win Chun and Jeet Kune Do|first=Jesse R.|last=Glover|year=1976}} (pp. 53–54)

Glover lived in Seattle, Washington, and worked as an author and private martial arts instructor.{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}}

He died of cancer in June 2012.{{citation |last=Vaughn |first=Alexa |title=Jesse Glover, Bruce Lee's first student, dies at 77 | newspaper=Seattle Times |date=June 29, 2012 |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/jesse-glover-bruce-lees-first-student-dies-at-77/}}