Congratulations to Master Thomas Mazzaferro on Achieving 7^th Dan Black Belt, and the title  “Grand Master”. All of us know this is a truly outstanding accomplishment; it is in fact a life long pursuit. To get to this level in Martial Arts takes a dedication and commitment that only a very small number of people are willing to make. The rank of “Grand Master” is generally reserved for School owners, or leaders of Martial Arts Organizations. What makes this accomplishment by Master Mazzaferro very special is that he is neither. His involvement in Training and Teaching Martial Arts is solely for his own love of the art, and his desire to pass on to others what he has learned. He is a truly remarkable Man. Compiling the documentation of his path from his beginning to the present has been somewhat difficult, as he is not one to record his accomplishments. To him you simply continue to train and improve your skills each and every day, as a matter of course. Martial Art training is not something he does, it is simply and element of his character, and a part of his daily life. Having reached this pinnacle Grand Master Mazzaferro will graciously accept the honor, and then get right back into his pursuit of perfection, knowing it is unattainable, but striving for it none the less.

                                                                                                               Grandmaster Noguera

GM Mazzaferro comes from a time when the martial arts were very different then what most of us experience these days. Although it was only ten or so years before many of today’s local masters and school owners started training, this story and it’s details would even seem farfetched to them. In the late 1970’s martial arts was still new to the US having only emerged in the last few decades on a limited basis and had just started emerging on TV and in movies. In 1979, in the Capital District, if someone wanted to train in Tae Kwon Do, there was really only one option, only one local school; Northeast Tae Kwon Do. At that time it was located on Broadway, in Schenectady and there were not dozens of schools as there is today. The master instructor was Les Zampino and a typical adult class, on average, contained six to seven adult students with possibility of a maximum of twelve on a full night. There were no kids; children’s classes weren’t even offered. It is here that a twenty seven year old Tom Mazzaferro got his start in the martial arts.

GM Mazzaferro had a lifelong interest in the martial arts, but due to the scarcity of schools and instructors in this area at this time, there were no opportunities to learn and train until then. At this time the school was an ATA School (American Tae Kwon Do Association) and they studied the ITF Chong-Hun forms series created by General Choi. The belt progression was much more simplified back then. There were only about five different belt colors before black belt; white, yellow, green, blue, red and then finally, black.

Around the time that Mazzaferro was a green belt he had found his place in the niche of forms and form knowledge. Learning, memorizing, perfecting and teaching the patterns always came easy and intrigued him so much that he formed a reputation as the “forms guy”.  Also in this time period, Mazzaferro had formed very strong friendships with two classmates who would also go on to become great GrandMasters. Frank Noguera, now known as GrandMaster Noguera was already a black belt by the time that Mazzaferro started training. However, this separation of rank did not separate them in training as it would in today’s schools where high and low ranks train separately. The small class size kept all ranks together and everyone trained hard and helped one another.  The second classmate was John O’Kelly.  GM Mazzaferro and John were the same rank and built a friendship that has spanned decades and continues today.

After approximately a year of training, Mazzaferro was up to test for the rank of blue belt. During this time period, testing took place at State University gymnasiums; this particular exam was at the UAlbany campus. Students were graded with number grades like in high school. Each section of the exam (ie. forms, sparring, breaking) was given an individual grade and your average had to be high enough to pass. Grading was strict.  If you broke your board the first time that was a 90; second time an 80, no exceptions. With breaking you were not allowed to measure and “go through the motion” to prepare, it was one shot, if you sized up the board that counted as a try. Each and every judge graded you, contrasting most testing during this day and age where only one master grades you. All this being said, Mazzaferro failed his first blue belt exam. This is something he is not ashamed to talk about, as it was a learning experience and shows the high standard that used to exist. This is something Mazzaferro and our other pioneers are proud to have been a part of.

Mazzaferro was not discouraged or thwarted, as this was a typical part of training at this time. Promotions were not expected with time, they were earned, and martial artists of this time did not want to progress until they had fully earned it. Needless to say, Mazzaferro continued to train hard. Mazzaferro, Noguera and O’Kelly would meet each and every Thursday night after all of the regular classes were over, and they would all train together into the night. They would train all aspects of the martial arts together, but Mazzaferro was always the one to lead everyone in perfecting and memorizing the forms.

