Mike is a native Hoosier, having been born in Indianapolis and raised in Vincennes, Indiana. Mike was the Chief Instructor of the American Karate System from 2006, upon Mr. Lieb's death, until 2017 when he retired due to health issues. He currently holds the title "Chief Instructor Emeritus." Mike is also a member of the AKS Board of Advisors.

Mike started his martial arts training at the age of twelve in 1960. Over the years Mike has studied Judo, Jujitsu, Hapkido, Shotokan, Issinhryu, Chung Do Kwan Tae Soo Do, and Tang Soo Do Mu Da Kwan. He joined Mr. Lieb's organization in 1972 and was one of the 13 orginial schools/instructors who assisted in founding the AKS. Mike continues to be a steadfast supporter of the AKS and its goals to this day.

In photo [1] below, taken shortly after Mike had reported to his new duty assignment in southern Spain, we find him executing one of his rare jump flying side kicks. Because Mike has always been stocky and muscular, one of his first instructors, Mr. Dennis Callahan, had told Mike, "elephants don't fly." As that seemed to be somewhat of a challenge, Mike worked on a few jumping kicks just to be able to say, and demonstrate, that anything is possible.

Mike competed in his first tournament, as an under black belt competitor, in May of 1966 in Jhoon Rhee's championships in Washington DC winning his first three matches before a one point loss. He participated in his last competion in Germany in April of 1987 walking away with a black belt senior forms trophy.

Over those 21 years, he managed to win more in black belt forms than in fighting, though he managed to hold his own in that event. During his first competition as a black belt, having just returned from Spain where he'd earned his 2nd Dan in Tang Soo Do Mu Duk Kwan, Mike competed in Kang Rhee's Memphis Tennessee Karate Tournament in November of 1970. He won first place in heavy weight sparring and third place in the black belt grand championships, having risen to the top over such top competitors as Fred Wren, Steve Smith and Parker Shelton.

During the 1973-74 time frame, while living in South Bend, Indiana, his winning streak in forms was such that he was the top forms competitor for the AKS and the number two forms competitor for the AKA. It wasn't unsual for him to depart from a weekend competition having won first place in forms and somewhere between first and third in fighting.

Photo [2] was taken at the University of Texas - Pan American field house in November of 1975 during the first of two tournaments Mike ran on behalf of the Air Force ROTC detachment. In this picture Mike is executing a step across side kick through 5 one-inch boards. Look closely, you won't find any spacers between those boards. In the picture [3], Mike is caught in mid execution of a a hook kick to one of his students, Candelario (Candy) Arteaga, in the park at Edinburg Texas where Mike conducted classes from 1974 through 1976.

Mike was an airman during the Vietnam time frame (10/66 to 10/70). During his first assignment at Sheppard AFB in Whicita Falls, Texas, he met and married the former Maria Juanita Lara. He and Janie (as she likes to be called) were stationed in southern Spain in the city of Sevilla. It was here that Mike began teaching classes in karate (Chung Do Kwan) at a local Judo school. Mike's karate classes were the first to be taught in Sevilla in the middle 60s, and possibly the whole of southern Spain. After being discharged from the Air Force, Mike and Janie went back to the states and stayed at her parents home in south Texas where he began attending Pan American University and working fulltime as a police officer. He also started the first karate club at the university.

In photo [4] above, Mike is seen executing a spinning back kick through several boards during the half time of one of Pan American University's seasonal home games. This was in the spring of 1972, just a couple of months before Mike returned to Indiana to help a friend open a karate school in South Bend. It was later that same year Mike and Ernie met for the first time. In photo [5], Mike is teaching one of the many classes that took place in Rohden and Hessisch-Oldendorf, Germany during his first assignment there. It was these first classes that set the stage for the eventual establishment and recognition of the AKS by the German Karate Union (known as the DKV).

After graduating from Pan American University with a BS in Criminal Justice Administration, Mike received a commission in the Air Force as a 2nd lieutenant and returned to active duty as a Security Police officer. During the next 16+ years, Mike was stationed in Oklahoma, Germany (twice), Illinois (twice), England and Alabama. He continued to train and teach at each of these locations. His first assignment to Germany in 1979 sewed the seeds that resulted in today's AKS presence and recognition by the German Karate Union of the only non-oriental karate system, the AKS. During many of his assignments, Mike conducted classes for law enforcement officers (both civilian and military) in "come along" tactics and techniques, and the principles of "use of force" doctrine.

From 1971 to the present, Mike has been involved in law enforcement. During the 16 years he was a commissioned officer he was also involved in various levels of security, to include physical security, industrial security, counter-terrorism planning and preparations, personnel & VIP security/protection, and operations security. Mike and Janie lived in Europe during much of the period when anti-American sentiment and terrorist attacks were mounted against the U.S. presence there. Mike has been on three different major command staffs (2 Air Force & 1 Army) and has been a chief-of-police twice and an assistant chief three times.

Mike and Janie retired from the Air Force in June of 1993 and took up residence in the lower Rio Grande Valley of South Texas.  This allowed Janie to be close to her parents for the first time in more than 16 years.

