02/28/2026
Today I would like to honor my teacher, Sam Pearson, Sensei on his birthday. Sensei was Soke, Watai-Karate-Jitsu, and Hanshi,10th Dan Shorin-Ryu Karate-do. But mostly he was Sensei. He was the epitome of a martial artist for his entire life. He was all that he was, and nothing that he wasn't. He would tell us grand stories of people that he knew of years gone by, and he would brag, but only on his students. He was the definition of a simply-complex man. He never stopped learning, never stopped training, never stopped helping. He was one of the strongest men I ever knew. He understood perseverance in the face of hardship and often joked about obstacles in his life that he had not yet mastered. He scoffed at being called Master, and revered those that he thought truly were. He could be a dichotomy at times, and I learned that is part of what made him human. He was a man of small stature who was larger than life. who could command a room full of unruly martial artists, and the next moment console a lost child at a tournament. It took me a long time to learn many of the lessons he taught, and I am still working on some of those. But, much of what I learned was not from the martial artist, but rather from the man. Happy Birthday, Sensei!