When he was a red belt, which was the last rank before Black, Mazzaferro considered leaving the martial arts. Through introspection Mazzaferro wondered if the martial arts were truly for him (The system, the time required, the material, the amount of yourself that you have to put into it). Family, Jobs, hobbies, finding balance is always a struggle for any adult. Mazzaferro remembers distinctly that it was the kind words of Noguera that were pivotal in keeping him in the arts and continuing on what has now become a life long journey as a martial artist.

In the early 80’s the thought of being a Black Belt was not an expectation, heck is was hardly even a fantasy. The Idea of it was so lofty, so farfetched that most never considered it. No one ever thought about becoming a black belt, when they would become a black belt or what would happen if they got there, they just trained for the sake of training. In late 1982, despite never thinking or expecting it, Mazzaferro found himself on the verge of black belt rank. Black Belt testing consisted of performing every single form, in this case the ITF Chung Hung form series, over one hundred-one steps (as there were about ten for each belt rank), no gear full contact sparring, and breaking. The rules were rigid, while toughness was expected as was control.  If you injured someone during the testing, it was an automatic failure. Mazzaferro tested in front of a panel of big names such as Wayne McCabbe (from NJ), and Ge Hong Lee (the brother of the ATA creator).  Everyone regardless of size, shape, age or abilities was expected to perform the same skills. Black belt criteria at these times were skill and curriculum based, not merit or personal achievement based. Mazzaferro remembers having to perform numerous jump spinning hook kicks (a very high level move) in succession.  In the end Mazzaferro earned his Black Belt.

Now a Black Belt, it was expected that Mazzaferro would give back to his school, so he started teaching at Northeast Tae Kwon Do. This was in addition to his regular classes and weekly training sessions with O’Kelly and Noguera.  Since this time he has never stopped teaching. For almost thirty years, he has never taken a break and has always been involved with teaching somewhere.

Around 1984 Zampino, his school and students became involved with the Pan-Am Tae Kwon Do Association and left the ATA organization. Through this new affiliation Mazzaferro met Grand Master Won Keun Bai. Grand Master Bai was an amazing martial artist and teacher. Mazzaferro explained that he learned so much from Bai not necessarily “through what he said, but by watching him”.  Bai had great technique and inspired Mazzaferro through example.

Grand Master Bai would hold Summer Camp training sessions for the adult students.  Once a year in the summer in Monticello, New Jersey one hundred and fifty to two hundred martial artists would attend from all over the north east. GM Bai would work on refinement of techniques, conditioning and all aspects of training through a rough and tough boot camp style regiment. The students were awaken at 6am, at which time they would have to run for miles while GM Bai followed behind them in a car with a megaphone shouting commands.

In 1985 Mazzaferro tested for his 2^nd Dan in front of both Zampino and, a then, 8^th Dan Bai. Mazzaferro told me that he was “scared to death”. He watched first as Bai made Zampino break five solid boards (no spacers) with a spinning hook kick. Mazzaferro tested alongside O’Kelly as well as Michelle Donovan-Smith, another local great.

After earning their second degree, O’Kelly went on to open his own school in Guilderland. With Zampino’s blessing, O’Kelly opened another Northeast Tae Kwon Do. For Mazzaferro, school owning was never really an interest or desire for him, but he was passionate about teaching.  Even though opening his own school was not his calling, he expanded his teaching through running a satellite school program under Zampino at the Colonie Community Center for adults. 

The three (Mazzaferro, Noguera and O’Kelly) continued to train together, meeting once a week or more at O’Kellys school late at night after teaching at each of their respective locations.

After a few years the enrollment at the satellite location diminished and the program was cancelled. In 1988 Noguera opened up a third Northeast Tae Kwon Do in Latham. With his satellite program no longer running, Mazzaferro joined Noguera and continued to train and teach at the new Latham Northeast. Mazzaferro would still occasionally visit the original Northeast to teach and train, but he was no longer a regular fixture there because he spent the majority of his time at the Latham location.

