There are many titles for accomplishments in sports, but none is so prestigious in the hearts of fans as induction into the hall of fame.
And what makes enshrinement into the hall of fame so exalted is the rarefied company one keeps when inducted.
Quora writer J D Lamb explains:
Some 8,337 men played in major league baseball, yet only 312 players have been inducted into Cooperstown. That means only 1.2% of all who ever played can say they are in the Hall of Fame.
Lamb explains the selection process:
Four hundred forty baseball journalists (all credible) vote for the ten players they believe should be inducted each year. To be inducted, a player needs 75% of the vote. If a name on the ballot receives less than 5%, they are permanently removed.
Some eligibility guidelines are: the player is put on the ballot five years after retiring and can only be on for 15 years before they are taken off.
Induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame is also challenging.
The Football Hall of Fame has a 49-person Selection Committee consisting of one media representative from each pro football city — two from New York and two from Los Angeles. In addition, 17 at-large Selectors are active members of the media or involved in writing about professional football.
The Selection Committee meets annually to elect new members of the Hall of Fame. There is no set number of new enshrinees, but the Committee’s rules stipulate that between four and eight new members will be selected each year. Every candidate is thoroughly reviewed and must receive approval from at least 80% of the full Committee to be elected. A player or coach must have been retired for at least five years.
The Basketball Hall of Fame has four screening committees that review nominations. The players who pass the screening committees are examined next by the Honors Committee, made up of past Hall of Fame enshrines, media, and basketball executives. Players must be retired for at least five years. Successful candidates must receive at least 18 votes from the Honors Committee.
So if a man works hard and plays in his field at an elite level, he may one day make it to the hall of fame in his sport after he retires and sometimes after he dies.
So imagine my delight when I ran into eWingchun.com that told of a man, Master Alan Goldberg, who “has 36 years in the [martial] arts and has been inducted in 26 Halls of Fame.”
Twenty-six? How many distinguished sports writers from major cities and how many selection committees Master Goldberg must have dazzled over the years to get entry into 26 halls of fame is hard to imagine.
The website says Goldberg, who calls himself “The Godfather of Martial Arts World,” is “both Jason Lau (73-80) and Mot Yat’s (3 years in late 80s) eldest disciple & is publisher of Action Martial Arts Magazine. Holds Moy Yat Family Plaque #1.”
Master Alan Godberg
While I could not immediately find the list of 26 halls of fame for this exalted master, I looked into martial arts halls of fame online.
One of them, United States Martial Arts Hall of Fame, expresses its mission “is to recognize those martial artists that have made a profound difference.”
About 100 people achieve this profound distinction every year. Last year, among the 100, we found the “marital artist of the year,” Roberto Agostini.
We learn that “Roberto Agostini holds a Black Belt in Karate, and joined the Alliance Jiu-Jitsu School of Key Biscayne in 2020 after receiving his Blue Belt in Jiu-Jitsu. His instructor, Rodrigo Antunes, commends his commitment to the school, his passion to the Arts, and his outstanding ability to teach young students with great clarity, allowing them to grow and mature as experienced martial artists.”
It is unclear what accomplishments this young man achieved to become a Hall of Famer in just two years.
But his accomplishments may never live up to Professor Silverio Guerra, Ph.D., M.A., who founded the Universal Martial Arts Hall of Fame in Alvin, Texas.
He not only inducts hall of famers but if it takes one to know one, he is indeed knowledgeable. His website says he “has been inducted into 21 national and international Halls of Fame.”
Many halls of fame award martial artists with significant titles, such as
Master
Sensei
Sr. Grandmaster
Grandmaster
Hanshi
Shichidan
Associate Master
Sifu
Tuhon
Kyoshi Sensei
Shihan
Renshi
Sifu
Sahyun Nim
Si-Sung
Shichi
While the halls of famers have Asian titles, most are westerners.
The martial artists inducted are not tested for skill or required to win competitions.
Some Hall of Fames require a recommendation, and in a land of unsubstantiated accomplishment and black belts given or traded among friends – there is no standard measurement of skill.
A hall of fame inductee never has to break a brick or defeat another black belt to prove his qualification.
They are all on the honor system.
Many halls of fame members have Japanese, Korean, or Chinese titles but are westerners. Many call themselves professors or doctors, though it is unclear if their degree came from a university or was by self-designation.
Sensei Gary W. Baugh Jr.
Hanshi Dan Cliff Belschner
Shichidan Michael Gregston
Sifu Joshua Horne
Professor Kenneth R. Kellogg
Senior Professor Shawn Knight
Kyoshi Sensei Garry L. McKee
Master Dr. Davood Roostaei
Sifu Hector Santana Jr.
Si-Sung Angel A. Velazquez
Sr Master of the Arts Lee Wedlake
Most halls of fame have no permanent building or museum to enshrine inductees with their records and likenesses.
The halls of fame consist of a website and an annual event – usually a dinner and speeches – where awardees who paid to attend collect a trophy.
People who teach martial arts know it is hard to make money.
Students come and go. Lots of them are children. Parents pay perhaps $75 a month. The kid loses interest.
A teacher with 100 students might gross $7,500 a month. From that sum, he pays rent, utilities, insurance, advertising, etc. After expenses, he might make the same kind of living that an Uber driver makes.
But if you sell trophies, certificates, and plaques to supplement your income, with the allure that the payer will brag he is a member of the marital artists hall of fame, you can make a good living.
