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GTKDA Black Belt Family Tree
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"Black Belt Family Tree" for GTKDA in Adobe® Acrobat® (PDF)
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The History of the GTKDA
The beginning of Greenbrier Tae Kwon Do Academy can be traced back to 1984 when Master John (Jack) Boehringer moved to Lewisburg from the Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas area and opened the very first Tae Kwon Do school in Greenbrier County. This school was called Greenbrier Karate Academy and was located on the 3rd floor of the old Masonic building on Court Street in Lewisburg.
In April of 1984 James (Jimmy) Morgan began his Tae Kwon Do training with Master Boehringer (then a 3rd Dan), after receiving Moo Duk Kwan Tang Soo Do training the year prior from two black belts of Master Sok Ho Kang of Charleston, WV who traveled to Lewisburg to teach. When Mr. Morgan began his training with Master Boehringer all of the hyungs, or forms, were taught the way they were originally designed by Gen. Choi Hong Hi. In 1985 Greenbrier Karate Academy became Bo's Tae Kwon Do Academy ("Bo's" was a reflection of Master Boehringer's last name) and then associated itself with the World Martial Arts Association, then headed by Grandmaster Sang Kyu Shim, 9th Dan. This association brought some changes to how some of the gup forms were performed. It was at the direction of Master Sang Kyu Shim that these changes in the forms take place.
On July 25, 1987 Mr. Morgan tested and successfully passed his 1st Dan examination by Master Boehringer making him the first person ever in Greenbrier County to attain the rank of Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do. The next 9 years saw Mr. Morgan attend college at West Virginia Institute of Technology (WV Tech) and also included a 4-year enlistment in the United States Army Infantry. While stationed in Pan Mun Jom, Korea, Mr. Morgan underwent Tae Kwon Do training from the local Master from nearby Munsan, South Korea. He was only known as "Master Moon", full name and exact rank are unknown. He spoke very limited English and his rank was believed to have been a 7th Dan. It was during his experience in Korea that Mr. Morgan truly began to understand the differences in TKD training in the Orient as compared to the United States. He got to do what very few TKD practitioners get to do - train in the homeland of Tae Kwon Do and experience its roots.
During Mr. Morgan's tenure in the US Army, Mr. Wayne Perkins, another black belt of Master Boehringer's, opened up the Lewisburg Martial Arts Club, having been teaching at other locations since 1991, at 113 Patrick Street, Fairlea, WV in 1995. Mr. Perkins' dojang was home of many dedicated and extremely talented students from Greenbrier, Monroe, and Pocahontas Counties. The LMAC grew and became a prominent name throughout the tri-County area. During the summer of 2000, Mr. Morgan met with Mr. Perkins to discuss his intentions of opening his own Tae Kwon Do school in the area. After several meetings it was decided that Mr. Morgan would take over the Lewisburg Martial Arts Club founded by Mr. Perkins. The proper transition activities took place and some remodeling of the building took place during the last week of September. Mr. Morgan changed the name of the school to Greenbrier Tae Kwon Do Academy in honor of the first Tae Kwon Do school in Greenbrier County, Greenbrier Karate Academy. The Greenbrier Tae Kwon Do Academy officially opened on October 3, 2000.
Greenbrier Tae Kwon Do Academy is an officially registered school with the United States Korean Martial Arts Federation (USKMAF) headed by Master J.R. West, 8th Dan Hapkido, of Jackson, Mississippi. Master Rich Hodder, 8th Dan Tae Kwon Do, presides over the Tae Kwon Do program of the USKMAF. Mr. Morgan works very closely with Master Hodder in all aspects of Tae Kwon Do and the USKMAF. The USKMAF can be visited at www.hapkido.com
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