In 1988 Mazzaferro tested for his 3^rd degree black belt. At this point in his training, learning new material became difficult.  Because Tae Kwon Do was still relatively new and scarce in the area, there were very few high ranking masters. Most of the black belts at this time were all around the same rank and it was difficult to find someone of higher rank to teach new techniques and forms. Mazzaferro supplemented his regular training by obtaining General Choi’s (the Founder of ITF Tae Kwon Do) encyclopedia series. This book collection outlined each and every aspect of each and every move and form in the style. Mazzaferro studied the encyclopedia learning as much as he could. Knowing that there was so much more out there to learn and knowing that that encyclopedia was not the solution, he started traveling throughout the Northeast attending workshops with famous grandmasters and high ranking Korean instructors. Through the early 1990’s Mazzaferro attended workshops with Suk Joon Kim, Phap Lu, and even trained with General Choi himself in Connecticut.  This was a huge building block for Mazzaferro as he had always been a “Strict Traditionalist”. He had always prided himself on learning the exact way the moves and forms were intended to be done by those that created them, and through his time with General Choi, he was able to see and learn from the creator himself. It is for these reasons that still today Mazzaferro is still seen as one of the foremost experts in ITF forms in our area. If any of the local masters have questions or requires learning a high level Chong-Hun form, they go to Mazzaferro.

In 1992 Mazzaferro tested for his 4^th degree with GM Bai in NJ and earned his Master Title and in 1997 he earned his 5^th degree black belt. 

In the end of the 1990’s, life took O’Kelly to Washington DC, were he established a new great school. Mazzaferro and O’Kelly maintained their strong friendship from the distance with many yearly visits back and forth.

In 1999, after about twenty years of training, Mazzaferro decided to start expanding outside the box of Tae Kwon Do, and started additional training in Hapkido with Noguera, and picked up Tai Chi on his own.

In regards to his Tai Chi training, one day Mazzaferro observed a class and it caught his interest. After all of his years training in Tae Kwon Do, he wondered what other ways there were to generate internal energy and power. Mazzaferro is the kind of man who needs to know everything about something, every detail and to understand every detail, just like he had spent time learning with the Chong-Hun forms. So for the next ten years Mazzaferro would read and learn everything he could about Tai Chi. He took on this task just like he was in college, studying and studying. He became a member of the World Tai Chi Boxing Association to further network and learn.

Mazzaferro explains that utilizing the philosophy of Yin & Yang, Tae Kwon Do can be seen as the Yang, the External Hard Style, where Tai Chi is its Yin, in internal soft style. For balance and harmony one needs to understand and master both sides.

Although Tai Chi was his new interest, Mazzaferro never lost touch or focus on his Tae Kwon Do. In 2005 he earned his 6^th degree through the ITA (Independent Tae Kwon Do Association) which Noguera and him were then associated with.

Also in that year, after studying, training and learning for over six years, Mazzaferro started teaching Tai Chi in Noguera’s school. Now five years later, Mazzaferro teaches weekly Tai Chi programs in Glens Falls, Clifton Park, and Schenectady at local martial arts schools. He also spends time each week working out with and assisting many of the local school owners and masters with their traditional basics and Chong-Hun forms. Mazzaferro insists that you have to teach to continue to excel. For him, teaching has never been about money.  It has always been about passion and sharing.  Many of the people whom he has, and does work with, he has taught for free.

Through his journey his wife and children have always been supportive of his passion. His daughter Amy (28) earned her 4^th Degree Black Belt training with him, and he also has another daughter named Laura (23). His wife Lucy trains in Tai Chi with him currently.

Today, Mazzaferro practices four to five hours a day both his Tai Chi and Tae Kwon Do.  He continues to stay in touch with O’Kelly. He visits him three to four times a year and teaching at his new school in Washington DC.  Grand Master Bai, also kindly forces Mazzaferro to come on golfing outings with him, Noguera and O’Kelly. 

On Saturday January 30^th, in front of a group of nine local masters and grandmasters and his family, Mazzaferro was promoted to the level of 7^th Degree black belt and the title Grand Master. Grand Master Noguera made the presentation and although O’Kelly was not able to be there physically, he was still present via speakerphone to show his support for his long time friend.

Writing this article has not been easy as time tends to fade many of the details from people minds.  GM Mazzaferro he states that he “doesn’t think about martial arts as ranks, or milestones, but rather something he did and something that is who he is”. For all the black belts that read this, that one day will be looked up to and admired by generations, remember to share your stories with your students so that they can continue to pass them down.