Thursday, February 05, 2009

Frank F Kovacs - JUDO 10th DAN + SAVATE 2nd degree

Is this the oldest living savate master?






http://www.minnajiujitsu.com/soke_kovacs.htm

Soke Frank F. Kovacs, Jūdan (10th Dan Black Belt)
Born in Hungary - In 1923. In 2009 he should be 86 years old.

OFFICIAL MEMBER OF:
International Karate and Kick Boxing Hall of Fame
Jiu Jitsu Black Belt Federation of the USA
Kodokan - Ko-Nan Yudanshakai #S3222 (Japan)
Kookido Black Belt Association (Korea)
Federation Francaise De Boxe, ET D.A. (European Union)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Soke Frank Kovacs is now 87 years old (as of August 2008). He is still active and robust, both physically and mentally. I know this personally as I train with and teach for him as well as serving as an adviser to the Soke. Gino Zavarella, Cleveland Ohio USA.

Anonymous said...

Gino thank you for your comment and reading this BLOG. Thank you also for your information about Mr. Kovacs. I am building big catalogue of all modern savate masters from 1900 - 2009. And masters like Frank F. Kovacs are very important for the history of savate sport.

Gino Zavarella said...

We just celebrated Frank Kovacs' 88th birthday on July 8, 2009 ... and he is as tough as ever ... I have a number of -black-and-blue spots to prove it :)

Anonymous said...

where did he learn his art, under whom and when.

Anonymous said...

Frank kovacs senior has fooled countless students into believing his credentials which are non existent. I have known him for almost 70 years, know his past in the old country as well knowing all about him in the US.

He sent his eldest son in 1954 to learn judo in cleveland where he, his son ultimately became a brown belt. Frank sr. never attended these classes but demanded a full written account of the techniques his son learned. After a few years he enrolled his son into karate classes to wit the same criteria was demanded.

Ultimately Frank Sr. hatched a plan and told everyone his false background story, bought a station wagon, a few padded mats and travelled cleveland with his young son who taught individuals procured by Sr usually in the students basements.

One such student was a somewhat wealthy individual and suggested a partnership to open a school which they did and Frank junior taught there till he turned 18 and then distanced himself from the lies he suffered under.

Frank Sr. never took karate, savate, judo nor any other self defense courses. He never visited France and even just made up his own style called minna jitsu.

Over the years Frank Sr. did learn the techniques his son showed him and being physically adept became proficient enough to fool most everyone. By the way he had no school in 1955. The family came to the US in 1951 and in 1954-55 Sr could barely speak English let alone open a school. He worked as a sweeper at a local plant .

Find his son and get the true story of his fathers fantasy story.