Home › About Jeff › Jeff Smith Timeline: 1965 to Today

Grand Master Jeff Smith’s career spans more than sixty years: from a Texas college karate club in 1965, to the first PKA World Light Heavyweight title in 1974, to fifteen years as a Jhoon Rhee Institute executive, his own schools from 1981, U.S. team coach, and today Chief of Instruction at Mile High Karate and Martial Arts Wealth Mastery and President of Sports Operations at PKA Worldwide.

Timeline, 1965 to today

Year Event Place People Source
1965 Begins training at the Texas A&I karate club, about age 14 Kingsville, Texas Jhoon Rhee network 1,2
1966 First tournament Houston, Texas — 3
Sept 1969 Earns 1st Degree black belt Texas Jhoon Rhee lineage 2,4
1970 Graduates Texas A&I; moves to Washington at Jhoon Rhee’s invitation Washington, D.C. Jhoon Rhee 1,5
1972 Pan American Grand Champion; Top 10 Nationals light-heavyweight champion; Black Belt cover (December) Baltimore; St. Louis John Worley, Pat Worley 6,7
1973 Second straight Top 10 Nationals title; beats Bill Wallace and Howard Jackson Ocean City; St. Louis; Dallas Bill Wallace, Howard Jackson, Jhoon Rhee 8,9,10
1973–74 First recipient of the Bruce Lee Award Dallas Linda Lee 11,12
May 1974 U.S. team tour of Europe West Berlin; Amsterdam; Paris Joe Lewis, Bill Wallace, Jim Butin, Howard Jackson 13
Sept 14, 1974 First PKA World Light Heavyweight Champion Los Angeles Sports Arena Mike Anderson, Wally Slocki, Budimir Vejnovic 14,15
1974 Named No. 1 point fighter in the U.S. by Professional Karate — — 1,16
July 1975 Title defense: TKO of Jim Butin Washington, D.C. Jim Butin 9
Oct 1, 1975 Beats Karriem Allah for a Don King–sanctioned heavyweight title on the Thrilla in Manila card Capital Centre, Landover, Md. Karriem Allah, Don King 17,18
1976 Title defenses vs. Arno Koschnik and Wally Slocki Paris; Atlanta Joe Corley 9,16
1977 Title defense vs. Jim Horsley Charlotte, N.C. — 16
1978 Title defense vs. Dominique Valera Paris Dominique Valera 16,19
1979 Loses world title to Dan Macaruso by split decision, his only professional loss — Dan Macaruso 9
1980 Wins U.S. light-heavyweight title vs. Carl Beamon — Carl Beamon 9
1981 Founds World Champion Jeff Smith Karate Northern Virginia — 20
1982 Named in The Washington Post as vice president of the Jhoon Rhee Institute Washington, D.C. Jhoon Rhee 21
1983 Helps Stephen Oliver launch Mile High Karate Denver, Colorado Stephen Oliver 22,23
1986 Appears with Jhoon Rhee at congressional black-belt ceremony Russell Senate Office Building Jhoon Rhee, Michael Coles 24
1987 Coaches U.S. team at WAKO World Championships; U.S. sweeps all three World Team Cups Munich Bill Wallace, Chuck Merriman 25
1990 U.S. finishes top nation at WAKO World Championships Venice (Mestre) — 26,22
2001 Recognizes Stephen Oliver as 7th Degree — Stephen Oliver 27
2003 Students earn black belts at World Champion Jeff Smith Karate, Sterling Sterling, Va. — 28
2006 Joins Mile High Karate corporate team as franchise system launches; promotes Oliver to 8th Degree with Joe Corley Denver Stephen Oliver, Joe Corley 29,27
2007 Inducted into the Taekwondo Hall of Fame — — 30,31
2008 Martial Arts Professional Lifetime Achievement Award — — 32
2013 Joe Lewis Eternal Warrior Award Battle of Atlanta Joe Corley, Bill Wallace 31,33
2015 Sits on board promoting Stephen Oliver to 9th Degree — Bill Wallace, Pat Burleson, Joe Corley 27,34
June 2016 Promoted to 10th Degree and Grand Master by the Professional Karate Commission Battle of Atlanta Glenn Keeney, Allen Steen, Pat Johnson, Pat Burleson 31,3
2017 Cover and Lifetime Achievement section, Who’s Who in the Martial Arts Legends Edition — — 31
Nov 2022 Named President of Sports Operations, PKA Worldwide — Joe Corley 35,36
2026 Co-authors Extraordinary Teaching with Stephen Oliver — Stephen Oliver 31,37
April 2026 Promotes Stephen Oliver to 10th Degree — Stephen Oliver 38
Today Chief of Instruction, Mile High Karate and Martial Arts Wealth Mastery; President of Sports Operations, PKA Worldwide — Stephen Oliver 22,39

