Chuck Norris

Did You Know?

• Norris's younger brother Wieland predicted his own death before being killed in the Vietnam War in 1970 at age 27.
• Norris established the Kickstart Kids program in 1990 to develop self-esteem and focus in at-risk children through martial arts training.

Career

Norris joined the United States Air Force in 1958 as an Air Policeman and was stationed at Osan Air Base in South Korea, where he acquired the nickname "Chuck" and began training in Tang Soo Do. After returning to the U.S., he served at March Air Force Base in California and was discharged in August 1962 with the rank of airman first class. He then opened a martial arts studio while applying to become a policeman in Torrance, California. Norris lost his first two competitive bouts but improved, defeating Vic Moore and winning the 1967 karate tournament.

On June 24, 1967, he won S. Henry Cho's All-American Karate Championship at Madison Square Garden, taking the title from Julio LaSalle and defeating Joe Lewis. During this period he worked for Northrop Corporation and opened a chain of karate schools, counting Steve and Chad McQueen, Bob Barker, Priscilla Presley, and Donny and Marie Osmond among his celebrity students. In early 1968 he lost a decision to Louis Delgado but avenged the loss on November 24, winning the Professional Middleweight Karate Championship.

He successfully defended his All-American title on April 1, 1968, and won it again later that year, retiring from competition undefeated. While competing, Norris met Bruce Lee and the two developed a friendship and training relationship. In August 1969 he defended his world championship title at the International Karate Championship, won Karate's triple crown, and was named Fighter of the Year by Black Belt magazine. He made his acting debut in The Wrecking Crew.

Norris retired from competition in 1970, made a short comeback in 1972 going 1-1, and his confirmed bout record stands at 31 wins with 14 defeats.

Martial arts knowledge

Chuck Norris created two martial arts systems: American Tang Soo Do, which debuted in 1966 and blends Moo Duk Kwan-style Tang Soo Do with Judo and Karate forms like Shito-Ryu and Shotokan, and the Chuck Norris System, originally called Chun Kuk Do. Chun Kuk Do was officially established in 1990, rooted in Norris’s Tang Soo Do training from his military service in Korea. As a fighter, Norris refined the style by studying a wide range of disciplines, including Shotokan, Goju-ryu, Shito-ryu, Enshin kaikan, Kyokushin, Judo, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Arnis, Taekwondo, Tang Soo Do, Hapkido, and American Kenpo.

The system now focuses on self-defense, competition, weapons, grappling, and fitness. Each summer, the United Fighting Arts Federation hosts a training conference and the Chun Kuk Do world championship in Las Vegas, Nevada. The art follows a personal code of honor from Norris, which includes striving for maximum potential, learning from past mistakes, fostering family love and loyalty, seeing the good in others, staying open-minded, respecting authority, and remaining loyal to God, country, family, and friends.

Distinctions, awards, and honors

Chuck Norris holds black belts in several martial arts: a 10th degree in Chun Kuk Do (a style he founded in 1990 based on his Tang Soo Do training in the military), a 9th degree in Tang Soo Do, an 8th degree in Taekwondo, a 5th degree in Karate, a 3rd degree in Brazilian jiu-jitsu from the Machado family, and a black belt in Judo. His competitive career took off in 1967 when he won the Sparring Grand Champions at S. Henry Cho’s All American Championship, a feat he repeated the next year.

In 1968 he became the Professional Middleweight Karate champion and kept that title for six years running. The following year he earned Karate’s triple crown for the most tournament wins that year and was named Fighter of the Year by Black Belt magazine. Norris moved into acting and in 1982 won Action Star of the Year at the ShoWest Convention. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1989, and in 1992 he took home International Box Office Star of the Year at ShoWest.

In 1997 he was given the Special Award of being a Texas legend at the Lone Star Film & Television Awards. Two years later he became one of the ten inaugural inductees into the Martial Arts History Museum’s Hall of Fame and also won the Inspirational Acting in Television Award at the Grace Prize Award. In 2001 he was named Veteran of the Year at the American Veteran Awards and received the Golden Boot at the Golden Boot Awards. On March 28, 2007, Commandant Gen. James T. Conway made Norris an honorary United States Marine.

In 2010 he won the Lifetime Achievement Award at ActionFest. That same year Texas Governor Rick Perry and Norris’s brother Aaron gave him the title honorary Texas Ranger. In 2017 he was named an “Honorary Texan” due to his long residence at his ranch near Navasota and his roles as a Texas Ranger in the film Lone Wolf McQuade and the TV series Walker, Texas Ranger.

Personal life

Norris married Dianne Kay Holechek in December 1958 in Torrance, California; they separated in 1988 and divorced in 1989 after 30 years of marriage. They had two sons, Mike and Eric. In 1998 Norris married Gena O'Kelley, a model 23 years his junior; they had fraternal twins born in 2001. Norris also had a daughter, Dina, from an extramarital relationship while stationed in California during his Air Force service; he met her for the first time in 1990 and publicly acknowledged her in his 2004 memoir Against All Odds: My Story.

As of 2017 he had 13 grandchildren. Norris was a Christian and a Baptist, a member of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Dallas. He described his faith journey as a conscious turning point that reshaped his personal priorities. He was a Republican and a staunch conservative who wrote a regular column for WorldNetDaily.

Following the release of Missing in Action in 1984, he described himself as "a conservative, a real flag waver, a big Ronald Reagan fan." In 2007 he traveled to Iraq to visit U.S. troops. He supported Mike Huckabee's campaign in the 2008 Republican presidential primaries and later supported John McCain in the general election, emphasizing his enthusiasm for Sarah Palin.