Bruce Lee: One Man Can Change the World

Bruce Lee is still considered the most influential martial arts figure of any generation. Thousands, even millions of people became inspired to learn martial arts and build confidence. His films showed this young, short Asian guy using these lightning-fast kicks to devastate the bad guys and these weren’t just movie kicks, you could see the power in this man.

For decades, the Asian community was being picked on, that is until the Bruce Lee movies came out. Bruce Lee’s film came right at the height of the Kung Fu movie boom in the West. Dozens of Hong Kong-made Shaw Bros. films were shown across American theaters. Then, Golden Harvest Productions was established and their first production, doing the Bruce Lee movies.

Back in the early days, anyone taking Kung Fu was not allowed to learn any other martial art until they got their teacher’s permission. Since Bruce was now in America, he decided to learn the other artforms. From Jhoon Rhee he learned Tae Kwon Do, from Gene LeBell he learned Judo, he learned boxing, fencing, and anything he could learn, he learned and perfected. Mixed martial arts had already begun in the 1940s with Gene LeBell who was considered the “father of mixed martial arts,” when he started mixing judo and wrestling. Bruce Lee, however, was the first Kung Fu stylist to start mixing the arts. 

Bruce traveled all over giving demonstrations and in time, he developed his own method of fighting he labeled Jeet Kune Do. Bruce pointed out that it was not a style, but more of a philosophy.

Bruce Lee continues to be the best representation of martial arts throughout the world. He was an inventor of martial arts equipment, he was a philosopher, a teacher, and top champions such as Chuck Norris, Joe Lewis and many more, all trained with him.

Still today, you will see an image of Bruce Lee somewhere. Bruce Lee is proof that one man can change the world!

Bruce Lee was inducted into the Martial Arts History Museum’s Hall of Fame in 1999.

You can find Bruce Lee and the impact he made in the Martial Arts History Museum’s HALL OF FAME VOLUME 1 book.