{"id":4610,"date":"2026-06-22T19:55:40","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T19:55:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/martialartswealth.com\/go\/martial-arts-lineage-jhoon-rhee\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T00:43:39","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T00:43:39","slug":"lineage-jhoon-rhee","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/martialartswealth.com\/go\/media\/lineage-jhoon-rhee\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Lineage: Jhoon Rhee, NAPMA &#038; Martial Arts Wealth"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Our Lineage: Jhoon Rhee, NAPMA &amp; Martial Arts Wealth<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Martial Arts Wealth Mastery community traces a direct lineage to <strong>Grandmaster Jhoon Rhee<\/strong>, the \u201cFather of American Taekwondo.\u201d This page collects the history, media, and authority references connecting Grandmaster Jhoon Rhee, the Jhoon Rhee Institute, Grandmaster Jeff Smith, Stephen Oliver, and the organizations that grew from that heritage \u2014 the National Association of Professional Martial Artists (NAPMA), Martial Arts Professional, and Martial Arts Wealth Mastery.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Grandmaster Jhoon Rhee \u2014 Father of American Taekwondo<\/h3>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A Korean immigrant who introduced Taekwondo to the United States, Jhoon Rhee opened his first Washington, D.C. studio in 1962. He befriended Bruce Lee, trained Muhammad Ali (teaching him the famous \u201caccupunch\u201d), opened a martial arts club for members of Congress, invented the safety sparring gear that reduced injuries in the sport, and created \u201cmartial arts ballet\u201d \u2014 forms set to classical music. His \u201cNobody bothers me\u201d television commercials made him a household name in the D.C. area. He was inducted into the Black Belt Hall of Fame as Man of the Year in 1983 and passed away in 2018 at age 86.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Jhoon_Rhee\">Jhoon Rhee \u2014 Wikipedia<\/a>.<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.blackbeltmag.com\/cover-story-throwback-jhoon-rhee\">Cover Story Throwback: Jhoon Rhee<\/a> \u2014 Black Belt Magazine.<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/blackbeltmag.com\/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-taekwondo-legend-jhoon-rhee\">10 Things You Didn&#8217;t Know About Jhoon Rhee<\/a> \u2014 Black Belt Magazine.<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.maiahub.com\/blog\/to-sir-with-love-an-homage-to-the-late-grandmaster-jhoon-rhee\">To Sir, With Love: An Homage to Grandmaster Jhoon Rhee<\/a> \u2014 MAIA Hub.<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chicagonk.com\/the-root-of-national-karate-tae-kwon-do-master-jhoon-rhee-the-american-dream\/\">Master Jhoon Rhee: The Root &amp; the American Dream<\/a>.<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.edu\/sidedoor\/art-fist\">The Art of the Fist<\/a> \u2014 Smithsonian Institution.<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/mixedmartialarts.com\/best-of\/muhammad-ali-learned-martial-arts-master-jhoon-rhee\/\">The KO technique Ali learned from Jhoon Rhee<\/a>.<\/li><li>Obituaries: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/news\/asian-america\/jhoon-rhee-father-american-taekwondo-dies-age-86-n870396\">NBC News<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/2018\/04\/30\/jhoon-rhee-father-of-american-taekwondo-dies-at-age-86\/\">Baltimore Sun<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\"https:\/\/wjla.com\/news\/local\/father-of-taekwondo-jhoon-rhee-dies\">WJLA<\/a>.<\/li><\/ul>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Jhoon Rhee Institute &amp; Grandmaster Jeff Smith<\/h3>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Jhoon Rhee Institute became one of the most influential martial arts organizations in American history. <strong>Grandmaster Jeff Smith<\/strong> earned his black belt under Jhoon Rhee in 1969 and served as Senior Vice President of the Institute from 1970\u20131985, training and managing instructors across its Washington, D.C.-area locations \u2014 all while becoming the first PKA World Light-Heavyweight Kickboxing Champion.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/martialartswealth.com\/go\/media\/jeff-smith\/\">Grandmaster Jeff Smith in the Media<\/a> \u2014 full media page.<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/masterjeffsmith.com\/\">MasterJeffSmith.com<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Jeff_Smith_(martial_arts)\">Jeff Smith \u2014 Wikipedia<\/a>.<\/li><\/ul>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Stephen Oliver&#8217;s Jhoon Rhee Lineage<\/h3>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Stephen Oliver<\/strong> began training in 1969 under black belts teaching for the Jhoon Rhee Institute, completed his black belt in 1978 with one of the highest scores ever recorded on the Jhoon Rhee Black Belt Exam, and went on to instruct and manage for the Institute in Washington, D.C. He was promoted to 6th Degree by Jhoon Rhee himself in 1994 and to 7th Degree by Grandmaster Jeff Smith in 2001 \u2014 carrying the lineage forward through Mile High Karate, NAPMA, and Martial Arts Wealth Mastery.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/martialartswealth.com\/go\/media\/stephen-oliver\/\">Stephen Oliver in the Media<\/a> \u2014 full media page.<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.martialartsprofessional.com\/about-mapro\/about-stephen-oliver\/\">About Stephen Oliver \u2014 Biography<\/a>.<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/milehighkarate.com\/about-stephen-oliver\/\">About Stephen Oliver \u2014 Mile High Karate<\/a>.<\/li><\/ul>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Organizations: NAPMA, Martial Arts Professional &amp; Martial Arts Wealth<\/h3>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From this lineage grew the institutions that serve martial arts school owners today. Stephen Oliver became CEO and Chairman of the <strong>National Association of Professional Martial Artists (NAPMA)<\/strong>, founded in 1994, and lead developer of its flagship training programs. <strong>Martial Arts Professional<\/strong> magazine became the industry&#8217;s authority publication, and <strong>Martial Arts Wealth Mastery<\/strong> continues the mission of helping school owners build profitable, professional schools.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.martialartsprofessional.com\/\">Martial Arts Professional<\/a> \u2014 industry authority publication.<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.martialartsprofessional.com\/mapro-archive\/\">Martial Arts Professional Back-Issue Archive<\/a>.<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/martialartswealth.com\/go\/\">Martial Arts Wealth Mastery<\/a> \u2014 marketing and management for school owners.<\/li><\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The lineage behind Martial Arts Wealth Mastery \u2014 Grandmaster Jhoon Rhee, the Jhoon Rhee Institute, NAPMA, Martial Arts Professional, and the heritage connecting Stephen Oliver and Jeff Smith.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4637,"parent":4611,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4610","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Our Lineage: Jhoon Rhee, NAPMA &amp; 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