Against All Odds: My Story by Chuck Norris, Abraham Norris, Ken Chuck, Chuck Ken; Norris Abraham, Ken Abraham Read Free Book Online Page B

Angeles later that same day, but I had only nine cents in my pocket. At that time most pay phones required a dime to make even a collect call. With less than two minutes before my plane closed its doors, I finally found someone who would give me a dime in exchange for my nine cents. I quickly dialed the number and told Dianne that I was on my way home!
    Reestablishing my relationship with Dianne, however, proved to be more difficult than I'd anticipated. Like many military couples, we had married young, and now, after having been apart for more than a year while I'd been in Korea, we both had changed, matured in many ways, and become disenchanted in others. Although Dianne and I had communicated regularly by mail throughout my absence, resuming ordinary, day-to-day life together was extremely stressful. It soon became obvious that not only had we been physically separated; we had grown apart in our relationship, as well.
    Nevertheless, we were determined to hold our marriage together. We consciously worked at restoring our relationship, starting by getting to know each other again. It wasn't easy, but we worked through the readjustment period and came out stronger for it. Undoubtedly, part of my willingness to stick to it was a direct result of the perseverance I had learned through my instruction in tang soo do.
    Back home I continued practicing tang soo do on my own, using a large tree in front of our house as a punching bag. Whenever I passed by, I stopped to pound on it for a few minutes to keep my knuckles hard and calloused. Passersby who spotted me punching a tree must have thought I was nuts!
    Japanese Karate was becoming a well-known martial art in the United States in the early 1960s, but no karate classes existed at the base, so I found a judo club and joined immediately. I began competing in matches and won enough to earn a trip to Seattle, Washington, for the 15th Division Air Force Judo Championships. In judo, competitors are matched by weight, not by rank. About forty of us in my weight division, ranging from white belts (beginners) to black belts, all competed against one another. I beat three black belts and made it into the semifinals along with two black belts and a white belt.
    Before my next match, I hoped I would be lucky enough to draw the white belt as my opponent. I was confident I could beat him and then go on to the finals. We drew numbers from a basket to determine the matchups, and I got my wish! I drew the white belt.
    In my mind I had already won the match with him. After all, I had beaten three black belts. But I had forgotten that my opponent had gotten to the top the same way. When we got on the mat, I expected an easy win but soon found I was in a real battle, one that I eventually lost. After the match I congratulated my opponent and told him he was one of the strongest men I had ever encountered.
    “I'm a lumberjack by trade,” he explained.
    “Now I know why trying to move you around was like trying to move an oak tree,” I said.
    In addition to competing in judo matches, I kept practicing tang soo do by myself at the base. One day a couple of GIs saw me doing some kicks. They were intrigued and asked me to teach them. I went through the proper military channels and received permission to start a karate club on the base, using the auditorium as a training area. I didn't mention tang soo do , but simply used the more familiar term karate instead because everyone had at least heard of karate, and few if any had any knowledge of tang soo do .
    At the opening meeting of the karate club, I planned to put on a demonstration and give a little talk. I wasn't worried about the martial arts portion of my program, but I was scared stiff to stand up and speak in public. Although I was twenty-one years old, the thought of speaking before an audience still terrified me. I decided to write a speech and memorize it. I wrote out what I wanted to say and then tape-recorded myself reading it. I listened