Keith Yates
Grandmaster Keith D. Yates, 10th Dan
AKBBA High Dan Board
Grandmaster Keith D. Yates is recognized as one of the nation's leading authorities on the martial arts. He has written over three hundred magazine articles for numerous publications including "Sports and Fitness," " Black Belt Magazine," and "Inside Kung Fu." He has been a regular monthly columnist for "Inside Karate," "Inside TaeKwonDo," "Martial Arts Combat and Sports," and "Martial Arts Professional."
He contributed the chapter on karate for Prentice Hall's sixth edition of the Physical Education Handbook, a widely used text in colleges and universities. His book, the Complete Book of Tae Kwon Do Forms, is considered a classic reference text and is now in its fourteenth printing and is sold all over the world. Warrior Secrets: A Handbook of the Martial Arts, has been assigned reading in several college martial arts courses. Other books include Your Self-Defense Weapons, Just for Kicks: The Art of Fighting with Your Feet, Your Body: The Ultimate Lethal Weapon, Tae Kwon Do Basics and Tae Kwon Do for Kids. Grandmaster Yates also co-authoried the popular Complete Idiot's Guide to Tae Kwon Do.
His two-part article on Tae Kwon Do in America, appearing in both the "Fighter International," and "Inside Tae Kwon Do" magazine has become one of the most widely referenced historical accounts of this Korean martial art in the USA.
He has been featured in numerous articles in both martial arts publications and in the "secular" press such as the Sunday magazine supplement and the "High Profile" sections of the Dallas Morning News. Grandmaster Yates has been featured in television stories on both channel 5 (NBC) and Channel 8 (ABC) in the Dallas area and he has served as a guest on both cable TV and radio talk shows.
In 1991 he produced the video documentary, " A History of Korean Karate in America." This two-part video has received rave reviews in the martial arts publications and is distributed world-wide by the nation's largest martial arts supply company.
He was voted into the 1992 edition of "Who's Who in the South and Southwest", a honor that goes with his place in the Third Edition of "who's Who in American martial Arts." In 1997 Grandmaster Yates was in the first class of inductees into the Texas Martial arts Hall of Fame. In 1998 he was in the first class of the American Council on Martial Arts national instructor certification training program.
Starting his Tae Kwon Do (Korean Karate) training in 1965 at the age of 14, Grandmaster Yates became one of the youngest black belts in the country when he earned his rank at age 17 from former world champion Allen R. Steen, "the Father of Texas Karate." He soon established a reputation as one of the top kata (forms) practitioners in the Southwest. Grandmaster Yates also trained with a number of other famous karate masters, most notably Skipper Mullins, a perennial top ten fighter. After his own successful tournament career (winning the state championship in 1971) he embarked on a study of other martial arts. He has trained in several styles earning a 1st degree black belt in Japanese Ju-Jitsu and a 2nd degree black belt in Okinawan Kobudo (the art of ancient oriental weapons).
Grandmaster Yates began the first college "karate for credit" program in the southwest in 1972 at Southern Methodist University. He served as an adjunct professor at SMU for seven years in both the Physical Education and Communications Departments. Recognized as an outstanding instructor and innovator he is in frequent demand nationally as a seminar leader and teacher.
Grandmaster Yates is the Kwan Jang Nim (founder and headmaster) of the Nam Seo Kwan (School of the Southwest) martial arts system. He is also the founder and president ot the American Karate and Tae Kwon Do Organization (established in 1976), which is a Dantai affiliate (Organization member) of the American Karate Black Belt Association-Chin Sook Hage Kwan. Grandmaster Yates also serves on the Board of Directors of the Fellowship of Christian Martial Artists, and as the Southwest regional representative of the Gospel Martial Arts Union. He did his master's thesis at Dallas Theological Seminary on the "Spiritual Aspects of the Martial Arts."
Grandmaster Yates was a member of the original Southwest Karate Black Belt Association from it's earliest years. He was also a member of the Board of Directors of the original American Karate Black Belt Association and was the designer of it's original red, white, and blue shield emblem from which the current emblem is derived. He created the original lineage chart of the Allen Steen Black Belt line which was published in Black Belt Magazine as "The House that Steen Built." It was this chart that inspired our current efforts to create a complete lineage chart of all Black Belts descending from Grandmaster Jhoon Rhee through Grandmaster Allen Steen.
It's been many years, and many miles, but the High Dan Board and the American Karate Black Belt Association-Chin Sook Hage Kwan is proud to again have such an accomplished member of the original Allen Steen class of Black Belts as a High Dan Board member and Dantai affiliate of the Association. Welcome Home Grandmaster Yates.
