PLIMSHOF Inductee #3
Professor Fleming (Bo) Hardy
DOB: 06/19/1949
9th Degree Black Belt
Taiho-Ryu Karate & Ju-Jitsu Founder and Head Instructor
2440 Honey Lane, Fayetteville, AR 72704
800-467-1900
2002 marks the beginning of my 40th year in the Martial Arts. I began training in the Martial Arts in 1962 at the Pine Bluff, Arkansas Boys Club under Sensei Virgil Howard. Sensei Howard was a 3rd degree Black Belt in Taiho-Jitsu and held various Black Belt ranks in Karate and Ju-jitsu. He had taught and trained during World War II and was also training with Dr. Tomiki Hikoochi, a Japanese doctor who was living in Little Rock, Arkansas.
I studied Taiho-Jitsu, and Shotokan Karate under Sensei’s Howard and Hikoochi from 1962-1967 and achieved the rank of Shodan in 1967. Upon graduation from Pine Bluff High School in 1967, I moved to Fayetteville, Arkansas to attend the University of Arkansas, where I began teaching Taiho-Jitsu and my own blend of Karate, later to become the “Taiho-Ryu” system of Karate and Ju-Jitsu. While at the University of Arkansas, I also trained with Sensei Wayne Davis, and Sarge West.
I organized and chartered the first “University of Arkansas Karate Club” while at the University from 1967-1971, and our team competed throughout the South and Midwest winning numerous Regional and National titles. In 1970, I hosted the first “Regional” Karate tournament ever held in Arkansas. Many prominent Martial Artists in the Midwest attended and assisted in the success of this tournament. Martial Arts Pioneers, Bob Yarnell-St. Louis, Walt Bone, Mike Anderson, and Roger Green, all from Oklahoma at the time, William Gardo, Isshin-Ryu Master from Mississippi, and Master Jerry Barbar from Arkansas made the event a great success.
Our annual “Taiho-Ryu Friendship” tournament became one of the largest Karate tournaments in the South and Midwest during the 70’s and 80’s. The 1975 “Official Karate” Magazine rated our tournament one of the biggest and best in the Southern United States.
In 1969 I also began to train with Professor Rodney Sacharnoski , founder of the Juko-Ryu system of Ju-Jitsu and Aiki-Jitsu. For the next several years, I trained with Professor Sacharnoski, and became the Midwest Director for the JJBBFA ( Jujitsu Black Belt Federation of America). During this period, I had the privilege to also train with Professor Larry Hilton, Nippon Ketsugo Kai, Professor Frank De Felice, Professor Don Wrobel, and many other Karate and JuJitsu Masters.
In 1975, Professor Sacharnoski sponsored my “Taiho-Ryu” system to be recognized worldwide, and I was promoted to 5th Degree Black Belt in 1975. After graduating from the University of Arkansas in 1971, I returned to Pine Bluff, Arkansas to teach Martial Arts full time. It was then I met and began a life long friendship with the late Sensei Earnest “Mike” Mika. He was a true “Master” and taught me many things about “life”, along with some outstanding Karate, and Jujitsu techniques.
I have taught Martial Arts and Self Defense classes for civilian, corporate, military and law enforcement agencies now for 35 years, and in 1992 wrote the award winning personal protection book, “Defensive Living”. “Defensive Living” was chosen the 1993 “Self Help” Book of the year, and it continues to be very popular in dozens of University Psychology and Self Defense classes, and Martial Arts catalogs throughout the United States, Europe, and Australia.
In 1989, I was honored to be nominated and inducted into the International Karate Hall of Fame, located in Cleveland, Ohio. In 2002, I was notified that I will be inducted into the United States Martial Arts Hall of Fame. Both awards should be credited to the many outstanding students I have had the privilege to teach over the years. Without their dedication, I would never have continued to teach for all these years.
I guess I “qualify” as a “Grand Master”, and “Head of Family” since I have 5 students who hold Masters rank in Taiho-Ryu under me. Kind of like automatically becoming a “Grand Father” when your children have children. Titles mean nothing to me. I am still a “student” of the Martial Arts and will be until the day I die. I have yet to “Master” anything in the Martial Arts or Life!
Currently, I have 5 students, Larry Fliss, 6th Degree Black Belt- Soke-Dai, Richard Smith, 6th Degree Black Belt, John Carson, 6th Degree Black, Floyd Chaneyworth, 6th Degree Black Belt, and Nelson Hodges, 5th Degree Black Belt, who hold a “Masters” rank in Taiho-Ryu. All have trained with me a minimum of 25 years. These 5 individuals make up the Taiho-Ryu “High Dan Board” and all curriculums regarding Taiho-Ryu techniques are established and monitored by this board. Taiho-Ryu currently has a membership of approximately 200 students, with schools in Pine Bluff, Dumas, Little Rock, Monticello, and Sheridan, Arkansas, and in Arlington and Austin, Texas.
I continue to train and teach, and conduct seminars for Martial Arts organizations, law enforcement agencies, and corporate clients. I hold a Bachelors and Masters Degree from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas and am licensed by the Arkansas Law Enforcement Standards Board as an instructor for officer certification. For additional information regarding our system or training, please see our website at: http://www.taiho-ryu.org/, or contact me directly at: Bo.Hardy@prodigy.net
