- Michelle Gordon
-
Michelle Gordon Born Tyna Michelle Gordon
April 3, 1960
Chicago, Illinois, United StatesStyle Taekwondo Rank 4th degree black belt in taekwondo Years active 1971–Present Occupation Martial arts Instructor Website http://www.getinfuzed.com Tyna Michelle Gordon 티나 미셸 고든 (pronounced Tina) (born April 3, 1960) is a national and international award-winning American martial artist. She is known for her work with children and as a martial arts instructor.
Contents
Biography
Early life
Gordon was born in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of Tyna E. Gordon, an elementary school teacher and civil rights activist, and Emmett A. Gordon, merchant marine and automobile laborer. She attended Oakenwald North Elementary School, William Shakespeare School (Ariel Elementary Community Academy) and graduated from Dunbar Vocational High School. As a child, Gordon read voraciously, attended martial arts classes and played basketball with President Barack Obama's Secretary of Education and former Chief Executive Officer of the Chicago Public Schools Arne Duncan, actor Michael Clarke Duncan, singer R. Kelly, Disco Toni Shelton and other neighborhood friends. She also tutored younger children at Sue Duncan Children's Center along with Arne Duncan, Kerrie Holley (IBM fellow and co-inventor of the Service-Oriented Modeling and Architecture, SOMA and the Service Integration Maturity Model (SIMM)). Gordon has an ethnic studies/Afro-American Studies background from the University of Washington and has taught martial arts classes. She also taught martial arts to actor Rainn Wilson of the TV show The Office and award-winning film director John J. Valadez while at Washington. She is the cousin of Ken Norton, former world champion heavyweight boxer and one of the few to ever beat Muhammad Ali, and Ken Norton Jr. former Pro-football player and current linebackers coach for the NFL's Seattle Seahawks. She holds an AA from City Colleges of Chicago’s Malcolm X College and a BA from the University of Washington’s School of the Arts and Sciences. As a child she spoke Japanese and presently speaks and understands several languages.
Career
Gordon began her martial arts education at the Double Dragon Martial Arts Academy in Chicago, Illinois in 1971 under the instruction of Jamail T. Sallie 7th Dan. While at Double Dragon Martial Arts Academy she also trained with childhood friends Super Middleweight World Champion Manson Gibson and world champion martial artist, Master Chucky Currie. She has studied and is certified in various styles of martial arts and currently holds a 4th Dan in Jidokwan Taekwondo, 3rd Dan in Shorin Ryu Karate, 1st Dan in Judo, 1st Dan in Kendo, and a 1st Dan in White Crane Kung-Fu. In 1983, Ms. Gordon relocated to Seattle, Washington to study at the University of Washington. During her time in Seattle, she studied Jidokwan Tae Kwon Do under Grandmaster Leon Preston 8th Dan of Seattle, Washington and his instructor Tae Hong Choi 9th Dan of Portland, Oregon and trained with classmates Maurice Smith (16x Kickboxing Champion. UFC Heavyweight Champion), Master Victor Solier (5th Dan and 6x World Kickboxing Champion), Anna Widehov (2x World Tae Kwon Do Champion of Sweden, U.S. National and U.S Open Tae Kwon Do Champions Raphael Park , Carla Fortnay, and Liz Evans. While a student at Washington, she worked as a body guard with other Tae Kwon Do friends for various on-campus and off-campus events. Gordon provided security for Rosa Parks, Attallah Shabazz, Angela Davis, Minister Louis Farrakkan, Maya Angelou, Nikki Giovanni, Spike Lee, Sonia Sanchez, Coretta Scott King, Yolanda King, Dr. Maulana Ron Karenga, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis, KRS One and Queen Latifah. In 1992, Ms. Gordon relocated to Durham, North Carolina to attend Duke University. In 1993, she began teaching at Thompson’s Tae Kwon Do, and taught there until the school closed in 1994. In 1995, she joined K.S. Lee's Best Martial Arts of North Carolina, where she taught ESL classes to the Korean masters at the school. In 1997, Ms. Gordon became the head instructor for the K.S. Lee's Best Martial Arts of North Carolina – Durham, until the school closed in December 2006. Under the instruction of Grandmaster Lee, Ms. Gordon trained and traveled extensively throughout South Korea, and Beijing, China (1998 – 2001)[1][2][3] as a member of his USA/Korea Demonstration Team. Her other accolades include numerous state, regional and international awards. She is a Kukkiwon certified black belt and member of the World Taekwondo Federation in Seoul, South Korea and USA Taekwondo in Colorado Springs, CO. She is currently the Martial Arts Director and Master Instructor at Infuzion Tae Kwon Do in Durham, NC.
Personal life
Gordon is in a relationship and spends a great deal of her time tutoring at-risk students and teaching Tae Kwon Do. She currently resides in Durham, North Carolina and is the head instructor at Infuzion. Gordon is a practitioner of Mahayana Buddhism. Some of her many accolades are the following:
- 1997 — Most Caring Coach Award – USA Weekend Magazine, Arlington, VA[4][5]
- 1997 — Most Caring Coach Award – Herald-Sun Newspaper, Durham, NC[6]
- 1998 — Presidential Diploma – World Tae kwon Do Federation, Seoul, Korea
- 1998 — Tae Kwon Do Training Certificate – The World Tae Kwon Do Academy, Seoul, Korea
- 1999 — Presidential Diploma – World Tae kwon Do Federation, Seoul, Korea
- 1999 — Tae Kwon Do Training Certificate – The World Tae Kwon Do Academy, Seoul, Korea
- 2000 — Presidential Diploma – World Tae kwon Do Federation, Seoul, Korea
- 2000 — Tae Kwon Do Training Certificate – The World Tae Kwon Do Academy, Seoul, Korea
- 2001 — Presidential Diploma – World Tae kwon Do Federation, Seoul, Korea
- 2001 — Tae Kwon Do Training Certificate – The World Tae Kwon Do Academy, Seoul, Korea
See also
- Sue Duncan Children's Center
References
- ^ USA Taekwondo Team Visits Korea – July 20, 1998 issue of The Korea Times Newspaper.
- ^ USA Taekwondo Team Visits Korea – July 2, 1999 issue of The Korea Times Newspaper.
- ^ Local Students Visit Korea.. The Cary News, July 14, 1999
- ^ Salvoza, M. Franco, McNichol, Tom and Michelle Hatty. 1997 Most Caring Coach Awards. USA Weekend Magazine, December 5-7, 1997
- ^ Brewington, Kelly. Durham Tae kwon Do teacher recognized as one of nation’s top coaches. The Herald-Sun Newspaper, December 7, 1997, p. B3.
- ^ December 10, 1997 issue of The Herald-Sun Newspaper, p. C9.
7.^ Brewington, Kelly. Honesty! “Caring Coach returns $3,730”. The Herald-Sun Newspaper, February 25, 1998.
8.^ Seward, Chris: "Learning for a lifetime- Getting His Kicks" The Durham News, March 26, 2005.External links
Categories:- 1960 births
- Living people
- University of Washington alumni
- People from Chicago, Illinois
- American martial artists
- American Buddhists
- Dunbar Vocational High School alumni
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
