History
George Bruckner
The fifty-year-old pioneer of German karate and president of European WAKO, Bruckner is the prime mover of European contact karate. Married but childless, he says full-contact is his baby.
I had first seen his round face and prematurely bald head in European karate magazines and I met him in person at the 1978 German contact karate championships. Wearing a gray sweater, his metal watch worn over the sleeve, light trousers and a leather jacket, he had bags under his eyes and some beard stubble, both evidence of tiredness. These details impressed me because since then I've always seen Georg Bruckner in same clothes and physical condition, yet he owns one of the best dojos I've ever seen. It's equipped with all sorts of physical fitness machines and has space for contact karate, jujitsu and judo, an enormous sauna, three full-time secretaries, an in-house snack-bar and superb martial arts video library with over 100 tapes, offering members and guests a chance to see major historical events, like the 1973 Berlin meeting between Europeans and the best ever American team with Howard Jackson, Bill Wallace, Jeff Smith, Joe Lewis and Bob Bountim, or the May 25 th matches in Paris between Europe and the USA which marked the beginning of full contact in Europe. The Berlin Karate Institute offers a great deal of free activities. You can watch videos of all the masters, you can train and exchange experiences with Bruckner or you can spar with the three hundred contact karate practitioners which include world full-contact champions. Not only does Bruckner have the most fantastic dojo, he also has the strongest team of all Europe. He travels on his silver BMW and wherever he goes he's followed by his two cameramen, three secretaries and a mountain of Sony video equipment to film each championship from the beginning to the end. Furthermore, two Volkswagen vans carry his team, the mats needed for three combat areas plus all the protective gear. Despite his occasional fits of anger when he barks orders right and left over the mike, you can't help being impressed by his Prussian idea of organization which demands everything being done smoothly and precisely.
Bruckner is the pillar of European contact karate. If WAKO's complex structure weren't backed by his passion and devotion it could hardly be successful. His story is that of a man deeply enamored with martial arts, having practiced them, from ju-jutsu to judo to taekwondo to Japanese karate and finally to contact karate. Everything he earns he immediately reinvests in his business. He keeps on working like a madman and if something goes wrong, he gets angry, perhaps too angry, but he only has to phone the VIPs of our field and they'll respond immediately to his call for help, as he knows everybody, from Ochiai in New York, to Park Yoong Soo in Canada and Mikami in New Orleans. He can organize an event on a moment's notice and has repeatedly filled the Berlin Hall with ten thousand paying spectators, sometimes losing a good deal of money. He has personally financed all the European full contact championships in Germany and all German full contact operations pass through his hands.
Such a remarkable person could not be ignored, so after following him around for four days at the world championships in Berlin, I was finally able to corner him at the bar and have him tell me his story.
Q. Is the rage we see explode at times real or just an act?
A. Sometimes I have to do it, otherwise they won't budge. I want my events to succeed not only on the technical but also on the organization level. I'm a perfectionist as the martial arts have taught me to be. No, I'm not hot-tempered, just a passing storm and then I'm my usual serene self.
Q: How would you describe a person like yourself?
A. I'm creative, that's the right word. You see, I started in the martial arts with judo in 1952, but at a certain point I realized only physical strength counted in that sport. They're lying when they tell you a little guy can beat a stocky one with technique alone. So I started looking for a way to beat somebody without superior strength. I have always been driven by my inner search for truth, so I looked for something concrete, efficient not just ethereal philosophies. Today, after 20 years, I've found what makes us free and enables us to advance. I discovered it in 1969 when I went to the USA and saw that contact karate was actually putting everybody on a par, the great equalizer, whether they be Chinese, Korean, Japanese or American.
I saw 3 huge tournaments with over 1000 participants and was mesmerized. Since then I've been trying to create the same thing in Europe by launching contact karate.
Q. You were talking about "efficiency". Is that what you primarily look for in a martial art or beauty, or something else?
A. If something isn't efficient I cannot call it a fighting technique. I'm interested in nothing else.
Q. Why do you always dress the same way? Your appearance seems to contradict the success of your gym and business.
Q. Your outward appearance doesn't count, your brain is what counts and definitely your heart. I'm not the groomed type, I only want to perform well in what I do. I know quite a few "dandies" with gold chains who change their clothes every day, but they are brainless and cannot create anything in their lives. I own no house, I'm a renter, I have very few clothes and I reinvest everything I earn into the martial arts. Actually I've already spent today what I'll be earning in the next ten years.
Q: Are you married?
A,. Yes. My wife is a high school economic geography teacher. No kids, we were poor when we got married and so we couldn't afford any. Then, we became older and here we are.
Q. We might say, then, that contact karate is your child, given your devotion, energy and the money you pour into it.
A. Yes, certainly. Contact is my baby. I love it more and more everyday. I saw it being born and grow. I have a dream of it becoming an Olympic discipline and one day it will have to be recognized because it's absurd to think that just one style, Japanese, be recognized over all the others. Why not the Chinese or the Korean style? One thing is sure, Karate will be represented in the Olympics only when it's devoid of philosophy and open to everybody. It cannot be other than contact.
Q. You have tried bringing the greatest champions to Europe, drawing ten thousand paying spectators to the Deutschlandshalle. How does the aftermath feel when you draw the bottom line and see that you have lost a lot of money?
A. It's disappointing. I love my public and I know for sure they have always enjoyed my events. The press has disappointed me the most. In Germany they only talk about football, and I wonder who these reporters are, if they have a heart or brain since they only feed football to the public. That's why we have to create our own information channels, it's fundamental.
Q. Who among the athletes or the masters has impressed you the most during your life spent in the martial arts?
A. Just a few people, the Korean Park Yoong Soo who lives in Toronto, Bill Wallace, Jeff Smith and Howard Jackson.
Q. How do you view the European contact situation?
A. Tomorrow we're holding the first World Championships and I'm happy. Do you want to know why? Because, in every European country there are a few enlightened people who have worked and keep working for our future. We have definitely crossed a new threshold of karate. We cannot yet say whether it's better of worse than the previous one, but surely we have done a lot more in two years than the rest of the world. We have reached a superb level in Europe that allows me to hope for a grand future. We have overcome the gap that divided us from the USA and today I believe European WAKO has developed a sound pool of excellent athletes who in due time will give Europe the upper hand in this sport. Tomorrow the entire world will have to bow before European athletes. Anyway, you need lots of time when you're building a new world.