OLA`A-NALO  ESKRIMA Personnel Bios

I was born in California 1948, my family moved to Hawaii in 1959 and to Guam in 1963. In 1978 I returned to Hawaii and in 1981 I started a company importing products from South East Asia which is still in operation today. During the past 25 years of traveling to S.E. Asia I have seen many sights (such as the Komodo Dragons). One of my personal travel highlights was in 1988. We were visiting Kuching Malaysia, and went deep into the Borneo jungle. I witnessed an old Dayak Chief demonstrate his Caranza (knife dance) during their Lunar New Year celebrations. At the time I had been studying Derobio Escrima for about 8 years and while sitting in a long house politely drinking some very gnarly rice wine I realized that the Caranza of this 80+ year old chief shared many of the characteristic movements of GGM Brauilo Pedoy’s Caranza!

In 1980, I met (then ranked) Maestros Peter, Knut and Carlton and started training with them in Derobio Escrima. Within the year I met Great Grandmaster Brauilo Pedoy, the founder of the Pedoy School of Escrima. I trained under his direct supervision from 1980 to his passing in 1992. Under GGM Pedoy I was promoted to the rank of Maestro in 1988 and to Chief Instructor in 1991. While under his instruction, I learned the entire system of Pedoy Style Derobio Escrima including the 144 counter to counter movements. I also studied the old ways concerning orascion, anting-anting and other spiritual matters that were essential to many of the old time Escrimadors.

After GGM Pedoy passed away in 1992, I operated the Honolulu Branch of the Pedoy School of Escrima from 1994-2004. In 1995 I was awarded a certificate of appreciation for “outstanding performance in operating the McCully Branch of the Pedoy School of Escrima.” This was a special presentation from then ranked Master Eduardo Pedoy. In 2004 I was awarded a Sr. Masters Certificate Red Level 6 by Batikan Eduardo Pedoy.

In 2005 I opened Ola’a-Nalo Eskrima.