Moving From My
Present Home to
Massachusetts
Within the next two months, give or take, I will be moving from Long Island, N.Y. to the State of Massachusetts. One of my children, Erin, already is in Massachusetts and a second daughter, Lisa, and her family will also be moving there, as well. Two of my sons are in New Jersey and North Carolina. Living on Long Island is exorbitantly costly for everything must be shipped into the area, which tacks on the carrier’s prices and extra taxes, while, simultaneously; the values of the homes are too steep. Selling my present home and buying a more comfortable house, with more space for far less than our present home, is simple mathematics. We will have more of my income to save, as well.
However, since Sensei Don Nagle, designated me to be his successor, on his death bed, since I was his best fighter in the dojo at Camp Lejeune, N.C. I lost my first three matches to a green belt, “Little Joe Fournier,” and never lost another match in that or any other dojo I went to, over the next fifty years, despite the fact that I had some incredibly ferocious fighters, such as Richie Bell, Frank Black, Bobby Baker, Frank Klos and John Pinghero (whom I had to tell him he was not allowed to do his back-spinning kick to the opponent’s head) and Barry Steinberg, who may have been the fastest moving fighter I ever saw. I was able to beat them and maintain the number one spot in all of my dojos. Also, as we grew many of those students opened their own dojos, such as Nick Adler, who turned out some awesome fighters, himself, and they won many championships. On top of that, this was the era when we actually struck each other with full focus and many were dropped for the count.
Many good memories over more than fifty years, flood back to my mind, such as the time that Bob Baker paired off with John Dombrowski and John kept trying to strike Bobby and finally, Bobby struck him in the face with a front snap kick, leaving John face down with blood pouring from several points on his face. He was carried off the deck and was back for the next session. That is the way it was in the fifties and sixties. Sensei broke my nose twice and three of my ribs, three separate times.
When I go to Massachusetts I will look for a Judo dojo and try to get an Isshin-ryu karate class started. I will still come to Master Passero’s Annual Dinner and Tournament. I will not break the chain, until I am with Sensei in kumite!
Edward F. McGrath, Ju-Dan
Grand Master, Isshin-ryu
Successor to G.M. Don Nagle