Profile - Mr Steve Pellow

by Mark Banicevich, IV dan
Papakura

Mr Pellow probably has the most interesting training history of any ITFNZ instructor. It shows in his qualifications: V dan ITF Taekwon-Do, I dan Aikido, and instructor of Balintawak and kickboxing.

My first memory of Mr Pellow is from a seminar with General Choi Hong Hi in 1991. He was a 3rd dan black belt with funny techniques; one of those Lim’s instructors. Indeed, his most embarrassing Taekwon-Do moment was having General Choi pull one of his patterns to bits at that seminar, with his old friend Paul McPhail looking on in obvious amusement.

I also remember training for my first degree. Twice a week with Mr McPhail, and twice a week with Mr Pellow to toughen me up. Sparring sessions in a small hall at the back of Papakura, full to capacity with eight red and black belts. Pummelling each other. We hear a thump, and see Graeme Fleming raise himself from the floor. Mr Pellow (his opponent) stops the class and says, “Never duck a back kick. They’re usually middle. Carry on.” (The back piercing kick is Mr Pellow’s favourite foot technique. Moving forwards, of course. As Mr Pellow says, “Is there any other way?” His favourite hand technique is the knifehand guarding block, as anyone who has been to one of his self defence seminars might guess.)

To Mr Pellow, martial arts are all about self defence. Around 1993, he told me his goal is to ensure that his students can defend themselves if they are attacked, and he gave a recent successful example of one of his female students. It is this intent that drove him to ensure ITFNZ introduced a realistic self defence syllabus to grade to 1st dan, which we did in 1993.

His techniques are realistic – he is one of the most dangerous men I know. Fortunately, he is also one of the nicest.

Mr Pellow’s interest in the martial arts began as a kid watching David Carridine in the 1960s TV series “Kung Fu”. In 1980, Mr Pellow visited an old friend in Sydney, Kevin West. He accompanied his friend to a Taekwon-Do class near the Central Railway Station. A session watching that, and Mr Pellow wanted to join.

	Mr Pellow as a green student, with Kevin West in 1981

Six weeks later, Mr Pellow wore his dobok for the first time at his first grading. It was held at the Otahuhu dojang of Tere Maorikava. He was greeted by a smiling new 1st dan named Rocky Rounthwaite. Mr Pellow also saw the first blue belts he had seen: Mark Rounthwaite, Rua Kaiou, and Gavin Ryan (Alan Gillon’s first instructor). Mr Pellow stood in the front line, right in front of Master Yun. He performed saju jirugi and Chon-Ji without error, and passed his yellow belt.

At green belt, Mr Pellow was teaching. He desperately wanted to learn more, so he went along with a friend to a self defence course at night school. It turned out to be a karate class, taught by a 1st dan named Royce Lane. Classes consisted of kicks, punches and a hundred miles of line work – as if to weed out the weak. “I get paid by the government the same amount of money. It doesn’t matter to me if there are two of you or two hundred.”

Mr Lane also offered private tuition on Saturdays for $5, and Mr Pellow became a regular at these tiring sessions. It was ironic to have the tenets of Taekwon-Do hammered home by a karate instructor! (Incidentally, Mr Lane was shot in the head while working as a bodyguard in Hong Kong a few years ago. Mr Pellow says, “Royce being Royce, it failed to kill him” – he is still alive and well.)

By late 1982, Mr Pellow was a red belt, but not of today’s standard. The club split from Master Yun when he was red stripe. The club was discontent, but there wasn’t really anything else around.

Mr Pellow’s martial arts career changed dramatically when he happened to meet Thomas Tamakore, a black sash in Kung Fu under Henry Gibson, 2nd dan in Taekwon-Do with Master Rhee, and a boxer. Mr Tamakore was 170cm, quietly spoken, with skill and knowledge Mr Pellow hadn’t seen, and the speed, flexibility and cat-like agility of a 70kg athlete – except he was 120kg! He loved demonstrations, and Mr Pellow performed many with him. Ask Mr Pellow about Mr Tamakore’s favourite break – it’s amazing!

Mr Tamakore’s favourite saying was, “I teach for reality.” His philosophy: the colour of a belt means nothing – merely a way to hold up one’s trousers. Mr Pellow says, “The skill, methods and attitude Thomas taught me are with me in every class I teach to this day.” Soon after Mr Pellow transferred to his Mangere club, Mr Tamakore opened clubs at Greenmeadows, and later Papakura.

Mr Tamakore split from Master Rhee and conducted his own, formal and ceremonious, gradings. In March 1983, Mr Pellow regraded to blue belt, and he was happier a good blue belt than a poor red belt. The grading included a surprise break – Mr Pellow’s first. A three board reverse turning kick! The second attempt was successful. Mr Tamakore liked to put his students on the spot to see how they would react – something Mr Pellow vowed to do to others as soon as he had
the chance.