Because it is a business, you cannot afford to refuse people who want to buy trophies or get inducted.
Inductees of martial arts halls of fame are not famous athletes or competitors. No one will know if they have talent of not.
They are obscure, ordinary people who want a trophy for their living room wall or desk.
There are plenty of halls of fame to choose from, and if you decide to be a hall of fame martial artist, study [not martial arts but the different websites] and price compare. Not all trophies are the same.
Here are a few halls of fame.
ACTION MARTIAL ARTS MAGAZINE HALL OF HONORS
ALL-PRO TAE KWON DO HALL OF FAME
AMERICAN MARTIAL ARTS ALLIANCE LEGENDS AWARDS BANQUET
AUSTRALASIAN MARTIAL ARTS HALL OF FAME
BLACK BELT MAGAZINE HALL OF FAME
BUDO INTERNATIONAL AMERICA HALL OF FAME
CANADIAN BLACK BELT HALL OF FAME
WORLD MARTIAL ARTS HALL OF FAME
FILIPINO MARTIAL ARTS HALL OF FAME
INTERNATIONAL BLACK BELT ELITE MARTIAL ARTS AWARDS
INTERNATIONAL JUDO FEDERATION HALL OF FAME
KENPO INTERNATIONAL HALL OF FAME
KOREAN MARTIAL ARTS MASTERS HALL OF FAME
MARTIAL ARTS HISTORY MUSEUM HALL OF FAME
MARTIAL ARTS MASTERS, PIONEERS AND LEGENDS HALL OF FAME
NORTH AMERICAN SPORT KARATE ASSOCIATION (NASKA) HALL OF FAME
TEXAS MARTIAL ART HALL OF FAME CEREMONIES
UNITED STATES HEAD OF FAMILY MARTIAL ARTS ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONAL
UNITED STATES MARTIAL ARTISTS HALL OF FAME
UNIVERSAL MARTIAL ARTS ASSOCIATION HALL OF FAME
UNIVERSAL MARTIAL ARTS HALL OF FAME
WORLD HEAD OF FAMILY SOKESHIP COUNCIL
WORLD KARATE UNION HALL OF FAME
WORLD MARTIAL ARTS HALL OF FAME
If you are worried that you do not know a karate chop from the karate kid, don’t worry. The people who give membership into halls of fame rarely know who they give awards.
The World Martial Arts Hall of Fame wisely advises on their webpage dedicated to publishing its complete list of members, a list that starts with Ridgely Abele and ends with Chaka Zulu, that they might misspell your name, something perhaps likely since the World Martial Arts Hall of Fame misspells the word misspelled:
“Please Note: Because of our vast list of inductees, it is not uncommon to misspell or unknowingly leave a name out, and for this we sincerely apologize. If you are a past inductee and your name is not listed below or name is mispelled, please contact this office with name and year of induction and correction will be made promptly.”
Sometimes you have to be creative with titles.
Kyosah David Campo runs the Hall of Fame – Wisdom Way Martial Arts.. Campo has an impressive list of Halls of Fame inductions and list of awards, including the “Greatness Award,” the creatively named “Pinnacle Award of Success,” and “Esteemed Modern Warrior,” not to mention the “Lifetime Dedication to the Martial Arts Spirit Award,” which was creative, since he had already won the “Lifetime Dedication to the Martial Arts Award.”
Alan Goldberg runs the biggest of all martial arts halls of fame. Yes, the same Master Alan Goldberg who we mentioned above, who was inducted into 26 halls of fame.
He runs Action Martial Arts Magazine Hall of Fame. Though there is no regularly published Action Magazine, Goldberg turned his hall of fame into a money maker – giving out as many as 300 trophies each year for $249 each [$74,000].
But Goldberg puts on a three-day show with seminars and guests where people can network.
Another 700 awardees and their friends come to the dinner and get the hall of fame award at $100 each [$70,000].
But you do not have to come in person to get your hall of fame trophy or plaque. They can be mailed to your home or office.
Master Goldberg’s event culminates with a dinner with hundreds of awards. One attendee told me he was about 75th on the list to get an award.
The first few people who got the awards were watched attentively by the audience, comprised of mainly those who paid for hall of fame trophies.
After about half a dozen got awards, the audience became bored with the repetitiveness and began to ignore the awards and talk among themselves until it was their turn.
Still, Goldberg’s trophies are better in appearance than other halls of fame, but the induction standards are the same, which is to say there is no standard.
You pay the money; you get a trophy and induction into the hall of fame.
Goldberg claims he has a vetting process, but no one fails to get an award unless they don’t pay.
You can find people who show off their awards on social media.
Master Alan Goldberg has been inducted into 26 halls of fame and has inducted about 5,000 into his hall of fame.
He may qualify for the Hall of Fame Hall of Fame.
Alan Goldberg shows off his martial arts skill
A Goldberg Hall of Famer told me a dentist and his family, none of whom ever took a martial arts class, bought trophies and a certificate from Goldbnerg.
The family impressed their friends by displaying their trophies in their home.
Imagine the joy Master Alan Goldberg gave to a 12-year-old kid who never took a martial arts class, showing the kids in school, including the girls, that he was in the Hall of Fame.
Master Goldberg and his colleagues took the work out of what otherwise would be a challenging and grueling discipline.
You go straight to the top and join the elite. You don’t have to be retired for five years. You don’t even have to start.
