Straight Lead. Teri Tom

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      Figure 3: Jack Dempsey.

      Dempsey was a major influence on the JKD straight lead. Indeed, in his own copy of Championship Fighting, Bruce had underlined key words from the above passage. Among them were “putting body weight in fast motion,” “power line,” “shoulder whirl,” “trigger step,” and “three-knuckle landing.” These are issues that we’ll soon address in greater detail.

      T H E B A D B O Y O F F E N C I N G

      Of the Straight Lead Triumvirate, I’ve saved the most colorful character for last: Aldo Nadi, fencing legend and four-time Olympic medalist at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics, whose offthe-strip escapades were every bit as thrilling as his fencing triumphs.

      Loaded with an arrogance that is justified when accompanied by genius, Nadi’s contempt for the rest of the world was also driven by an intense passion for fencing. These polarized sides of Nadi impart a sense of urgency to his treatise On Fencing. Among the benefits to be derived from the foil, he lists general health, intellectual acuity, body composition, scholastic achievement, values, and character building. Simply put, “Man is how he behaves sword in hand.”¹⁶

      And while Nadi was obviously driven to write On Fencing by his love for the sport, he too was alarmed by what he saw as the decline of his sport, particularly in America. “In matters of tradition and principle,” he wrote, “I fear the word compromise cannot be found in my vocabulary, let alone in my academy.”¹⁷

      Like Dempsey, Nadi was frustrated by the dearth of quality teachers of his art:

      What confounds the qualified teacher is that anyone, here, can proclaim himself a Fencing Master overnight, and get away with it. Many old masters must be turning in their graves; and if they could only join us for a while, they would certainly say something on the subject. The history of fencing tells us that this art was developed throughout the centuries via death and blood, and gradually mastered as a science by hundreds of scholars who devoted their entire lives to its study and research.

      It appears that many American teachers take half a dozen lessons (perhaps from another self-appointed teacher), read hurriedly a treatise of most doubtful value, and quickly obtain a position at a suitable university, college, or high school. In a similar way, I might apply for a chair of higher mathematics, or surgery, in one of our universities. Instead of landing the job however, I might be politely escorted to an asylum.¹⁸

      Figure 4: Aldo Nadi (Photo by Rudolf courtesy of Laureate Press).

      Known for his playboy antics and apparent bitterness, Nadi developed a reputation as something of a bad boy, and this naturally spilled over into his approach to fencing technique. His raised left heel, a Nadi trademark adopted by Bruce Lee, is to this day considered bad form. “All fencing teachers will tell you to keep both feet constantly flat on the strip,” he wrote. “I say—No.”¹⁹ Trying to understand this rule boggles the mind, because it is nearly impossible to maintain springy mobility while trying to keep your left heel on the ground. Try it sometime. It’s almost physiologically impossible to be fast and mobile while keeping both feet flat. There’s a reason why we call slowpokes flatfooted.²⁰

      In line with Nadi’s break from tradition, it’s not surprising that Bruce Lee—with his disdain for classical, rigid training lacking scientific investigation—would be influenced by Nadi’s On Fencing. I suppose the reasons that modern fencers still practice with the heel down—even while they claim Nadi’s footwork was his greatest strength—are the same reasons that modern martial artists fail to investigate the advantages of the straight lead. But what those reasons are remains a mystery.

      N O T E S

      1 M. Uyehara, Bruce Lee: The Incomparable Fighter (Santa Clarity, CA: Ohara Publications, Inc., 1988), p. 15.

      2 In conversation with Ted Wong, March 18, 2004.

      3 Bruce Lee, ed. John Little, Letters of the Dragon: Correspondence, 1958 – 1973 (Boston: Tuttle Publishing, 1998), pp. 110–111.

      4 Ibid., p. 60.

      5 Ted Wong with John Little, “Bruce Lee’s Lead Punch: Ted Wong Explains Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do’s Most Explosive Technique!” Bruce Lee: The Offical Publication & Voice of the Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do Nucleus, June 2000, p. 67.

      6 In conversation with Ted Wong, June 8, 2004.

      7 Captain John Godfrey ed. W.C. Heinz, “The Useful Science of Defence” in The Fireside Book of Boxing (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1961), pp. 158–162. “The Useful Science of Defence” was the first printed work on boxing. Godfrey was a regular at Figg’s Amphitheater. An avid fencer and boxer, he was quick to point out the natural evolution of boxing out of fencing. Published in 1747, the book was a huge commercial success, and two copies currently reside in the British Museum.

      8 Jim Driscoll, The Straight Left and How To Cultivate It (London: Athletic Publications, LTD.), p. 20. Driscoll summed up the evolution of the rapier:

      To put my argument in other words, the “Bear-Cat” brigade are bludgeon fighters, who disdain the use of the rapier, for the simple reason that they are utterly ignorant of the finer points of the game. Yet the whole history of single combat refutes their argument. Man did not abandon the club as a weapon because he preferred the rapier as a parlour pastime, but because the sword proved itself to be the more useful weapon. And it was by similar process of discovery that the axe, which had superseded the club, gave way to the sword and buckler, then to the case of swords,until even the broadsword and sabre were abandoned in favour of the rapier.

      9 Lee, ed. John Little, Jeet Kune Do: Bruce Lee’s Commentaries on the Martial Way (Boston: Tuttle Publishing, 1997), p. 210.

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