For the full narrative, read Grand Master Jeff Smith: A Documented History.

Related pages

Work with Grand Master Jeff Smith

School owners can book a free Growth Diagnostic: 30 minutes with Grand Master Jeff Smith and 30 minutes with Grand Master Stephen Oliver. See how it works.

Sources

  1. Herb Borkland, “The Champion Who Conquered the Ring and the School Business,” MAIA Hub
  2. International Kickboxing Federation, “Jeff Smith” biography page
  3. Martial Arts Who’s Who Directory, “Jeff Smith” listing
  4. MasterJeffSmith.com
  5. Go2Karate, “Jeff Smith Interview”
  6. “Top 10 Nationals 1972,” contemporaneous magazine report reprinted at Backkicks
  7. Black Belt, “The Flying Side Kick”
  8. “Top 10 Nationals 1973,” contemporaneous magazine report reprinted at Backkicks
  9. Karate in English (Lewis–Wallace history blog), “Jeff ‘DC Bomber’ Smith” fight chronology
  10. “U.S. Championships 1973,” contemporaneous magazine report reprinted at Backkicks
  11. USAdojo, “Jeff Smith” profile
  12. Japanese Bruce Lee fan blog translating a Linda Lee statement on the Bruce Lee trophy
  13. Backkicks, “All-Style Karate 1974”
  14. “World Professional Karate Championships 1974,” contemporaneous magazine report reprinted at Backkicks
  15. Wikipedia, “Professional Karate Association”
  16. USAdojo, “The History of Karate in America”
  17. Martial Arts Professional, “Jeff Smith Interview”
  18. Martial Arts Professional, “Elvis Presley and Karate: The Documented History” (2026)
  19. Los Tres Dragones de Occidente, “Biografía de Dominique Valera”
  20. Jeff Smith’s Mile High Karate, “Who We Are”
  21. Lynn Darling, “Fleet Feet Fantasies,” The Washington Post, May 13, 1982
  22. Martial Arts Wealth Mastery, “Leadership Lessons from Grand Master Jeff Smith”
  23. Martial Arts Professional, “Stephen Oliver Biography”
  24. “Kapower Politics!,” The Washington Post, June 25, 1986
  25. “Kickboxing World Championships (WAKO, 1987),” contemporaneous magazine report reprinted at Backkicks
  26. Wikipedia, “W.A.K.O. World Championships 1990”
  27. Martial Arts Professional, “Stephen Oliver’s Mile High Karate: Background Information”
  28. “Young Black Belts: Triplets,” The Washington Post, June 15, 2003
  29. Mile High Franchise, “Team”
  30. Taekwondo Hall of Fame, Hall of Fame page
  31. Wikipedia, “Jeff Smith (martial arts)”
  32. Martial Arts Professional, “Lifetime Achievement Awards”
  33. MAIA Hub, “John Corcoran: The Pen Is Still Mightier Than the Sword”
  34. Martial Arts Wealth Mastery, “Stephen Oliver”
  35. MixedMartialArts.com, “Kickboxing & Martial Arts Legend Jeff Smith President of Sports Operations, PKA Worldwide”
  36. Taekwondo Life Magazine, “BLEAV in PKA Worldwide”
  37. Martial Arts Wealth Mastery, “Extraordinary Teaching” page
  38. LinkedIn post by Stephen Oliver on his 10th-degree promotion
  39. PKA Worldwide, “Team”