MACK, Morris

Sensei Mack began training in Martial Arts as a young teenager in Richland,
Washington. In 1961 he moved to Yakima, Washington and opened the
Yakima School of Karate.

One thing that makes Shudokan Karate-do instructors unique is their
emphasis on philosophy, which develops good character and citizenship.
This philosophy is shared through stories which are intended to motivate
students to over-come their own weakness rather than over-coming others.
By 1965, the Yakima School of Karate had reached 200 students and was
not only one of the first professional karate schools in the Northwest, but
was by far the largest.

By the late 1960’s Sensei Mack was teaching Police Science and PE courses
at Yakima Valley Community College and training the Yakima City Police
and Sheriff’s Departments.

During the early 1970’s, under Sensei Todd’s leadership, the organization
began training with Hanshi Iso Ichikawa, in Doshinkan Karate’do. In 1975,
Sensei Mack and a group of students traveled to Vienna, Austria for three
weeks training in the Austrian Alps. This training had a strong influence on the course of the karate program being taught. In addition to many new kata, the “bunkai” - fighting application for the movements of every
kata was developed.

An avid competitor, Sensei Mack has won over 300 tournaments in the Unites States in both sparring and kata, specializing in weapons. Many of his students share his passion for the fun and fellowship of tournament competition and have won national and international championships, both AAU, Jr. Olympics, and the United States Karate Federation.

In 1992, Sensei Mack was promoted to 7th Degree Black Belt, with the title of Shihan (professor). He also received the title of Kyoshi (Regional Leader), from his life-long instructor, Sensei Walter Todd.
From the original school he now has 23 dojo’s in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, currently reaching over 3000 students.

In 1999 Sensei Mack received 9th degree certificate from the late Shihan Walter Todd. Under Sensei Todd’s encouragement, Sensei Mack has trained with Martial Arts Masters from all over the world. In 2009 he took
a small group of Black Belts to Tokyo to train with several masters who descended directly from Master Kanken Toyama and are still training today.

At the age of 74, Sensei Mack’s teaching and training schedule remains the same… personal training every day, teaching private instruction early mornings and group classes until 9:00 at night Monday through Friday.

In 1989, Shihan Mack and his wife Kara started a college scholarship program to award $1,000. to their Black Belt graduating Senior who were continuing on to college. Strong encouragement was always placed on earning good grades in school, a B average is required for Black Belt promotion, and any Black Belt wishing to open their own dojo’s are required to have a college degree.

As of 2012, with the addition of this year’s 22 new recipients, $220,000 has been awarded to actively training Black Belt members of the Northwest American Shudokan Association.

Some honors he has received along the way:
1992 Children Home Society Man of the Year
1993 Excellence in Fitness - Fall Fitness Games
1994 Couple of the Year, Morris and Kara Mack, Adam Hart group
1996 Real Heroes Morris and Kara Mack, Red Cross
2001 Golden Lifetime Achievement Award of Honor from the World Union
Karate Hall of Fame
2011 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Washington Research Council
of Martial Arts

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