[Dan Evans]

Here is my story. You will read this, and think “man, does this guy like talking about himself!” But I swear, every episode highlighted here has a ton of stories, and this long treatise is a manifesto of restraint and brevity on my part.

I got involved with martial arts when I was really young. My Dad was an old-school martial artist like you don’t see nowadays. A vietnam era veteran, my Dad joined Ed Parker’s Kenpo organization in the late 60’s/Early 70’s, when the vets were coming home from the war and martial arts were new to America. I grew up on my Dad’s stories, and was enthralled by martial arts for as long as I can remember.

My Dad moved my family to Southern Oregon when I was six. There he discovered Tai Chi…there was a great teacher at the time, Steve Doob, and he went all in. When I was 8 or so, I started showing a real interest in defending myself. I was a chubby, sensitive kid in red-neck purgatory, so he figured I better learn to fight if he wanted me to see my 18th birthday. My first memories of getting lessons were in the back yard of my house, learning to stand at attention, and doing basic Kenpo blocks and kicks. A little later, I picked up the Yang Style short form (which I consider my first martial arts style), and I officially started taking classes when I was 13. I started with American Freestyle Karate (a style from a guy name Dan Anderson) at Rogue Community College in Grants Pass.

Karate changed my life. I had a couple of great teacher…Linda Harris, Scott (red-haired guy…can’t remember his last name), and Robert Rubio. Robert really adopted me, basically, and I studied under him until I left for college. When I earned my brown belt, he brought his whole Filipino family to witness it in the college gym. He hand-sewed my belt, and I have it today. Robert gave me family, confidence and courage, that serve me to this day, and kept me strong through some dark times. The family I feel with Wing Chun reminds me of those days.

I started college in Ashland, where I met Sensei Darrell Bloom at the Siskiyou Aikikai, and I learned that martial arts wasn’t just punches and kicks, but also meditation and spiritual practice. I also had a brief stint in Shotokan Karate under Master George Clark (“Haaardshhhhip breeeeds CHARACHTER!”), which I took for credits. Somewhere in there, my Dad and I took a class in San Soo Kung Fu under Sifu Michael Mirdad, who owned a new-age crystal/book shop in Ashland, which I still remember (I just googled Michael, and he is now styling himself as a spiritual teacher, healer, and mystic in Sedona, AZ). I finished college at Lewis and Clark in Portland. I took Master Choi’s Taekwondo, which was offered as a class for credit, and did lots of tournament fighting. I also continued Aikido studies at the Multnomah Aikikai under Sensei Frank Apodaca, so in all I managed four years of Aikido.

After college with my sweet English degree, I went through a period I like to call “what the fuck do I do with myself now?!?”…I worked at restaurant jobs and later started temping. This period marked the longest time I went without martial arts, around six months. I got hired at a big bank, and laid off three months later. Around this time, I met my then girlfriend, now wife. My big bank offered to relocate me for a job in San Francisco, so I did that.

In SF, you might imagine I joined a secret conclave of old world Chinese martial arts masters, but sadly, no. There were two options near my flat…Doc Fai Wong’s school in the Sunset near my house, or Song Om Taekwondo under Michael Brantseg. I went to Doc Fai Wong’s school, where they taught me the salute, which literally was yelling “Doc Fai Wong” while we punchy-kickied. Nah bro, not for me. Michael’s Taekwondo school was really cool, and he was a national champion with badass skills, so I did that. Serious opportunity missed…Wing Chun in San Francisco!

A year and a half in SF and my girfriend, now wife, welcomed my daughter into this world, and we decided that SF was no place to raise a family when you are broke-ass. At the ripe old age of 23-24, we moved back to PDX to raise our daughter. Shortly after arriving in Portland, I found the art I was to commit to for the next 20 years. The style was called Sheng Hun Kung Fu, and my teacher was Shifu Gary Schaefer. One of the Shifus there was none other than our own William Baird, who is now part of our Wing Chun school. After around 5 or 6 years, I earned my black belt under Gary, and began teaching for him. A while later, maybe 10 years in, he had a nasty divorce with his wife, and he moved to Northern California. Me and a couple other guys took over his school and ran it for several years. We kept it going for a while, but then things went bad, so me and some of the guys took Sheng Hun underground and started teaching out of garages, warehouses, gyms…wherever we could find a place to punch each other. I really love Sheng Hun, but this period wasn’t super positive. My teacher went from never wanting to be commercial to “why aren’t you selling more patches”…I have a lot of good friends from this art that I train with today, so I will leave this there.

After many years in a style that no one has heard of, I decided the check out a style that everyone has heard of. I found Sifu Ray on Barbur Boulevard, which was some sort of bait and switch bullshit. See, he got me hooked on the Wing Chun junk, then started to move further and further away! At Barbur, I fell in love with Wing Chun, and decided this was the style I wanted to do from here on out. It made me comfortable within a range that always scared the hell out of me. I call it the “Close talking uncle” of martial arts. I like to freak out my own students by getting all close and personal, Wing Chun style. “Hey buddy, how you doin? Smell what I had for lunch?”

I am really grateful for what I have found at Lightning Hands, although I can’t hide my disappointment at never being about to spray lightning from my hands, Palpatine style (false advertising?). I feel incredibly lucky to be on this journey, and Sifu Ray’s class offers a rare sense of community that feels like a capstone to my experience, and a promise for more. In our orbit are Steve and Wes, great teachers and standard bearers in their own right. There is support, tenure, and accomplishment within this school. I have seen a lot, and I know not to take something like this for granted.

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