Richard Bustillo (January 28, 1942 – March 30, 2017) was an American martial arts instructor from

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

who was a student of the late

Bruce Lee Bruce Lee (born Lee Jun-fan; November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973) was an American-born Hong Kong martial artist, actor, filmmaker, and philosopher. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy which was formed from ...

and an authority on

Jeet Kune Do Jeet Kune Do (/ˌdʒiːt kuːn ˈdoʊ/; zh, c=截拳道, l=stop fist way' or 'way of the intercepting fist, j=zit6 kyun4 dou6; abbreviated JKD) is a hybrid martial art conceived and practiced by martial artist Bruce Lee. It was formed from ...

Concepts and Filipino Martial Arts.

Martial arts

Bustillo began studying martial arts at the age of 8 with eskrima in his native Hawaii at the Gray

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

Center in Palolo Valley, Hawaii under his father. He learned to

box A box (plural: boxes) is a container with rigid sides used for the storage or transportation of its contents. Most boxes have flat, parallel, rectangular sides (typically rectangular prisms). Boxes can be very small (like a matchbox) or v ...

when he was 10 and competed in

PAL Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a color encoding system for analog television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...

boxing under the Veterans Boxing Club in Honolulu's Aala Park. At the age of 14, Bustillo studied

Kajukenbo Kajukenbo ( Japanese: カジュケンボ) is a hybrid martial art from Hawaii. It was developed in the late 1940s and founded in 1947 in the Palama Settlement on Oahu, Territory of Hawaii. Kajukenbo training incorporates a blend of striking, ...

with the Kempo/Karate Club of Waipahu until graduating from High School and moving to California to pursue a college education. While a college student at age 19, he competed in tournaments such as the

Golden Gloves The Golden Gloves of America is an organization that promotes annual competitions of amateur boxing in the United States, in which winners are awarded a belt and a ring, and the title of national champion. The organization currently owns 30 fr ...

, Silver Gloves, Blue & Gold and other amateur boxing shows for Shaw's Boxing Gym in Los Angeles. At age 24 Bustillo began his study of Jeet Kune Do under Bruce Lee at the Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute in Los Angeles. In 1967, with training partner Dan Inosanto, Bustillo researched and studied the Filipino martial arts (kali, escrima, arnis) under Angel Cabales and other instructors. This began a revival of these arts with worldwide interest. In 1976, Bustillo was promoted by Sifu Inosanto to senior instructor level in Bruce Lee's Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do. In 1978 Bustillo studied Muay Thai and achieved the title Kru (teacher) in 1985 from Thailand's former Olympian and Muay Thai Champion Veerachat "Nanfa" Satenglam. Bustillo taught

, Filipino martial arts,

Boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

Muay Thai Muay Thai or Muaythai (, , ), sometimes referred to as Thai boxing, the Art of Eight Limbs or the Science of Eight Limbs, is a Thai martial art and full-contact combat sport that uses stand-up striking, sweeps, and various clinch fighting, cl ...

wrestling Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting combat sport, sport based on strike (attack), striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-s ...

and other arts at his

Torrance, California Torrance is a coastal city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area located in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city is part of what is known as the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay region of the metropolitan ...

school, the IMB Academy. He was certified by the

U.S. Olympic Training Center The United States Olympic & Paralympic Training Centers (OPTCs) are two campuses created by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) as training facilities for its Olympic Games, Olympic and Paralympic athletes. They are located i ...

as a coach and official for U.S. Amateur Boxing in Southern California. He was a certified Guro (instructor) in the Filipino arts of

Kali Kali (; , ), also called Kalika, is a major goddess in Hinduism, primarily associated with time, death and destruction. Kali is also connected with transcendental knowledge and is the first of the ten Mahavidyas, a group of goddesses who p ...

Escrima Arnis, also known as kali or eskrima/escrima, is the national martial art of the Philippines. These three terms are, sometimes, interchangeable in referring to traditional martial arts of the Philippines (" Filipino Martial Arts", or FMA), wh ...

, and

Arnis Arnis, also known as kali or eskrima/escrima, is the national martial art of the Philippines. These three terms are, sometimes, interchangeable in referring to traditional martial arts of the Philippines (" Filipino Martial Arts", or FMA), wh ...

; holding eleven degree black belt (under SGM Cacoy Canete in November 2011) and the title Grand Master by the

Doce Pares Doce Pares (Spanish for ''Twelve Peers'') is a Filipino martial art and a form of Arnis, Kali and Eskrima, that focuses primarily on stick fighting, knife fighting and hand-to-hand combat but also covers grappling and other weapons as well. In r ...

organization of Cebu City, Philippines. Bustillo was a member of the Black Belt Hall of Fame (Instructor of the Year 1989) and the World Martial Arts Hall of Fame. Bustillo was recognized by the Council of Grandmasters of the Philippines as ninth degree Black Belt (Grandmaster) in

. Bustillo was a certified law enforcement defensive tactics instructor and a member of the American Society of Law Enforcement Trainers. Additionally, Bustillo was a member of the Search & Rescue Team of the

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD), officially the County of Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, is a law enforcement agency serving Los Angeles County, California. LASD is the largest sheriff's department in the United States a ...

and was a Reserve Peace Officer. He continued to train with martial artists such as the Machado (Brazilian) Jujitsu USA Team. In addition, he was well known for promoting the Filipino Martial Arts. Bustillo was a founding member of the Bruce Lee Foundation and was the Jeet Kune Do Instructor to Bruce Lee's children,

Brandon Lee Brandon Bruce Lee (February 1, 1965 – March 31, 1993) was an American actor. Establishing himself as a rising action star in the early 1990s, he landed what was to be his breakthrough role as Eric Draven in the supernatural superhero fi ...

and

Shannon Lee Shannon Emery Lee Keasler (born April 19, 1969) is an American actress, businesswoman, singer, and martial artist. She is the only living child of actor and martial artist Bruce Lee and retired martial arts teacher Linda Lee Cadwell, and is t ...

Legacy

Together, with Guro Dan Inosanto, Bustillo is credited with generating worldwide interest in the study of Jeet Kune Do and Filipino Martial Arts. In 1976, Bustillo and Inosanto founded the Filipino Kali Academy in Torrance, California. Shortly after this school was founded, Bustillo became popular as a workshop instructor, even teaching Martial Arts to the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...

under coaches

Tom Landry Thomas Wade Landry ( ; September 11, 1924 – February 12, 2000) was an American professional football coach, player, and World War II veteran. Regarded as one of the greatest head coaches of all time, he was the first head coach of the Dallas ...

and Bob Ward with Dan Inosanto. He founded the IMB Academy in Carson, California, in 1984. He later moved the school to nearby Torrance, California. Bustillo died on March 30, 2017. IMB Academy continues to run under longtime IMB Academy students Esteban De LA Cruz and Nicole Mangabat.

References

External links

IMB Academy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bustillo, Richard 1942 births 2017 deaths People from Oahu American eskrimadors American Jeet Kune Do practitioners American male Muay Thai practitioners American kajukenbo practitioners American martial artists of Filipino descent