Since retiring to South Texas, Mike has continued to teach and work with martial artists striving to improve their knowledge and abilities. From 1994 until 1999, Mike was responsible for authoring and publishing the AKS newsletter "The Punchline." In April of 2000 Mike launched the AKS web site. The reaction to the site has been promising and rewarding. Both old and new students have found their way into membership with the AKS. Mike also continues to author articles of opinion and insight for the The Punchline. In addition to these areas he also runs a counsulting firm for small businesses in a variety of areas of management, supervision and security.

Above are the two black belts Mike has promoted over the years who have remained loyal to both the AKS and their friend and instructor.

In photo [6] Mike and J. D. "John" Hunt stand after JD was presented his 2nd Dan in Karate, which also included his membership in the AKS. This took place on the occassion of Virgil Perkin's (6th Dan AKS) final sparring blow-out in Carmel, Indiana, on a Saturday morning in September of 1991. JD thought he was going to meet Mr. Lieb and some of the other senior black belts in the AKS. He had no idea Mike had set up his review for black belt and assimulation into the AKS.

Photo [7] is Mike with his senior student, Rob Debelak. Rob started with Mike in Germany in early 1980, eventually earning his black belt in the AKS and taking over the Hessisch-Oldendorf Karate Club. It was through Rob that contact was initially made with Andreas Modl, a black belt in Wado Ryu who became Rob's student and leads the AKS in Europe today as the System's director. JD has also played a key role by working with Mike to compile and publish the AKS' first official student handbook. Rob and Mike also worked on an updated newer version for the new millenium.

It's students like these two who make all the efforts and hard work that goes into teaching worthwhile. There are a lot of instructors who can boast having numbers of black belt students, but few can say they have students and friends as loyal and as good of friends as Mike has with Rob and JD. They have both been blessings to him.

The above newspaper clipping is from May of 1975. Pictured from left are David Aguilar, myself, Joe Gonzales, and Candelario Arteaga. David Aguilar served as the Chief of the U.S. Border Patrol. He had earned his brown belt with the A.K.S. and would have tested for his black belt had he not reported for training as a federal agent with the border patrol.

• BS in Criminal Justice Administration, Pan American University, Edinburg, Texas 1976
• MS in International Relations, (emphasis in Terrorism, extra hours in Criminal Justice) Troy State University, Wiesbaden, Germany 1987
• Additional studies in Criminal Justice and Police Administration took place while in residence at the University of Southern California in 1981, and at Northwestern University in 1983

• 1st Dan  Chong Do Kwan Tae Soo Do, Sheppard AFB, TX - May 1968
• 2nd Dan  Tang Soo Do Mu Duk Kwan, Madrid Spain - September 1970
• 3rd Dan  American Karate System, Muskegon, MI - August 1973
• 4th Dan  American Karate System, Chicago, IL - April 1978
• 5th Dan  American Karate System, Indianapolis, IN - July 1984
• 6th Dan  American Karate System, Master level, Toledo, OH - December 1991
• 7th Dan  American Karate System, Assistant Chief Instructor Muskegon, MI - June 2000
• 7th Dan  American Karate System, Assistant Chief Instructor, A.K.S. Advisory Board, A.K.S. World Council Member - 2004
• 8th Dan  American Karate System, Assistant Chief Instructor, A.K.S. Advisory Board, A.K.S. World Council Member, Muskegon, MI -June 2005
• 8th Dan  American Karate System, Chief Instructor, following death of Ernest H. Lieb - September 2006
• 9th Dan  American Karate System, Chief Instructor A.K.S., Muskegon, MI - July, 2007
• 2008 Academy of Masters Masters Hall of Fame Inductee and Golden Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, and was named a "Founding Member of the Academy of Masters and Masters Hall of Fame," Riverside, CA - August 16, 2008
• 10th Dan  Tanaka AikiJujut su, Soryu Karate Daitoryu, Austin, Texas - March, 2014
• 2017 Ernest H. Lieb Award
• 2017 - Chief Instructor Emeritus American Karate System
• 2019 - South Texas Black Belt Association Hall of Fame Inductee
• 10th Dan  promotion to 10th Dan by the South Texas Karate Black Belt Association, Corpus Christi, Texas - December, 2022
• July, 2023 - Inducted into the United States Martial Arts Hall of Fame in Houston, Texas
• 2024 - Univeral Martial Arts Hall of Fame Inductee

Pictured above are (from left to right) Ernie Lieb 10th Dan, Dr. Guesslar Normand 6th Dan, Virgil Perkins 6th Dan and Mike on the occassion of his 6th Dan test in Toledo Ohio, December of 1991. Ernie had kept it quiet that he intended to review both Guesslar and Virgil for their 5th Dans at that time. That morning, before going to the Toledo YMCA where Guesslar had been teaching classes for several years, the two unsuspecting gentlemen enjoyed a healthy breakfast, while Mike kept it light as he was anticipating several hours of rigorous review under Ernie's ever watchful and critical eye. Suffice it to say it was a long morning for a couple of well fed black belts.