Mr. Abell,
The first Karate classes at JCCC were taught in 1975 by Bushidokan black belt Bob Boggs. In the fall of 1980 World Shootboxing Champion Steve Mackey, who was in charge of running the Bushidokan system, took over as JCCCs instructor.
When the school wanted to add night classes, they would interfere with Mackey teaching at his own dojo, so he had his black belts teach those for the school; First, Mr. Steve Stilwell, then, in 1991, Mr. Roy Porter. The next year Mr. Porter took over the day classes too, and was JCCC’s Karate instructor through the spring semester of 2013.
For nearly 40 years Bushidokan Karate was taught at Johnson County Community College. The Ledger has crafted nearly a dozen articles about the karate classes here. Sadly, for the last year there has been no karate course offered at JCCC. Administration had hinted at the possibility of partnering with a local dojo to offer an off-campus credit karate course, but that has yet to materialize.
I would suggest partnering with a Bushidokan dojo so as not to disenfranchise the students who earned rank at JCCC previously. Newly opened Blue Valley MMA is being run by 4 Bushidokan black belts, including 2 former JCCC instructors, and Blue Valley Karate is run by another former instructor. I get the impression that either dojo would be interested in hearing what the college has to offer. Whether we hire another black belt adjunct professor, or work with an outside dojo, Bushidokan and JCCC belong together.
Notes to Editor: if you are interested in quickly reviewing previous Ledger Articles about JCCCs Karate program, some time ago I had made the poster linked to here –>
https://www.dropbox.com/s/cu3l11px0p79hc8/6267746409_723cdfe257_o.jpg?dl=0
And for more information about the Bushidokan system of Karate, I began creating a website about it for one of my electives, that website is here —>http://students.jccc.edu/jreedjr/bushidokan/index.html
Best Regards,
J. Mike Reed J