Kwanjangnim Sogor Full Bio

Kevin Sogor's journey into the martial arts started like so many  other people - he saw Enter the Dragon - and got hooked on the notion of  self protection, self control and self awareness as a process through  training in the arts of fighting. Living in London, England at the time,  Enter the Dragon was rated "X" and many of the fight scenes and all the  weapons scenes were deleted - but still a great film.                 

This was the summer of 1979. By the fall of that year, Kevin had  become immersed in the search for the art he would study. To further  this search, he bought copies of all the available martial arts  magazines, Karate and Oriental Arts Magazine was a particular favorite.  Many of you in the UK made the journey to 638 Fulham Road, S.W.6 to the  "shop" - well more like a mini-warehouse. Kevin spent many Friday's  there, reading books he couldn't afford and talking to Paul Crompton -  the magazine publisher. His advice to Kevin was to try the Ving Tsun  Club of Victor Kan, the best able student of Yip Man and a formidable  instructor. Mr. Compton secured a referral, and Kevin was on his way -  but a lecture in an English class at the American School in London  changed all that.

                Mrs. Lee's Journalism Class had invited an instructor of  the martial arts to their class for an interview. Dressed in a black  satin uniform with gold trim, Kevin could only watch from another class  as the instructor kicked and whirled another student around the room.  Later that afternoon the instructor was given permission to do a  demonstration in the school after class - Kevin was in the front row.  The instructor was Bob Miller - 5th Dan Hapkido.

The classes in Hapkido started a few days later at ASL and Kevin was  the first to enroll. Hapkido seemed perfect, kicks, strikes, throws,  grabs, controls, and nunchuks... Well OK, nunchaku are not Hapkido - but  Kevin didn't really care. All the students had black dobok from day one  - $25 for a dobok and "karate" patch - we were the business!

The first class was huge - 65 kids of all ages in three pods of  classrooms - all ready to stretch and kick - for the princely sum of $2  per class. Kevin was no exception - and got into the training with zeal -  well, until he passed out from dehydration half way through class one.  But as fortune would have it, Bob Miller woke Kevin up and said, "You  don't pay here again as long as you always train that hard." That seemed  like a great deal. The classes at ASL were great, until Bob brought in  his "nunchuks" - the next day, the club was history - might have also  been the huge amount of weapons he offered for sale in the school  cafeteria that previous afternoon at lunch...

Training continued at the Abraxsis Racquet Ball Club. There were  dance studios and a small cafe' in addition to the ball courts and the  place had a real homey feel. One other ASLer made the trip to the new  club - and he left after a month or so. Never the less the Abraxsis club  got huge - fast. Mainly because Bob Miller was a supreme self-promoter -  his favorite word when asked how he was doing was "DYNAMIC". There was a  man in the club, with a goatee and a cane that was walking around  giving advice on kicking and hand position, he was not introduced to us  but I never forgot him.

Through the many adventures that were Bob Miller, I became the  instructor of the children's section at Blue Belt as well as a well  known replacement assistant instructor for adults - teaching all over  London when other Hapkido instructors were unavailable or went to Korea  to train.

Among the most notable people that I trained with in those days were  Michael Forster (from Canada), Gavin Snell, Kevin Taylor, and a  Shotokan guy named Leon Kuhn, whose white canvas uniform was stained  gray from cleaning dojo floors in Japan and who had the best front kick I  have ever seen.

Well, Bob Miller was a great self promoter - he promoted himself  right out of Britain - seems he was there all that time with no work  permit - so it was back to the States for him - he is remembered though  for a demonstration at the Bull and Bush Pub that was attended by almost  1000 people.

Christian Schilling took over teaching the club full time, and  started a search for a new club Chief. His selection was David  Morgan-Brown.

David Morgan-Brown was a formidable instructor. He was highly ranked  in Jiu-Jitsu through Professors Robert Clark and Richard Morris. In  addition, he was head of style of 3 forms of Northern Style Kung Fu  (never got the instructors names though). David Morgan-Brown was a  reality specialist before such a thing existed; we trained in the moors  of north Yorkshire, slept outside and did night training - long before  this stuff was in vogue. He kept his own training current by training in  whatever was trendy - he put on the first seminars in the UK in Hwarang  Do with students and the son of Dr. Joo Bang Lee and Ninjitsu with  Stephan Hayes. Kevin attended them all - but longed to return to more  traditional Hapkido.

David Morgan-Brown was a great instructor, and wanted his students  to grow as much as possible - but a series of decisions led Kevin to  move on. Those are not for publication, but needless to say, Kevin has  never left any instructor and that is that.

One real positive benefit of the David Morgan-Brown experience was  meeting lifelong friend Kerry Stanton. Kerry is currently training in  the Bujinkan - so there are still lots of fun, and pain, ahead when  Kerry and Kevin get together.

Kevin contacted Grandmaster Fred Adams, the man with the cane from  his early training in 1980, in the summer of 1984, and returned to the  fold of Traditional Hapkido in Grandmaster Adams organization of International Hapkido.