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www.templecitychamber.org e-mail to: info@templecitychamber.org TEMPLE CITY LIFE • OCTOBER 2008 PAGE 5
West Coast Shotokan Karate Association Celebrates 40 years
Temple City’s West Coast Shotokan Karate Association,
which was founded by the late Edwin Hamille in
1968, will be celebrating its 40th anniversary with a
weeklong celebration beginning Monday, Oct. 13 and
concluding with a banquet at the Duarte Elks Club on
Saturday, Oct. 18.
Currently the school is owned and managed by Ed
Shanick, a 4th degree black belt. Ed is a graduate of
Temple City High School, Class of 1960. He started with
Hamile in 1970 and was joined in the years that followed
by current senior staff. They are Chief Instructor
Sensei David Hurlbut (7th degree black belt); Assistant
Chief Instructor Sensei Randy Tyrell (6th degree
black belt); Sensei Will Adams (5th degree belt);
and Senseis Tony Duran and Theresa Duenas (both 4th
degree black belts).
The staff shares a rich tradition established by
Hamile, who was a student of Masters Hirokazu
Kanazawa, Tetsuhiko Asai, who served as chairman of
the Japan Karate Association, and Masataka Mori.
Kanazawa has been described as the finest martial artist
of the 20th Century and Asai has been labeled as
probably having “no equal” as a martial artist.
Hamile started karate in Hawaii as a 34-year-old,
hoping to gain skills in self-defense and anger management.
Already a well-rounded sportsman, he surfed, iceskated,
played tennis, rode horseback and piloted private
planes.
Shihan Edwin Hamile was first non-Japanese recipient
of the Japan Karate Association’s coveted Gichen
Funakoshi Award.
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Hamile was a radio announcer and
disc jockey for radio station KIKI,
Honolulu as well as a bandleader in
the French Quarter in Hawaii ——
the first musician to bring jazz sessions
to Hawaii.
In the same year he began karate,
Hamile married Manon Sumiko
Smith, an entertainer who specialized
in Japanese songs. The following year
she was awarded the first—“Mrs.
Hawaii” title.
After moving to Southern California,
Hamile taught karate in little
Tokyo, while bartending in
Chinatown. One of his karate students,
ex-professional boxer Alberto
Ayala sought a building where
Hamile could have his own school.
Ayala found a vacant bakery at
9506 Las Tunas Dr. and in October,
1968 a karate dojo opened there under
the newly-formed West Coast
Shotokan Karate Association.
Shanick recalls the days the building
was a bakery. He claims to have
taken his younger brothers and sisters
on soda pop bottle collecting excursions
to exchange bottles for small
cash to buy some of its delicious donuts.
As a “French, Filipino, Portuguese, Chinese,” Hamile
was one of the Asian pioneers of the modern Temple
City business community. He was a Temple City resident
and served extensively as a board member at the
Temple City Chamber of Commerce.
In his later years, Edwin maintained a mobile home
residence in the desert community of Boron, California,
where son Steven Hamile would occasionally land
his helicopter on the front lawn to say a quick hello.
Like his dad, pilot Steven distinguished himself in karate
by becoming one of the youngest brown belts in
America back in the 1960s.
His students enthusiastically carry on Hamile’s
legacy. This new generation of leaders is strongly committed
to “Ohana,” the Hawaiian idea that all involved
in the dojo ——students, parents, other family and
friends ——are part of an “extended family.”
WCSKA’s website is karate1.ws. The 40th anniversary
banquet Web site is on duarteelks.org. The school
may be reached by phone at 626-285-8887.
Toby Palmquist, now a resident of the state of Georgia,
will be returning for the festive occasion where he
will be one of the distinguished guests, having been
the group’s first instructor to be designated “Sensei,” a
title reserved for those achieving third degree black belt
and higher who have proven their skills as a teacher.
He is now a 4th degree black belt.
Richard Huddleston, the school’s first student to
achieve black belt, is expected to be on hand Joining
these early students at the dojo located at 9506 Las Tunas
Dr. will be a contingent of prominent international
The late Edwin Hamile (far right), founder of West Coast Shotokan Karate Association, is
visited by Kung-Fu expert and film star Eric Lee (far left) and “father” of American Karate, Ed
Parker (center). Parker also known as Elvis Presley’s personal instructor was a frequent visitor
to the Temple City Dojo. Hamile and Parker were lifelong friends from Hawaii prior to their
passing in the 1990s.
Photo by Jerry Jambazian
West Coast Shotokan Karate Association owner and manager Ed Shanick,
a 4th degree black belt with students Emily Arellano, 12, of Arcadia and
Joe Vazquez, 14, of Temple City.
instructors as well as many of the hundreds of black
belts promoted through the years.
Grandmaster “Lucky” Luciano of the Kajukempo
Self-Defense System is one of these instructors who will
conduct a seminar during the anniversary week. He
travels from San Diego and was a lifelong friend of
Shihan (Master) Edwin Hamile, who founded WCSKA.
Both were natives of Hawaii. Hamile passed away in
June 1999 at the age of 75, a 9th degree black belt.
In from Hawaii, Shihan George Sasano will be offering
2 seminars. He was Hamile’s senior in the highly
acclaimed Karate Association of Hawaii. During
Hamile’s reign as President of KAH, Sasano’s sparring
competition team became the first non-Japanese to beat
Tokyo’s team in World Championships.
A possible guest is international chief instructor of
West Coast Shotokan Karate Association, Shihan Shalom
Avitan, of Haifa, Israel. Avitan is the leading martial
arts figure in that country, where he maintains approximately
50 schools with more than 4,000 students.
WCSKA international has spread from Temple City to
about 40 countries.
Holland’s visiting group will probably be the largest
and is led by Chief Instructor Sensei Andre Kila, a 5th
degree black belt. Two of his students will be taking a
special black belt examination during the day on Oct.
18.
Belgium’s Chief Instructor, Sensei Ludo Bellemans,
an eighth degree black belt, has been a visitor to prior
anniversary events, and is a likely guest. Mexico Sensei
Jose Linares of Ensenada (6th degree black belt) is expected
to be in attendance.
Locally, Camarillo Chief Instructor, Sensei Victor
Young (8th degree black belt) who was a member of
Karate Association of Hawaii and close friend of Hamile,
will add to the list of notables. Sensei Mike Whiteside
(5th degree black belt) of Ontario will be present. Along
with Palmquist and Huddleston he was one of the pioneers
of the dojo and was in class the first week it
opened.
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