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You are here: Home / News / National News / Jhoon Rhee, ‘father of American Taekwondo,’ dies at age 86

Jhoon Rhee, ‘father of American Taekwondo,’ dies at age 86

May 12, 2018 By Northwest Asian Weekly

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — Grandmaster Jhoon Rhee, the man known as the “father of American Taekwondo,’’ died on April 30 after a long illness. He was 86.

His son, Chun Rhee, said his father died in hospice care in Arlington, Virginia, a suburb of the nation’s capital.

Jhoon Rhee was a 10th-degree black belt credited with popularizing taekwondo in the United States, especially around the nation’s capital, after emigrating from Korea in the 1950s. He opened his first taekwondo school in Washington, D.C., in 1962. By the 1980s, Rhee had 11 schools in the Washington area.

Rhee became friends with legendary martial artist and actor Bruce Lee and appeared in a 1973 movie titled “When Taekwondo Strikes.’’

He also befriended boxer Muhammad Ali. Chun Rhee said that during a 1976 sports awards ceremony, his father jokingly challenged Ali and basketball legend Wilt Chamberlain to a fight to settle which one of them was “the greatest’’ athlete.

“Martial arts was a way of life for him,’’ Chun Rhee said.

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Filed Under: National News Tagged With: 2018, VOL 37 NO 20 | MAY 12 - MAY 18

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