About Sensei Bill Paul from San Francisco

Dear everyone,

How are you doing? Hope all is ok with you.

I wanted to ask to you if someone of us has recollections about Sensei William Bill Paul from San Francisco. He was in the US judo team in the 60s.

Take very good care.

Tony

I can ask around, what club was he affiliated with?

I asked a friend whose been in the area for years. It was before his time, but he said he'd ask his dad (who did judo in the area in the 50s and 60s). He also did a quick net search and came up with this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wayne_Paul

Thanks a lot David.

I have already read that wikipiedia bio.

Tony

man, a name from the past! Knew him back when.

Dear afja_lm139

How are you doing? Hope all is ok with you.

Did you have the chance to meet Sensei Paul?

Do you have any memories about him?

Thanks a lot.

Tony

I met Bill once, in the mid-1980's, observed his 'non-violent self-defense' class. Truth be told, it was effective 'violent self-defense.' Good tai-sabaki to deflect and get to the best angle (deflections and strikes based on Wing Chun, he said) and into a hadakajime - old style, palm to palm, pull backwards so the person lost their balance and all the pressure was on the carotid AND the vertebrae. Most of his students, beginners from the mental health field were doing pure trachea bar-chokes.  
We went out afterwards to eat, and talked for a few hours. We touched on the Kodokan (I'd trained there a little), and he proudly told me about some well-known non-Japanese (I honestly have forgotten his name) who called Trevor Leggett "an old fag" and Bill proudly told me that he threw the guy through a plate glass window.
We went out to dinner - and yes, he was proudly 'out' as a gay man - I don't know most of the people on this site, so I don't know what image that puts in your brain, but I would describe him as a very intelligent massively built thug who liked guys. Absolutely professional on the mat. Very left politically (again, don't care much about the reader's politics - his were very different from mine, but this was the main part of who he was - he lived his principles, and his martial arts, in his view, fueled and gave power to what he was fighting for).
NOTE: To add to this, since I wasn't there, so call this one a legend, to be debunked or not. Another old-time California judoka told me that Bill lost his spot as a competitor in the Olympic trials when the guy we was fighting kept 'accidentally' slugging him in the chin in 'failed' seioinage entries, and Bill got tired of it and decked the guy with a hook - and was disqualified.

Not sure if I ever met him or not. Back in the day, 1960’s, I was more active in the "shiai" thing and met a lot of Judo people. Yes, I heard that he was sort of odd and, well, no one ever spoke of it much. In those days one of “them” would be shunned and/or rendered an outcast. Yeah, I’m old school; did study psychology 101 and engineering psychology and in those days those people were considered to be mentally disordered at best. There have been several Judoka caught up in stuff and exposed, so they are not very well know now days. In the Far East they would have conveniently left the building, so to speak.

Speaking  of getting slugged;  back in 1963 while at the Armed Forces Judo Training Camp at the Denver School of Judo a friend and I were working out when he accidently slugged me in  the nose with a failed seionage attempt.  My nose was broken and I blead all over him and me.  In  the group photo I can see my red nose plain as day.  He apologized many times after that, but it was not the worst thing ever happened to me.  Stuff happens.