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For four decades, the Hemann family name has been closely associated in Fort Dodge and throughout the Midwest with the martial arts. Bill Dutcher and Tom Hemann have launched a new business that should continue that tradition well into the future. On Feb. 6, they opened Hemann Tae Kwon Do at 2406 9 1/2 Ave. S. – the gymnasium of Youth Shelter Care, which is housed in a building that at one time was the Holy Rosary School.

Tom Hemann said the focus of the new enterprise is tae kwon do classes for people of all ages, but with a strong emphasis on serving families and young folks. He said he expects that many of the students will be in grade school, middle school or high school, but stressed that there will also be a large number of adults of varying skill levels in the classes.

“We’re not going to exclude anyone,” Hemann said.

One of the goals of the Hemann Tae Kwon Do is to create a welcoming environment for families. Dutcher said the nature of the classes makes it highly appropriate for a parent and child to participate in this activity together.

Keeping the classes priced to fit within family budgets is a priority at Hemann Tae Kwon Do.

“The biggest need is affordable lessons,” Dutcher said regarding the niche this business seeks to fill. “We’re making it more affordable for kids and families.”

There will be classes three nights per week – Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. A class for beginners is scheduled for 6 p.m. each day. An advanced class follows at 6:45 p.m. Hemann said students will have flexibility regarding the number of classes they attend each week, but can participate all three nights if they choose.

Dutcher, who is a sixth-degree black belt, and Hemann, who is a fifth-degree black belt, will be the principal instructors, but other experienced devotees of tae kwon do will also help with the instruction.

“We have black belts and higher ranking black belts who will assist us,” Hemann said.

Both Dutcher and Hemann said one attraction of this martial art is that it is appropriate for a wide spectrum of individuals.

“It’s fairly easy to learn,” Dutcher said. “Anybody can learn it.”

The classes aimed at beginners are designed to make it possible for people new to this activity to gain the knowledge and skills that will enable them to join the advanced class quickly.

“They have to learn some of the basics,” Dutcher said, noting that students usually move beyond the beginner stage in two to six weeks.

Why do tae kwon do?

People are attracted to tae kwon do for assorted reasons, but improving physical fitness and enhancing self-esteem are key goals for many students.

“This focuses on the average individual who is interested in learning self-defense,” Hemann said, explaining one reason people pursue tae kwon do.

Dutcher said that in addition to the physical benefits of exercise, including an increase in flexibility, there are other rewards that a commitment to tae kwon do can afford.

“It’s not just the physical, it’s the mental, too,” he said. It builds kids’ self-esteem.”

The philosophical tenets tae kwon do teaches, which Dutcher said are “courtesy, integrity, self-control, perseverance and indomitable spirit” have pertinence well beyond the gymnasium.

“This will carry over into school,” he said, reflecting on how these concepts particularly help young people evolve into better adults. “We want them to grow up and become good citizens.”

Both Dutcher and Hemann have studied and taught tae kwon do for decades. Hemann said it was a television show in the 1960s that initially sparked his interest.

“About 43 years ago – 1969 – an idea came to me about self-defense while in high school and watching the TV series show called ‘The Green Hornet’ co-starring Bruce Lee as Kato,” he said. “It was so interesting to see Bruce Lee perform. … I researched a paperback book and tried to learn on my own.”

He said he soon discovered that the YMCA offered tae kwon do classes and began what has proved a lifelong martial arts journey.

Grandmaster Jhoon Rhee, Father of Tae Kwon Do in America and a true martial art visionary, celebrated his 80th birthday at a gala given in his honor at the Caucus Room of  he U.S. Capitol.

The evening’s highlight was a demonstration of his martial arts skills to congressional members, the Korean Ambassador and a veritable who’s who of martial artists. Rhee migrated to this country after the Korean War and built a chain of schools in the U.S. and former Soviet Union.

Over 250 VIPs gathered on September 30th in the halls of the United States Congress to celebrate and honor the “Father of Tae Kwon Do in America,” Grandmaster Jhoon G. Rhee.

The evening was a grand celebration of Grandmaster Rhee’s 45 years as a pioneer in martial arts instruction and to honor his 80th birthday. The Caucus Room of the U.S. Capitol Cannon Office Building was packed with a veritable who’s who of VIPs in martial arts and politics including former representative Bob Livingston (R–LA), and Grandmasters Y.K. Kim and Jong Soo Park. Guests also included Walter Anderson, publisher of Parade magazine; William Cecil, president of the Biltmore Estate; and His Excellency Duk-Soo Han, the Korean Ambassador to the United States.

For four-and-a-half decades, three days a week, Grandmaster Rhee has driven to the U.S. Capitol before sunrise to instruct members of congress in the House Gymnasium. He has taught more than 350 lawmakers and administration officials promoting many of them to the rank of black belt, including Bob Livingston, Jesse Jackson Jr. (D–IL), Mike Espy (D–MS, former Secretary of Agriculture), Pete Hoekstra (R–MI), Carolyn Maloney (D–NY), Gene Taylor (D–MS), Nick Smith (R–MI), Bob Schaffer (R–CO), Howard Pollock (R–AK), Toby Roth (R–WI), Bob Borski (D–PA), James Jeffords (R–VT) and Gerry Sikorski (D–MN).

