Epsom-based son of martial arts expert who trained Bruce Lee honoured in hall of fame
8:00am Tuesday 6th December 2011 in News
By Lauren May »
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The son of a martial arts expert who trained Bruce Lee, has been inducted into the Combat Martial Arts Hall of Fame.
Leon Jay, 56, has lived in Epsom for the last 21 years, but grew up in Hawaii and San Francisco, and teaches a form of jujitsu, founded by his father, in Leatherhead, Epsom and abroad.
His father, Wally Jay, who was also inducted into the hall of fame, was a renowned teacher having famously trained martial arts expert, actor and director, Bruce Lee.
He said: "When I was a kid I'd come home from school and there would be Bruce Lee sitting on our doorstep waiting for my father to come home from work so they could train together in the dojo behind our house.
"We were living in the San Francisco Bay area in California then and Bruce had moved from Seattle in Washington to Oakland about two miles down the road.
"That was in the 1960s in California, way before Bruce became famous.
"He was a really quick, keen student.
"He sought out my father because he was well respected in the martial arts community all around the world, in fact my father, Professor Wally Jay, wrote the foreword for Bruce’s first book, Chinese Gung Fu: The Philosophical Art of Defense."
Mr Jay followed in his father’s footsteps beginning his martial arts training at the age of just two and is now a second generation 9th degree black belt Grandmaster of Small Circle Jujitsu - a form of jujitsu founded by his father in the 1940s.
He is frequently called upon to help adults and children with learning disabilities and anger management issues and is currently developing a national programme to aid the rehabilitation of young offenders.
His father, Wally Jay, died earlier this year at the age of 93 from a stroke and Bruce Lee’s widow, Linda Lee Cadwell, spoke at his funeral in California.
He said: "She was kind enough to say how my father had changed the way Bruce approached his training, the positive influence dad had had on him."
Mr Jay and his late father were inducted in to the Combat Martial Arts Hall of Fame at a ceremony in Birmingham last month for their contribution to martial arts.
For more information visit smallcirclejujitsu.com
