Don Bendell

A best-selling author and Pulitzer Prize nominee, Don Bendell has penned 33 books with over 3,000, 000 copies in print worldwide. A 10th degree black belt Grandmaster, Soke, (Head of Style) in 2 martial arts (Shita Jujitsu & Shita Judo), a 7th degree black belt Grandmaster in 2 other martial arts (Song Moo Kwan Tae Kwon Do & Freestyle Karate), and a black sash instructor in Muay Thai, as well, Don is a 1995 inductee into the International Karate & Kickboxing Hall of Fame and 1996 inductee into...See more

A best-selling author and Pulitzer Prize nominee, Don Bendell has penned 33 books with over 3,000, 000 copies in print worldwide. A 10th degree black belt Grandmaster, Soke, (Head of Style) in 2 martial arts (Shita Jujitsu & Shita Judo), a 7th degree black belt Grandmaster in 2 other martial arts (Song Moo Kwan Tae Kwon Do & Freestyle Karate), and a black sash instructor in Muay Thai, as well, Don is a 1995 inductee into the International Karate & Kickboxing Hall of Fame and 1996 inductee into the Martial Arts Museum of America and retired from owning a successful karate school, Bendell Karate, in southern Colorado which he operated with his late-wife Shirley, a 2009 inductee into the Hall of Fame. His son Brent took over running the school in February, 2014 after Shirley's passing and opened a branch in Florence, CO and another in Penrose, CO. Don and the late Master Shirley Bendell are the only couple in history to both be inducted into the International Karate and Kickboxing Hall of Fame. A former Green Beret, in the early 1970s, Don taught a combination of tae kwon do, kickboxing, and jujitsu at the Fort Bragg (NC) Boxing Club twice per week to members of Special Forces and the 82nd Airborne. He also helped then Commanding General Hank Emmerson set up the US Army's Fit to Fight program. ​ He was previously on the National Advisory Board of the American Indian Registry for the Performing Arts along with such notables as Burt Reynolds, Wayne Newton, Will Sampson, and Jonathan Winters. In 2007, Don was highly-honored in a speech by US Secretary of Veterans Affairs James Nicholson along with friend NFL Hall of Fame quarterback and Denver Broncos President and General Manager John Elway. Secretary Nicholson said in his speech that Don was the ideal example of what a disabled veteran could do with a good diet and healthy lifestyle, pointing out that at that time, Don was 60 years old and doing 1,000 pushups at a time, 1,000 crunches per day, and more after surviving illnesses and being wounded, taking on alcoholism in 1969 and not having a drink since, and quitting smoking 4 packs per day in 1983. Despite eating and exercising well, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs, Don developed Ischemic heart disease and Type II diabetes due to excessive exposure to Agent Orange. He is rated by VA as a 100% disabled Vietnam veteran. ​ See less