The Texas Amateur Organization Of Karate 1998 Finals

This Texas Karate organization has existed since the seventies and has produced some of the toughest competitors in the world. Some of these names include Linda Denly, Demetrius Havanas, Skipper Mullins, Brice Anthony, Alinda Maxwell, Eva Ramerez, Reggie Boseman, Richard Dixon,Wade Kirkpatric, and a large number of current and past NASKA,WAKO and NBL World Champions, The current A-OK has four regions that divide Texas so a competitor could receive seeding at the finals without having to travel long distances as Texas is a large state.

Some of the largest Texas Tournaments are part of the A-OK. At one point in time it was the only organization in the Southwest region of the country providing Sport Karate with quality and world class competition. During this period it was said if you could win in Texas you could win anywhere. This still holds true about Texans today with a major number of the best Forms and sparring champions coming from Texas.

This year the heat was on, no I really mean heat. The temperature outside was almost 90 degrees and it was December. Inside the Ramada Inn it was cool but the intensity of competition reflected the best in the world going to work. The forms competitors had old champions going head to head with each other. Wade Kirkpatric winning Weapons. Eva Ramerez screamed her way to wins with her patented Eva forms in Black Belt Specialty and Black Belt Women, Michael Aberdine showed great skill and beat out the younger men to prove once again, very old guys can still do the job by winning 18+ Black Belt Forms, Moses Williams had a powerful Kung Fu form that shook the walls each time he landed and that was hard to do on concrete, he ended up winning Executive Black Belt Forms.

George Sorrell took Executive Black Belt sparring, Derrick Wilson had to battle his way through some of the toughest fighters in the state with the last two being himself and Jay Folsom, a fight that had Linda Denly and Richard Dixon jumping up and down shouting along with half the tournament in the excitement their students produced with two great fighters battling it out and one point ending up in favor of Derrick to win light weight black belt sparring, James Cox ended up duking it out with Mike Hill, Mike is a fighter who in the past five years has been a phenomenal champion and again one point ended up separating first from second with James winning Black Belt Middle Weight Men,Sandra Geffert was impressive winning Black Belt Women, The main event involved D E Chambers a student of the legendary Fred Simon who Ran head long into into the storm, created by Storman Norman Roberts a fight complete with cheerleaders and coaches, believe me tough would be an understatement for this fight Norman and D E battled it out into overtime during all the fights with D E pulling out the final victory winning Black Belt Heavy Weight sparring.

The Junior Black Belt divisions were exciting with several great champions that have won all over the country. Alex Wiik won 12-13 Black Belt Sparring, Junior Black Belt Specialty, and 12-13 Black Belt Forms, However I think that Andrew Carrasco who is also in the 12-13 divisions needs mention because in the years I have known him he has always been one of the most dynamic and creative competitors.

I once witnessed him fight his way through a large crowd of competitors only to end up fighting a kid one foot taller than himself — Andrew defeated his opponent in a classic contest of David and Goliath where he used speed with great footwork to win. As we all know any close contest ends up being a judges call and unfortunately it was not his year to be State Champion, he was second to Alex Wiik in two divisions.Other Black Belt Junior Champions were Jason Chartouni 10-11 Forms and sparring, Carlos Montalvo 14-15 forms, Joe Lopez Jr 14-15 Forms and Sparring, Christina Hahn 12-13 Girls Sparring, Vicki Santamaria 14-17 Girls Sparring, Ben Beasley 14-15 Boys Sparring.

The Underbelt champions were also impressive with up and coming future blackbelts showing there stuff, names like ED Wallison of Spring Texas winning Adult Amateur Specialty with an impressive Musical staff form that tied Emilio Perez and Raymond Rejcek, ED pulled it out for the win second time around. David Mitchell won brown belt men kata, Deb kelly Brown Belt Women Kata. Other Underbelt Champions were Johnny Trevino 5 & under,Vicky Jimenez, Isaac Torres, Daniel Gilkerson, Juan Quezada,Roy Hernandez Jamal Hasan, George Ramos Jr, Jeanetta Mora, Jennifer Trejo, Anali Ybarra, Rachel Smith, Tracy Washinski, Jennifer Simmons, Robert Cherry, Allan Schofield, Raymond Cavacosand and the amazing Johnny Shaw of Coppel Texas who is also one of the best Stringed Kama weapons forms competitors in the world, in fact he is also a 1998 SKIL Amateur World Champion as well as being a TNT Champion.

The 1998 Golden Greek Hall of Fame winners were people already mentioned earlier in this article because of their vast range of skill and years of experience. These people competed all year at most of the events and won more than anyone else. They also are AOK State Champions. There names are Sandra Geffert-Black Belt Women, D.E. Chambers-Black Belt Men, Moses Williams-Executive Black Belt Men, Viki Santamaria – Jr black Belt Girls, Alex Wiik-Jr Black Belt Boys.

This Event was exciting and it seemed to me everybody had fun. I think next year I will go back and attend this event again. The people were nice and friendly but this does not surprise me,after all this was Texas and Texans are the greatest.