Grandmaster Rhee has trained some of the biggest names in the martial arts as well. Allen Steen was his first Black Belt in America and became the International Grand Champion at Ed Parker’s 1966 tournament in Long Beach. Pat Burleson earned the unofficial title  of the “grandfather of American sport karate,” after winning the first national championship at the 1964 tournament sponsored by Grandmaster Rhee. Jeff Smith, John and Pat Worley, Ishmael Robles, Keith Yates, John Chung, Dennis Brown, Joe Lewis, Joe Corley, Stephen Oliver and dozens of other pioneering martial artists were there to credit Grandmaster Rhee with inspiring them to further develop the arts in America. Besides well-known martial arts champions, Grandmaster Rhee has taught celebrities as diverse as Muhammad Ali (who credits the grandmaster with helping him develop his punches) and motivational guru Tony Robbins (who earned his Black Belt and acknowledged Rhee as someone who helped shaped his philosophy). Bruce Lee once said that Grandmaster Rhee refined his kicking abilities.

Grandmaster Rhee was one of the recipients of President George Bush’s “Points of Light” awards to outstanding contributors to American society. He was also named to the list of the Top American Immigrants and is the only Korean on that list. He has served on several national councils such as the National Council on Vocational Education and the President’s Council on Physical Fitness.

In fact, physical fitness has been one of the hallmarks of Jhoon Rhee’s career. He still does a thousand pushups and sit-ups a day and at the age of 80 can do full splits. Former representative Dick Swett (D–NH) commented that “Jhoon Rhee is like the humanoids on ‘The Event’ TV show—they don’t age and he is one of them!” Grandmaster Rhee demonstrated his 100 pushups in just 60 seconds at the September 30th gala, exceeding his own standard with 103. He also broke two boards with a front snap kick while balancing a full glass of water on top of his head. Grandmaster Rhee quipped that if he could balance that water perhaps Congress could balance the budget. Then turning serious, Rhee remembered his time in the Korean army during the Korean War in the 1950s. “I fought side by side with young American soldiers who came to defend my motherland, a land they had never seen before. That touched me, and I wanted to repay America.”

Rhee arrived at the airport in San Francisco in 1956 and he says he encountered a “wonderland.” He could not believe the prosperity in the United States. Grandmaster Rhee began teaching the Korean form of martial arts to help support himself as he went to the University of Texas. He was the first to teach what would become Tae Kwon Do in America. Grandmaster Rhee is also the father of musical martial arts forms, now a staple in all martial arts competitions, and the creator of the first foam-rubber sparring pads revolutionizing sport karate competition to cross over into the mainstream. For his contributions Black Belt Magazine named him one of the top ten most influential martial artists of the 20th century. Walter Anderson says Rhee is “one of the great people of the world.” Representative Ike Skelton, Chairman of the Armed Forces Committee, called Rhee “a national treasure.”

Grandmaster Rhee is currently promoting his new book, Trutopia: The Art of Happy Living, in which he lays out his lead-by-example philosophy. Summarizing the book, he said, “When I am truthful, my heart is beautiful; when my heart is beautiful, people love me; when people love me, I am happy.”

Grandmaster Rhee says it can be a new social awakening campaign for a peaceful global society in the Third Millennium. He says he will gather everyone together for another celebration on his 100th birthday.

Have you ever wished you could chop a plank of wood with your bare hand? You can. In fact, anyone has the ability, said Rodney Harrison.

Harrison, a 15-year-old sophomore at Cox Mill High School, has chopped enough blocks of wood in the 2 1/2years he’s studied karate to feed a fireplace for the winter.

“The secret is inner strength,” he said. “If you can capitalize and perfect your inner strength, you can do anything.”

Harrison has apparently done just that. In the short time he’s studied martial arts, he’s harnessed nine championship titles, including the North American Sport Karate Association’s 2011 Dixieland Nationals in Myrtle Beach where he beat a competitor two years older. (Opponents are usually matched by rank and age.)

It’s a little more than inner strength, though. Harrison trains four times a week for at least an hour each session at Allison American Karate Academy in Concord. That’s why he can tie a purple belt around himself after just a few years in the sport.

The quick pace probably also has something to do with boxing, the sport he took up in California before learning karate. Harrison was born in Statesville, but moved to California shortly after his first birthday.

When his family moved to Concord a few years ago, he couldn’t find a boxing academy, so he decided to switch to karate. The change clicked from the start.

“I’m not going to stop doing karate,” he said. “I was meant to do this.”

There are similarities between the sports, he said, but karate challenges him more. “In boxing, it’s a punch. In karate, it’s an elbow, knee, kick, punch – everything you have to look out for,” he said. “It’s more physically demanding than boxing.”

Both have taught him discipline, something that has benefited other aspects of his life. Harrison takes honors classes and consistently makes the honor roll at school.

That discipline also has kept him from using the skills he’s been taught in the wrong circumstances.

“Everybody, when they find out you do karate, they want to see what you know, or how tough you are, and some of them try to provoke you,” he said. “But you always have to remember, you can’t be provoked. You can’t give in to peer pressure. You can’t just fight. That’s unacceptable.”

Instead, he turns his energy toward helping others, one of the most important lessons he’s taken from his instructors.

On Saturdays he often helps run classes, teaching young karate students what he’s learned in the past few years. He hopes they will look at him as a role model.

“A lot of people these days, like boxers, football players, basketball players, don’t set a good example,” he said. “I think it’s neat that I can teach a lot of kids and share a lot of valuable lessons.”

The most important one he shares has helped him accomplish his goals, too:

“If you believe you can do it, no matter your pursuit, you will be able to do it.”