James Reuster, Michael Denton, Karl Geis, John Usher, and John Kirby in Houston Texas circa 1990’s.
Yesterday, on April 7th, 2014, one of my martial arts teachers, Karl Geis, died in Houston Texas. He began Judo and Aikido training in Japan starting in the 1950’s with many of Judo and Aikido’s great practitioners. He has trained many people in aikido, judo, and jodo over the last 50 years. He held clinics twice per year at his dojo in Houston, Texas that were attended by hundreds of people from all over the country. He was instrumental in the formation of the United States Judo Association as it became independent away from the United States Judo Federation. He has many other martial arts accolades that could be listed but I feel the most important accolade is the love given and received from the many students he has taught over the decades. This I feel was his approach to jita kyoei.
Geis Sensei had been one of my Aikido and Judo teachers since I first met him in 1992. He provided a wealth of technical knowledge that I have yet to see surpassed. He could give entertaining relevant lectures on almost any martial art topic that always seemed to come full circle back to the intended subject with an oratory mastery. He became known as the Master of Ashi Waza and has been my primary source of knowledge on ashi waza. He felt kuzushi was profoundly important in all martial arts. As such his waza approached the ideal of seiryoku zenyo.
Karl was a graduate of the Class of ’51 at Enid High School in Enid, Oklahoma, and his loss is substantial. I was a classmate of his and we will miss him. That “ol’ man” could really dance … in addition to all of his many other accomplishments! Godspeed, Beautiful Guy. Carla WS
Thank you, Carla for the great story. I remember him dancing once at Ingrid’s (a restaurant in Oklahoma City) several years ago. It was great fun.
Here is an update I received from David Witt with more details of Geis Sensei’s funeral services.
“It is with great sorrow that we report the departure of Karl Edwin Geis from this world on April 7th, 2014, after succumbing to a prolonged battle with cancer.
Mr. Geis was born in Enid, Oklahoma, on October 1, 1933, the son of Martha and Edwin Geis. He is survived by his loving and devoted wife Mrs. Chamaiporn “Cha” Geis, his brother Richard Geis, his sister Virginia Geis, and his sons; Douglas Geis and Kennith Geis, and granddaughter Nina Geis.
Mr. Geis was first exposed to Judo while stationed in Japan as a member of the US Air Force in 1955. He took the opportunity to study with at the Japanese Bureau of Police and the Kodokan and embarked upon a lifelong love affair with Judo from then on. He was a profound coach and his students competed at the State, national and international levels. He was considered one of the leading technical authorities in Judo, and one of Judo’s foremost master teachers. His greatest pleasure did not lie with training national champions; however, it was in training his students to have self-confidence and a sense of their own destiny. He was Judo’s supreme psychologist, using his martial art as a tool like a master craftsman to sculpt confident, happy and successful individuals.
Additionally, Mr. Geis’s Judo background significantly enabled him to understand Mr. Kenji Tomiki Shihan’s Aikido system and to carry it forward in the United States. Mr. Geis took the opportunity to develop a safe, viable, and real Aikido randori system which was a unique and significant contribution to the art of Aikido. Mr Geis’s efforts were rewarded when he was promoted to 6th Dan by Mr. Tomiki Shihan, being the first, and only, foreigner to be promoted to this rank by Tomiki Sensei. Lastly, under the instruction of Tsunako Miyake Shihan, Mr. Geis internalized Mr. Takaji Shimizu’s Shindo Muso Ryu Jyodo system and, using his Judo and Aikido background, Mr. Geis created a viable weapons self-defense system.
Mr. Geis’s legacy is not limited to the accomplishments during his life. It carries forward with the very many lives he touched and his many students – who are now teachers. He was our Sensei, and we loved him.
Funeral services will be held Saturday, April 26, from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM at The Pavilion on Gessner, 2500 Gessner in Houston. Those wishing to make a gift to Karl Geis’s memory are suggested by his wife Cha to make donations to Methodist Hospital or to a prostate cancer research organization.
Methodist: https://www.houstonmethodist.org/houston-methodist-hospital-foundation-giving-form
American Cancer Society: https://donate.cancer.org/index“
The death of Master Karl Geis is a loss to the entire martial arts world. We are richer from his having been with us, and poorer with his passing.
Karl taught me in 1965-67. I remember his devotion to the true way.