He has a list of movie credits and worked with Chuck Norris
By Michael S. Hoey
Correspondent
Bill “Superfoot” Wallace came to Delavan recently to lead a three-hour seminar at the Flying Dragons Martial Arts studio. Wallace, 75, has a long list of movie credits and has worked closely with action star Chuck Norris.
Joe Murphy is the owner and operator of the Delavan Flying Dragons location. Murphy said he currently has 62 students and has been running the school since 1983. He took over the school when it met on the second floor of the old Delavan Opera House and moved to the current location at 133 Park Place after the Opera House was no longer habitable. He later bought the building.
Originally from Burlington, Murphy got involved in karate in 1979 and learned under Master Bill Wasmund.
“He understood me and knew what I needed help with,” Murphy said.
Murphy said that when considering a career, he did not want a factory job and teaching karate was appealing to him.
“How many jobs can you work in your pajamas in bare feet and make funny noises and people pay me to teach their kids?” he said. “It’s a fun job.”
According to Murphy, it was fulfilling to interact with people, teach kids and watch the light come on when they understood a lesson. He said he himself was not always adept at physical activities while in school but was good at learning different techniques. He said he also likes using humor to teach techniques to his students who range in age from 3 to 77.
“When I work with people, I learn about them and turn their ordinary actions into moves,” he said. “I like to get them to visualize what we are doing.”
Murphy met his wife in one of his classes and they have been married for 32 years. She is now the studio’s main instructor and has a fourth degree black belt in Taekwondo. Murphy is a sixth degree black belt in Taekwondo and KiMudo and a first-degree black belt in in judo. The Murphys, who have no children, enjoy working with kids and helping to mold them into better individuals for their future, he said.
Murphy teaches classes in karate, weaponry, judo and KiMudo. During the early months of the pandemic, he was forced to adapt to stay open. He did not go the virtual route as some karate schools did but went to the homes of students to teach them from a safe distance in their front yards. He also held some classes outside at the Phoenix Park Bandshell.
“The government wanted us outside and exercising,” he said.
A class to remember
Murphy said he met Wallace 30 years ago at a seminar in Illinois. Wallace was also friends with Frank Bogyos, whose sister lives in the Delavan area. Murphy said over the years, whenever Wallace would come through Wisconsin, he would stay with Bogyos at his sister’s home.
Wallace, who had previously conducted a seminar at the Elkhorn Flying Dragons and had done a class with the Delavan students on Zoom, was set to come to Delavan last year but the trip was canceled due to the pandemic.
Murphy said the money to pay Wallace came from an anonymous donation that was left on his desk, so he did not have to charge his students for the seminar. Seventy people came and Murphy thanked Ol’ Wisco for providing drinks and meals afterwards to those who attended.
He said Wallace worked with the younger kids for about an hour and a half on things like kicks, speed, accuracy and flexibility. According to Murphy, Wallace teaches that there are different ways to exercise and being relaxed allows your muscles to move faster. Wallace worked with older students up to the age of 65 during the second half of the program.
“He likes talking to people to see how he can make their life better,” Murphy said.
Wallace said he earned the nickname “Superfoot” while defending a title in 1976 in Los Angeles. He connected with a kick that was so quick no one saw it coming and a friend saw an advertisement for super foot-long hotdogs at the concession stand. He dubbed Wallace “Superfoot” and the name stuck.
“I thought it was kind of silly at first, but it caught on,” Wallace said.
Wallace is credited with being one of the pioneers of full-contact karate, or kickboxing. Wallace won the first PKA Middleweight title in 1975 and defended that title a dozen times. He won 23 consecutive times to finish his six-year kickboxing career and was named to Black Belt Magazine’s Hall of Fame three times, twice as “Competitor of the Year” and once as “Man of the Year.”
He’s appeared in eight movies, including “A Force of One” with Chuck Norris and he served as the bodyguard and personal trainer for Elvis Presley.
Wallace has a bachelor’s degree in physical education and a master’s degree in kinesiology. He has served on the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and has written three books.
As for celebrities he has worked with, Wallace said he worked with Elvis the most and Norris was the nicest guy in the world. Norris even worked the corner of one of Wallace’s fights and, Wallace was a guest star on the final episode of Norris’ television show “Walker, Texas Ranger.”
Wallace said he has a good time at his seminars and wants those who attend to have fun as well. He said anyone can learn karate as even he was nothing special when he was younger. Karate is a life-long sport, he said.
Wallace has traveled the world for his seminars. The travel, he said, he could do without, but the seminars offer him the opportunity to work with kids.
“You have to keep them happy and busy because they have short attention spans,” he said. “You have to keep showing them something new and different and they always want to punch something.”
Wallace tried to get kids to focus on control and movement rather than punching. He said the kids in Delavan did very well and he had a lot of fun with the younger ones.
Wallace said Murphy does a great job with his students. He said he had a great time in Delavan, thanked everyone for having him, and looks forward to returning for another visit some day.
