About Grandmaster Kang Rhee

Chapter OneThe Phone Call

Elvis Presley was a legend, even in my homeland of Korea. So when the phone rang and a voice on the other end said, "This is Elvis Presley, and I would like to continue my martial arts training under you," I was certain it had to be a prank.

A few hours later I was sitting at my desk, and the legend himself was sitting across from me.

Elvis explained that he had fallen in love with the art of karate while serving in the U.S. Army in Europe. He told me the movements struck him as graceful — almost choreographic — and he wanted to weave them into his stage performances to make them more powerful, more theatrical. When he returned to the United States, he began studying under Master Ed Parker, and it was Master Parker who had urged him to come and see me.

I was more than flattered. I was overwhelmed.

Chapter TwoThe Student in the Back of the Class

Elvis was deeply humble. In many ways, he taught me more than I ever taught him.

From his very first lesson he insisted on training in regular classes with the other students — no special privileges, no private floor. It did not take long for him to realize the problem: the other students were watching him instead of paying attention to the instructor. So Elvis asked me to arrange a public demonstration. He wanted the class to see him work as a martial artist, not as an entertainer, and then settle back into normal training.

I chose a day when a student promotion test was already scheduled, so the demonstration and the test could be combined. The student to be tested was a young boy — and Elvis loved working with children. It was a perfect afternoon for both of them.

Chapter ThreeThe Gi, the Belt & the Patches

Elvis normally trained in a plain traditional uniform. But he viewed a public demonstration as a kind of performance — and a performance, he believed, deserved a costume.

So I designed one for him: a special uniform trimmed in red satin, with the TCB patch — which Elvis and I designed together — on the left chest, and the Crown Fist patch on the left sleeve cuff. The matching belt was a black belt embroidered with Elvis's personal information, the body of it wrapped in the same crimson satin as the trim on the uniform.

It is the same iconic look that fans still recognize today — and it began with a sketch on my desk.

TCB

Crown Fist

Pasaryu

Kang Rhee

Chapter FourThe Demonstration That Became Legend

Early in the demonstration, Elvis launched into a kicking technique — and his pants ripped right down the seam. He froze, looked at me, and announced to the entire class that he was not, in fact, wearing any underwear.

“Now what do I do?” — Elvis Presley, mid-demonstration

The rip is visible in several of the photos from that day.

Realizing the kicks were finished, Elvis pivoted gracefully to self-defense — including several defenses against a close-range armed attacker. Then he stepped back, well past five feet, and “demonstrated” a defense against a gun from that distance: he dropped slowly to his knees, hands together, and explained that the only defense from that range is to pray.

The room exploded with laughter and applause. He went on to take a fighting stance and jokingly challenge me to a sparring match, which the audience loved every bit as much.

Chapter FiveOn the Judging Panel

After demonstrating, Elvis took his seat on the Black Belt judging panel for the student's promotion test. He watched intently as the boy worked through his forms — and as myself and others demonstrated alongside him.

Traditionally, no one is permitted to train wearing shoes or socks. But I made an exception for Elvis that day. He had undergone surgery only days before to correct an ingrown toenail, and I did not want the foot to become infected. He also had a small scratch on the back of his hand — left by a fan reaching out to touch him at a recent appearance — that had gone untreated and become infected. He apologized for it. He told me, with that gentle laugh of his, that it “looked much worse than it was.”

Chapter SixThe Closing Prayer

Elvis was a deeply religious man. Some time earlier he had presented me with a Bible as a personal gift, and at the end of the demonstration that afternoon I asked him to lead the school in a closing prayer.

The words he spoke were quiet, and beautiful, and I have never forgotten them.

The world knew him as the King of Rock and Roll. We knew him as a student of the dojo, a member of the Black Belt panel, and the man who closed the day in prayer. — Grandmaster Kang Rhee

Chapter SevenThe Golden Years — 1970 to 1974

Elvis trained under Master Kang Rhee in Memphis from 1970 through 1974. He often said Master Rhee had a tremendous reputation and had come highly recommended by Ed Parker, his former instructor in California.

During those four years, Elvis — like every student of the dojo — chose an animal name by which he would be addressed on the training floor. He first selected Mr. Panther, but the name was later changed to Mr. Tiger because of the political tensions then associated with the word “Panther.” The name stuck. It is the name this museum still carries today.

Elvis trained alongside the other students in regular sessions. Classroom discipline was so strict that he was granted the same freedom as any ordinary student — without the usual crush of adoring fans pressing in around him. In the dojo, he was simply Mr. Tiger.

Chapter EightSeventh & Eighth Degree Black Belt

In 1973, Master Kang Rhee awarded Elvis the rank of 7th Degree Black Belt. From that point on Elvis occasionally sat as a testing examiner himself, helping to promote students of lower rank.

He was a full instructor in the Pasaryu Karate Association — standing shoulder to shoulder with greats like Master Rhee, a former Korean Grand Champion, and Bill “Superfoot” Wallace, the World Middleweight Karate Champion.

On September 16, 1974, on the floor of this dojo, Master Kang Rhee awarded Elvis the rank of 8th Degree Black Belt. It was the last time Elvis ever set foot in the Kang Rhee dojo — and the same day the now-famous photographs of Elvis and Master Rhee were taken.

September 16, 1974 — 8th Degree Black Belt. The last day. The famous photos. — TigerMan Dojo & Museum

Chapter Nine“She Had Learned”

One afternoon Elvis was working with a female student on a break-away technique — one that called for the victim to scrape the shins of the would-be attacker. He demonstrated. She tried. He corrected. She tried again. He corrected again.

Finally, exasperated, she drove her heel down his shin with everything she had. Elvis nearly went to the floor with the pain.

She had learned. — Kang Rhee, on Elvis’s lesson in patience

Chapter TenThe Watch

The younger students were often a little frightened of Elvis. When Master Rhee learned that a nine-year-old boy in the class was particularly intimidated, Elvis quietly took the boy aside, sat down with him for a private conversation — and then slipped his own personally engraved “Elvis Presley” wristwatch from his arm and placed it in the boy’s hand.

Stories like that one explain why those who knew Elvis best called these four years — from 1970 to 1974 — the Golden Years. They were the years of peace and spiritual contentment for him. Photographs documenting that entire chapter still exist; they remain the exclusive property of Master Rhee.

A Lifetime of ServiceMaster Kang Rhee — Credentials & Honors