Jhoon Rhee

{{Infobox martial artist

| name = Jhoon Rhee

| other_names = Rhee Jhoon-goo

| image =

| image_size =

| caption =

| birth_date = {{birth date|1932|01|7|mf=yes}}

| birth_place = Asan, Chūseinan-dō, Korea, Empire of Japan
{{small|(present-day Asan, South Chungcheong Province, South Korea)}}

| residence = United States

| death_date = {{death date and age|2018|4|30|1932|01|7}}

| death_place = Arlington, Virginia, U.S.

| martial_art = Taekwondo, Jhoon-Rhee-style (founder)

Taekwondo (ITF-Style), Tang Soo Do (Chung Do Kwan), Jun Fan Gung Fu{{efn|name="Jun Fan"|Bruce Lee's system before 1967 / founding Jeet Kune Do.}}

| teacher = Nam Tae Hi,Kang, W. S., and Lee, K. M. (1999): [http://www.martialartsresource.com/anonftp/pub/the_dojang/digests/history.html The Modern History of TaeKwonDo] Retrieved on October 14, 2007. Bruce Lee{{efn|name="Bruce"|By exchange of martial arts knowledge}}{{cite journal | last = Nilsson | first = Thomas |date=May 1996 | title = With Bruce Lee: Taekwondo Pioneer Jhoon Rhee Recounts His 10-Year Friendship With the "Dragon" | journal = Black Belt Magazine | volume = 34 | issue = 5 | pages = 39–43 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=H9oDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA39 | access-date = November 19, 2009}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.jhoonrhee.com/bio7.html|title=Jhoon Rhee, Father of American Tae Kwon Do|website=www.jhoonrhee.com|access-date=May 1, 2019|archive-date=May 6, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190506223915/http://www.jhoonrhee.com/bio7.html|url-status=dead}}

| rank = 10th dan taekwondo (posthumously)

| students = Allen R. Steen, Rodney Batiste, Marina Kim, John Chung, Bruce Lee{{cite journal | last = Nilsson | first = Thomas |date=May 1996 | title = With Bruce Lee: Taekwondo Pioneer Jhoon Rhee Recounts His 10-Year Friendship With the "Dragon" | journal = Black Belt Magazine | volume = 34 | issue = 5 | pages = 39–43 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=H9oDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA39 | access-date = November 19, 2009}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.jhoonrhee.com/bio7.html|title=Jhoon Rhee, Father of American Tae Kwon Do|website=www.jhoonrhee.com|access-date=May 1, 2019|archive-date=May 6, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190506223915/http://www.jhoonrhee.com/bio7.html|url-status=dead}}

| url = {{URL|http://jhoonrheetkd.com/}}

}}

{{Infobox Korean name

|hangul = 이준구

|hanja = 李俊九 {{citation|url=http://shindonga.donga.com/docs/magazine/shin/2006/08/14/200608140500021/200608140500021_1.html|periodical=Donga Ilbo Magazine|date=August 14, 2006|access-date=October 8, 2011|title=5세에 송판 깨는 美 태권도 황제 이준구: "내 주먹은 바람, 내가 인정한 유일한 고수는 '싸움꾼' 이소룡"|author=조성식 [Jo Seongsik]}}

|mr = Yi Chun'gu

|rr = Yi Jun-gu

}}

Rhee Jhoon-goo ({{langx|ko|이준구}}; Hanja: 李俊九, January 7, 1932–April 30, 2018), commonly known as Jhoon Rhee, was a Korean-American taekwondo practitioner. He was widely recognized as the "father of American taekwondo" for introducing the Korean martial art to the United States when he immigrated in the 1950s.[http://theseoultimes.com/ST/?url=/ST/db/read.php?idx=1012 Grand Master Jhoon Rhee returns home to serve as Youngsan Univ.'s Chair Professor] The Seoul Times, September 2004. Retrieved on July 28, 2007.Kang, S.-W. (2008): [https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/special/2009/11/178_17108.html Taekwondo grandmaster lectures at Yonsei University] The Korea Times (January 10, 2008). Retrieved on January 26, 2010. He was a 10th-degree black belt and held the title of grandmaster.

Early life and education

Rhee was born on January 7, 1932, in Asan, Korea, during the period of Japanese occupation.{{Cite book|title=Notable Asian Americans|first=Helen|last=Zia|publisher=Gale Group|location=United States|year=1995|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780810396234/page/326 326]|isbn=0810396238|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780810396234/page/326}} He began training in the martial arts at age 13 in 1945 without his father's knowledge.[http://www.jhoonrhee.com/philosophy.html JhoonRhee.com: Philosophy] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713105220/http://www.jhoonrhee.com/philosophy.html |date=July 13, 2011 }} Retrieved on January 29, 2010. Rhee received martial arts training from Nam Tae Hi and graduated from the Chung Do Kwan school.Kang, W. S., and Lee, K. M. (1999): [http://www.martialartsresource.com/anonftp/pub/the_dojang/digests/history.html The Modern History of TaeKwonDo] Retrieved on October 14, 2007. While an officer in the Korean Army, he went to the U.S. to attend Southwest Texas State College in 1956, and later returned to attend Texas to attend the University of Texas-Austin for an engineering degree.{{Cite web |title=In 1956 Jhoon Rhee came to the U |url=https://www.abbahouston.com/texaskarate.html |access-date=October 13, 2023 |website=www.abbahouston.com}}

