Grandmaster Kang

Born on January 17, 1933, in Shin Yang / Shim Yang, China, Grand Master Kang returned to Korea as a child and was shaped by the hardship, discipline, and cultural transformation of the Japanese occupation and the Korean War. His early martial-arts training included Kendo and Judo, and he later studied Tang Soo Do, Kong Soo Do, Tae Kwon Do, and related martial disciplines under several important teachers, including Hwang Ki, Chang Yong, Nam Sang Hyung, Koh Kwan Yu, Samyun Nam, and Kyeyoon Lee. During the Korean War, he served in a U.S.-aligned intelligence unit, held as a prisoner of war for three months, and escaped back to South Korea. By the 1950s, he was already teaching martial arts in Korea, including at the Korean Air Force Academy and Korean Air Force intelligence schools, while also operating private schools in several Korean cities. In 1957, he married Soo Hae Kang, and the family later grew to include five children and eight grandchildren.

In 1964, Grand Master Kang came to the United States as an official martial-arts master sent by the Korean government and invited through U.S. military connections to advance martial-arts skills and philosophy in America. That same year, with the help of early students, he founded his Sacramento dojang, which became United Arts College and later Kang’s United Arts College, one of the oldest continuing Moo Duk Kwan traditions in the nation. He taught Tae Kwon Do and Judo at California State University, Sacramento, earned a B.A. in physical education and a master’s degree in physiology / human movement, and retired from CSUS in 1999 after 29 years as a professor of physical education. He is credited with teaching approximately 70,000 students and promoting approximately 5,000 black belts. He was recognized by the Korean government for promoting Korean culture, helped establish Tae Kwon Do in American martial-arts life, taught internationally, and preserved his philosophy through writings and sayings such as “Mind Comes First” and “Tae Kwon Do cannot become the ultimate goal in our lives. It is merely a tool that shapes character.” Grand Master Kang passed away on November 23, 2012, but his dojang continues as a living legacy rooted in belief, respect, appreciation, traditional training, and service to others.