1. Gordon Doversola was an American martial arts expert who specialized in the Okinawa-te school of Karate.
11 Facts About Gordon Doversola
1. 2.
Gordon Doversola's family was of Hawaiian, Chinese, and Filipino origin, and he retained a strong sense of his cultures.
3.
Gordon Doversola started to train in jujutsu under Seshiro Okazaki in Danzan Ryu when he was eleven, and then was taught kenpo by Sijo Adriano Emperado, Joe Emperado along with Woodrow McCandless at the Palama Settlement.
4.
In reality, Gordon Doversola created Okinawa-te as an effective and aggressive street fighting art that combined techniques from other martial arts he studied.
5.
Gordon Doversola was one of a number of karate instructors who began teaching in the 1950s, some of whom had learned while posted to Okinawa or Japan by the army.
6.
Gordon Doversola moved to Los Angeles in 1957, where he opened one of the city's first karate dojos and taught Okinawa-te karate.
7.
Gordon Doversola taught the martial artist Joe Lewis and actor Martin Kove, who earned a black belt.
8.
The cover of the 15th issue of Black Belt had a photograph of Gordon Doversola executing a flying side kick in an Okinawa-te demonstration.
9.
In 1962 Gordon Doversola coordinated the stunts and trained Frank Sinatra for the film The Manchurian Candidate.
10.
Gordon Doversola taught karate moves to Anne Francis for four months before production started on Honey West.
11.
Gordon Doversola died on 19 April 2011 at the age of 76 from complications resulting from a stroke and diabetes.