In January 1984, Mr Pellow attended a weeklong Wing Chun Kung Fu training camp in Australia, run by William Cheung. (Mr Pellow was so impressed, he attended again in 1985, 1986 and 1987. In 1986, Mr Pellow attended a second week of Escrima, Muay Thai and Jeet Kune Do with Dan Inosanto – Bruce Lee’s most senior student!)

Mr Pellow and one other student graded to 1st dan on 12 June 1984 under a panel of Mr Tamakore, John Jarvis (a New Zealand pioneer of judo and karate), and Kevin Tisch (a 3rd dan student of Willie Lim). It was a long hard night of everything Taekwon-Do.

In October 1984, Mr Tamakore was involved in a car accident. He retired from Taekwon-Do and returned to Australia, leaving Mr Pellow to teach the clubs at Greenmeadows and Papakura. In 1985, “The Karate Kid” hit cinemas, and every martial arts club in the country had students queued down the street and around the corner. Mr Pellow contacted Mr Tisch for help, and Mr Tisch gave him a letter of introduction to Willie Lim.

Mr Pellow travelled with a group to train with Mr Lim in Hamilton every Saturday. There were often over 20 instructors and black belts, plus gup students, at each training. Classes were hard – old school. No sine wave, but effective. Mr Pellow has fond memories of them.

Mr Pellow with Bill “Superfoot” Wallace	Mr Pellow with William Cheung (centre) and Willie Lim	Alan Tromp, Mr Pellow, Bobby Taboada and Alan Gillon

Mr Lim’s open minded approach to training made it a highlight of Mr Pellow’s Taekwon-Do career. He gave Mr Pellow the opportunity to find his own truth, and to train with many martial arts legends of the 1970s and 1980s, about whom they were reading in magazines: William Cheung (Wing Chun kung fu), Bill “Superfoot” Wallace (kickboxing), Benny “The Jet” Urquidez (kickboxing), Fumio Demuria (7th dan, karate), Remy Presas (modern Arnis), Professor Wally Jay (10th dan, small circle jujutsu), George Dillman (8th dan, karate), and Kwang Jo Choi (8th dan, Mr Lim’s instructor). Neither were these one off experiences; Mr Pellow trained with Wally Jay and George Dillman in eight or more seminars each over a four year period. Mr Lim called this “investing in yourself”.

This may seem haphazard – training in so many styles – but many of these legends trained together (although many were masters in their own right), and their seminars complemented each other. For example, William Cheung was a boyhood friend of Bruce Lee, and Wally Jay trained extensively with Bruce Lee’s student Dan Inosanto, and together with Remy Presas and George Dillman.

In 1987, Mr Lim introduced Mr Pellow to Balintawak instructor Bobby Taboada, who grunted, “You come next week.” The class followed Mr Lim’s Taekwon-Do class, and lasted anything from 45 minutes to two hours. In his limited English,
he would say, “defence faster”, and tap students with his stick. If a student was still too slow, he would “tap harder”. He was pleased when he weeded the class down to three or four students, at which point he warmed up a bit. After class, Mr Taboada would walk away without saying a word.

Mr Taboada reminded Mr Pellow of Mr Tamakore: big, fast and very powerful, with a flamboyant manner and attitude. Four years later, Mr Lim and Mr Taboada moved to the USA.

In January 1989, Master Chai Sirisute (President of the US Thai Boxing Association) gave his first Muay Thai seminar in New Zealand. Dan Inosanto had spoken highly of Master Chai, so Mr Pellow couldn’t stay away. Mr Pellow has trained with Master Chai on numerous occasions since, and they have a friendly relationship. A few years ago, Master Chai visited Mr Pellow at his work. Mr Pellow’s greeting was a friendly hug and the comment, “Oh, you’ve gotten fat!”, which brought giggles from Master Chai.

Humility is something Mr Pellow respects highly in the best instructors. Master Chai once helped the New Zealand contingent carry there bags to a camp in soaking rain. Wally Jay would greet students to his seminar with, “Hi, my name’s Wally. Thank you for coming to my seminar.” These two, Willie Lim, Bobby Taboada and Paul McPhail are Mr Pellow’s most admired martial artists.

Mr Pellow’s advice to a new student? Don’t quit; keep going, or you will regret it for the rest of you life. It is not all steady progression – it has its ups and downs. A good practitioner is not necessarily a star. It is the person with patience and determination who will remain after ten years.

It is these things, together with his quick wit and subtle humour, that make Mr Pellow a great instructor and a gentleman.