Chicago, Illinois

Dear Sensei George E. Mattson

For many years you have been my teacher and my great friend. When I was a senior in high school, I purchased your first book The Way of Karate. At that time, in 1963, karate was a relatively new phenomenon to most Americans. Tales of karate men who were able to chop bricks apart with their bare hands and fight off many attackers suddenly became popular in the media. Many young men rushed out to the karate schools that were starting to pop up around the country so that they too could be trained to be invincible in a street attack situation.

I will admit that I had some romanticized ideas about the martial arts too at that time. I had studied a little Judo for a few months but I sensed that karate might be a more practical method of self defense. When I purchased your book I expected to go home and read about many secret and deadly techniques that would make me an instant success in any fight. Of course I found something quite different. Your book emphasized an attitude toward training and even to life. You explained that the same principles of karate could over time be applied to everyday living. You also pointed out that there was no magic easy method for learning martial arts. You outlined instead a path of hard work and dedication. Even at the age of seventeen I could see the path that you wanted to show to your readers had much more value than just learning to win a fight. The title of your book really said it all - The WAY of Karate.

I read the first few chapters several times and then attempted to learn the exercises in the book. Little by little I learned the blocks, the punches and the kicks. I moved on to Sanchin and Seisan. (Your introduction to the Sanchin kata is one of the most beautiful descriptions of the purpose and benefits of performing kata that I have found anywhere.)

After graduating from high school I joined the Air Force. Your book went with me to Lowry Air Force base in Colorado, then Spain and Iran. After fours years in the Air force I returned to Illinois to take advantage of the G.!. Bill benefits. Studies at the University of Illinois in psychology and a year teaching high school followed. I began taking flying lessons and eventually became an airline pilot. After thirty years of flying, twenty of it as an airline captain, I am about to retire in Mexico. The Way of Karate went with me to Puerto Rico, many states in the U.S., England, Ireland, Turkey, Malta, even back to Japan. I studied in many different schools, saw the teaching methods of many instructors and many styles. My technique has evolved over the years to be a mixture of many things. I have read many books and watched many video tapes. I have had many good instructors and a few who have achieved no enlightenment whatsoever and probably never will. As I get older I find my body responds less and less to the demands that I put on it, but I still manage to follow a routine that I sometimes call "old man's karate" when someone asks what I practice now. I intend to continue practicing until my body will not allow me to do so anymore.

I am not claiming any great knowledge of the martial arts. Most of my technique is quite simple and basic. Neither do I claim any great abilities. I started out as a young man with no athletic ability and almost no coordination. My martial arts achievements are modest. My achievements as a human being are also modest. I have struggled my whole life, partly through the inspiration I obtained from your book, to attempt to overcome my flaws and develop a better character. I know better than anyone the areas where I have failed up to now. This doesn't mean I have given up on the possibility of still growing. Neither does it mean that I am not still enjoying the process.

Your book started a young man out on a journey that has still not ended. That journey is about to take on a very different shape as I intend to spend my retirement studying and writing in Mexico.

Your book gave me an outline for karate training and an outline for bUilding a certain perspective on life. Many times when I have had to face fear, sadness, or crisis, I have turned to my martial arts training to rekindle my spirit and the will to move ahead.

After all these years I wanted to thank you for the inspiration you gave me at an early age when I was young, fearful, and very confused. Your book made a difference in my life. I think that is the greatest gift that martial arts study can bring to an individual. Thank you for setting me out on the proper path right from the start.

I'd like you to have these two books I have written as a gift from a grateful student. I would also like to ask a favor. I have included my tattered, treasured copy of The Way of Karate with the hope that you will sign it. My copy of your book will go to my grandson someday. I hope he will pass the book down to his son and so on.
Thank you Sensei Mattson,

Earl E. Rogers

Dear Earl:

Many thanks for your very kind letter. It is extremely rewarding to hear from people like you, who both enjoy my books and benefit in some way from what I wrote.
I also wish to thank you for your two books, (Captain and Captain II) which I have read and now reside in my library. Should you ever find yourself in Central Florida, please plan to contact me.

Best,
George