Lee Keasler Shannon - The Straight Lead : the Core of Bruce Lees Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do

A B O U T T H E A U T H O R

Teri Tom, MS, RD, is a board member of the Bruce Lee Foundation and a certified Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do instructor under Ted Wong and, as of this writing, has spent over 1000 hours in private study with Sifu Wong. Teri is also a registered dietitian with a BA in communications studies from UCLA, a masters degree in nutritional science from California State University, Los Angeles, and a certificate in personal training from the National Academy of Sports Medicine. She specializes in sports nutrition and runs her practice out of the exclusive SportsClub/LA in West Los Angeles.

Special thanks to:

Shannon Lee Keasler and Concord Moon LP

Paul G. Hewitt

Lance Lobo and the Laureate Press

Ray Knecht for the photo shoot at the Sports Club/LA. You truly are
the finest sports and fitness club company in the world.

Richard Bustillo for allowing us to shoot photos at the IMB Academy

Denis Trantham at Westside Studio

And I am forever indebted to my A team:

Winnie Cheng, our photographer extraordinaire,
who saved the day with her camera and thoughtful eye.

John MacClean, a fine JKD instructor in his own right,
for posing for our instructional photos.

Bradford Akerman, my Mac guru.

Janice Parente, research expert and consigliere .
As with everything you touch, you have elevated the quality of this book.

Ted Wong, thank you for your time, your patience, and your good, good heart. No one has been more loyal to Bruce Lee. It is because of your integrity and persistence that his legacy will be preserved.

Wesley and Janice Tom. Youve supported me through thick and thin (a lot of thin!) and provided me with enough opportunities for several lifetimes. Thank you. None of this would have been possible without your love.

A P P E N D I X

A N I N T E R V I E W
W I T H T E D W O N G

T ed Wong is probably the only man, other than Bruce Lee himself, qualified to advise on the how-tos of the most advanced stages of JKD. As Bruce Lees personal Daytimers reveal, Wong was Bruce Lees private student from July 27, 1967 to October 14, 1971 and spent more time in private instruction with Bruce than any other individual. The Daytimers show the two had a minimum of 122 separate appointments together. Wong received Jeet Kune Do certification directly from Bruce Lee himself.

As M. Uyehara wrote in Bruce Lee: The Incomparable Fighter:

I still think Bruce considered Ted Wong as his protg before his death. Wong was his constant companion for the last few years. Besides working out on Wednesday nights, Wong also came to see Bruce on weekends. When Bruce needed a sparring partner, it was Wong he selected.

But records and testimonial aside, one need only observe Ted Wong demonstrate JKD techniques to see that no one else moves more like Bruce. That he is still performing those techniques with more skill, precision, and power than he did over three decades ago is a testament to the fundamental principles of Jeet Kune Do.

Could you explain how Bruce came to look into boxing and fencing literature as influences on JKD?

I dont know exactly when he started to look into Dempsey and Nadi. Back in 1963 he had an altercation with the kung fu artist from China. That was the birth of Jeet Kune Do. He realized that what he had learned was not that functional. A fight that should have taken a few seconds took him three minutes to finish. After that he realized he was not really in shape and started to look for a way to condition himself. And it forced him to think outside the box. I would say thats the birth of Jeet Kune Do. That one incident caused him to look elsewhere and forced him to look into a better way to train. I think he looked into boxing before that, but he really looked into boxing and fencing as a way to educate himself.

Did he mention Driscoll and Dempsey while you were training with him?

I remember he showed me a picture of Jim Driscoll. (See Figure 121.) I didnt even know who Driscoll was, but he looked into Driscolls books, I would say, around 1968. I was at his home and he mentioned Driscoll. According to boxing historians, he threw the purest, straightest lead hand. He knocked people out with the jab. I think because of the structure, his alignment. When he threw a punch, he really transferred all the weight into it. No boxer has thrown a punch like that. Bruce showed me the picture of Driscoll and said you turn sideways and line up like this to throw the lead punch. You know, no boxing jab is thrown like that now. Its always squared off. Driscoll really gave him the idea of how to throw the lead hand. Wing Chun doesnt throw that way. Boxing doesnt throw that way. So Driscoll gave him the idea of how to utilize the lead hand. And also fencing. I would not say the lead hand came from only Driscoll, or only Dempsey, or only fencing, but the thoughtthe ideascame from them. And even in boxing, they do not really tell you the mechanics the weight distribution, the structure. How you structure your stance determines how you deliver your punch. The structure of Jeet Kune Do, the stance, is more like a fencers stance. So, when you deliver the front hand, its more like a sword thrust. All the movement and mobility, the tactics, how to bridge the gap, the speed, how to deliver the lead punch, the strategy all come from fencing.

Did he mention Nadi to you?

No.

How did you know to go to him?

In his library, I noticed On Fencing was here. Later on, I traced some of Bruce Lees notes to it. A lot of the Tao is notes that come from boxing and fencing. You can trace the notessome even word for word from certain books. Like Nadis book, Dempsey, a lot from Haislet. Later on, when I started to collect boxing books, I knew that he had copies of these books, too. So by reading them and comparing notes, little by little, I realized where things were coming from. There are a lot of things coming from other books, too not just Haislet.

Figure 120: Bruce Lee and Ted Wong ( Linda Lee Cadwell).

Figure 121: The picture that Bruce Lee showed Ted Wong to illustrate straight punching. According to Wong, Lee pointed to this photo and said, You throw the straight lead like this.

In the Tao, theres a lot of Castello. Is there a lot of Castello in the straight lead?

Yeah, the way he delivered the lead hand. Very few boxers delivered the lead hand like Dempsey. Dempsey would talk about the thumbs up. And the way Driscoll threw the straight is very much like the way [Bruce] would deliver the lead hand.

During the time that he was working with you, did he mention Dempsey?

He mentioned Dempsey, different boxers, the old timers. In fact, sometimes he would ask me if I knew of certain boxers from the 40s through the 60s like Sugar Ray Robinson and Rocky Marciano, Jack Johnson. Even before I took up martial arts, boxing was one of my interests. I didnt practice it, but I read a lot about it. Id read Marcianos book. I bought every issue of Ring Magazine. So, when Bruce would ask me if I knew of certain boxers, I would know, so he was kind of surprised. Thats why he opened up to me when discussing boxing.