Career

During the 1960s, Rhee befriended Bruce Lee—a relationship from which they both benefited as martial artists.{{cite journal | last = Nilsson | first = Thomas |date=May 1996 | title = With Bruce Lee: Taekwondo Pioneer Jhoon Rhee Recounts His 10-Year Friendship With the "Dragon" | journal = Black Belt Magazine | volume = 34 | issue = 5 | pages = 39–43 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=H9oDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA39 | access-date = November 19, 2009}} Lee taught Rhee an extraordinarily fast punch considered almost impossible to block, something Rhee named the "accupunch". During his study in Texas, Rhee issued his first U.S.-awarded black belt to Pat Burleson and his first fully U.S.-trained student was Allen Steen, both of whom teamed up to set up the influential Southwest Black Belt Association (later the American Black Belt Association), resulting in many champions. Upon graduation from college, Rhee relocated to the East Coast and opened his first studio in the U.S. in 1962 in Washington, D.C., and over time expanded to 11 studios in the DC Metro area.

In 1973, Rhee made his only martial arts movie, When Taekwondo Strikes; he also had a small role in Fist of Fury.{{citation needed|date=May 2018}} In 1975, he met Muhammad Ali before the latter's Thrilla in Manila fight with Joe Frazier. Rhee demonstrated the accupunch to Ali, who was unable to block it and asked to be taught it. Rhee was Ali's head coach for the boxer's fights with Richard Dunn and Antonio Inoki.

In the mid-1980s, Rhee operated a network of 11 martial arts studios across the Washington, D.C., region.{{citation |last=Smith |first=Harrison |title=Jhoon Rhee, who helped popularize taekwondo in the United States, dies at 86 | newspaper=The Washington Post |date=May 1, 2018 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/jhoon-rhee-who-helped-popularize-taekwondo-in-the-united-states-dies-at-86/2018/05/01/db60f3da-4d45-11e8-af46-b1d6dc0d9bfe_story.html}} Rhee was well known in the D.C. area for a television commercial with a jingle by Nils Lofgren and Rhee's daughter uttering the catchphrase "Nobody bothers me," followed by his son saying "Nobody bothers me, either" and winking. {{cite news |last=Richards |first=Chris |date=February 17, 2012 |title=The surprising, rock source behind D.C.'s 'Nobody bothers me' TV jingle |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/the-surprising-hard-rock-source-behind-dcs-nobody-bothers-me-tv-jingle/2012/02/15/gIQAFzxdJR_story.html |newspaper=Washington Post |access-date=April 30, 2018}} In 2000, Rhee was the only Korean-American ranked among the 203 most recognized immigrants to the country by the National Immigrant Forum and Immigration and Naturalization Services.

Rhee was inducted into the Taekwondo Hall of Fame in 2007,[http://www.lacancha.com/tkdbanquet2006.html Taekwondo Hall of Fame 2007 Banquet] Retrieved on January 12, 2008. (Although the reference's address contains "2006," the event was actually held in 2007.) in which he is listed as both the pioneer of American taekwondo and taekwondo in Russia'.[http://www.lacancha.com/greatest.html Taekwondo Hall of Fame] Retrieved on January 12, 2008. Rhee is on Chang Keun Choi's list of taekwondo pioneers.Choi, C. K. (2007): [http://www.taekwondopioneers.com/pioneers.html Tae Kwon Do Pioneers] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080312111930/http://www.taekwondopioneers.com/pioneers.html |date=March 12, 2008 }} Retrieved on March 15, 2008.

Death

Rhee died on April 30, 2018, in Arlington, Virginia, at age 86.{{cite news|title=Grandmaster Jhoon Rhee, 'father of American taekwondo,' dies at 86|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/jhoon-rhee-father-american-taekwondo-dies-86-article-1.3964583|access-date=May 1, 2018|work=New York Daily News|agency=Associated Press|date=April 30, 2018}}{{cite news|last1=Wright|first1=Kimberly L.|title=Man credited with popularizing Taekwondo in US dies|url=http://www.fox19.com/story/38074799/man-credited-with-popularizing-taekwondo-in-us-dies|access-date=April 30, 2018|work=Fox 19|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180501093320/http://www.fox19.com/story/38074799/man-credited-with-popularizing-taekwondo-in-us-dies|archive-date=May 1, 2018|url-status=dead}}