Jeet Kune Do

Bruce called his style of gung fu “Jun Fan” in Seattle and Oakland. “Jun Fan” is his Cantonese name; “Gung Fu” means Chinese martial arts. Bruce Lee’s first US student is the late Jesse Glover, who started with him already as a judo champion. It is said that he is the first authorized martial arts instructor to be trained by Bruce, but I don’t know if that is different than being personally certified by Bruce. He later developed his own method which he calls Non-Classical GungFu. Bruce’s Seattle school was more like a club. Taky Kimura became Bruce’s first Assistant Instructor (7th rank in Jun Fan Gung Fu). Taky Kimura is one of three certified instructors in Jun Fan Gung Fu. and was a very good friend to Bruce. He passed away in 1973. He certified five students, including his son who has a school in Seattle.

James Lee is another person who was personally certified by Bruce Lee and co-founded Bruce’s second school with him. James helped introduce Bruce to Ed Parker and a number of his students (see closed door group). He passed away in 1972. A notable event that happened around this time is that Bruce was challenged to fight Wong Jack Man. Bruce won, but did not like his performance, and because of this it changed the direction of his art to what would later be called Jeet Kune Do in LA.

I think Bruce Lee learned that his art was limited from the Wong Jack Man fight, and began to feel Jun Fan Gung Fu was too restrictive and decided to coined his art as JKD in 1967 in an attempt to free himself from limitations. Dan Inosanto is the third and final person to be a certified instructor by Bruce Lee under Jun Fan. He is known to also been a close friend to Bruce. Dan was the Assistant Instructor of this school and pretty much ran his school while Bruce was gone. The late Jerry Poteet was Bruce’s second student admitted to the school in LA’s Chinatown. Later Jerry was selected to be in a “closed door” elite group of five students, who trained with Bruce Lee twice a week. Ted Wong is another note worthy student who learned martial arts entirely from what Bruce taught him. I heard a rumor that Ted only learned by sparring with Bruce. It is said that he is one of only a few people to receive rank in the art of Jeet Kune Do by Bruce Lee, but I am not sure what that means, or question if anyone has the authority to teach “Jeet Kune Do” by Bruce Lee.

He started learning JKD from Bruce Lee already a black in several martial arts including Ed Parker’s Kenpo. He is a promoter of Filipino Martial Arts.

He started learning JKD already a black belt in Ed Parker’s Kenpo.

There isn’t a lot of information to find on Steve, but I think he come from Ed Parker’s Kenpo. He lives somewhere in Oregon. He seems to like the private life.

Has the least amount of online information, but I think he was also an Ed Parker student. He passed away in 2017.

He also doesn’t have a lot of information readily available online. Fran Poteet says that he was a middleweight boxing champion of Asia, held a black belt in Ju Jitsu and Kenpo, and was a Tai Chi master before he met Bruce Lee. He was also an Ed Parker student.

• Location: Portland, Oregon
• More than 3 years (May, 2018 – February, 2021)

I am Jeet Kune Do certified from Octavio Quintero, who is one of a handful of instructors to receive a Full Instructor Jeet Kune Do certificate in 2006 by Jerry Poteet. He is considered by many within the Bruce lee community as one of the most worthy representatives of JKD in the world. He is known from such publications as Blackbelt and Inside Kung Fu.

Octavio Quintero’s JKD was developed under Jerry Poteet and Steve Golden, who were both in a closed door group of five students under Bruce Lee. Jerry Poteet is noted for training Jason Scott Lee for his role of Bruce Lee in Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story. There isn’t a lot of online information about Steve Golden as I believe he keeps a more private life.

It is a unique experience for me as I have been helping with his JKD online store in exchange for private lessons, which is part of his growing Total Balance platform which he started in 2016. Total Balance is an international network of mentors dedicated to teaching The Art of JKD.

• Location: Eugene, OR
• Winter 1997: U of O Sp ST Jeet Kune Do

Adam Roberts’ JKD is from Dan Inosanto who is also a direct student from Bruce Lee and who is by many regarded as the official lineage holder of JKD. From Adam “Coach” Robert’s classes, I was introduced to techniques taken from Gracie Jiu Jitsu ground fighting art. Still very grateful for his generosity and instruction.

• Jun Fan Gung Fu
• Silat, Indonesian Arts, South East Asian Arts
• Gracie Jiu Jitsu: Original self defense system from Helio Gracie.