"That's Incredible" video

Grandmaster Donnelly recalls...

"In June 1980, Kwansai [the school's name at that time] had an "incredible" opportunity to kick down a barn in St. Albans, VT. The television show "That’s Incredible" sent a production crew to Vermont, filmed the event and produced a segment which was aired on the "That’s Incredible" show in October, 1980. It was re-aired in the spring of 1981 during a "best of 1980" show and has been shown about a dozen or so times since in different areas of the country. How do I know? People would call and tell me they had seen it again. For example, Fred Akerberg, the 1st student that I gave a blackbelt to, called me one evening in '81 or '82 to say that I just popped into his living room and danced across his TV. He hadn’t seen the original or known that we had did done that until that time.

It started with a friend from work at Simmonds Precision that owned a house with a two story carriage barn on his property at 62 Upper Weldan Street in St. Albans, VT. I remember asking Bill Hatfield to go somewhere and he replied "I have to work on tearing down my barn." I said, as a joke mostly, that I would get together some students and we would kick his barn down and he said, "OK." I checked back a couple of days later and it was still OK, so we picked a Saturday in June, 1980, about a week and a half away. I figured that was enough time to gather some students and go do it. The following Monday, a blackbelt student by the name of Jim Lyman stopped at the school in Winooski (he had a small school in Johnson, VT). I asked him if he would like to help out and he said that it sounded like fun and then mentioned that this might be something that "That’s Incredible" (ABC) or "Real People" (NBC) might be interested in. I said, "Who are they?" I didn’t watch evening TV because I was always teaching.

So I called the local NBC station and they gave me a number for "Real People" in New York City which I called and they said "maybe" and asked for a proposal; end of that because we were now talking the coming Saturday. Next, I called the local ABC station and they gave me a number for "That's Incredible" in New York City. They said "Don’t know, but sounds interesting" and gave me a number on the West Coast which I called and someone answered and said "That’s Incredible." Cool! I explained the barn thing and they said it sounded interesting and they would get back to me. On Wednesday I received one call and on Thursday that week I received three calls from the West Coast, each saying they were interested and asking questions.

On Friday at 11 a.m., Joannie Auritt, an independent producer/director from Philadelphia, called me at Simmonds and said she was at the Holiday Inn in Burlington so I escaped work (Simmonds Precision, in Vergennes) and went to meet her. She had three more people coming up later in a private plane, two photographers and a sound technician. On Saturday we all went to St. Albans on a gorgeous summer day and kicked the barn down. It was a great time.

There were a lot of interesting little things that happened. One of the calls from the West Coast was from a lady who asked me what was the capital of Vermont. Why? Anyway Joannie flew into Montpelier, the capital of Vermont, because someone from California made the reservations and she just thought that the capital was the place to go. Someone else flew into Montpelier and said that they had to buzz the runway before landing to chase the deer away (maybe it’s not that bad but close)."

Archival videos

Some of these videos date back more than 30 years.

Videos from Black Belt promotion, December, 2010

You are here: BBPromo12-2010

Breaking three boards - Jumping back kick	Three board break - Jumping back kick
3rd Dan Pattern: Ko-Dang	Two board break - Flying side kick with palm strike
Jumping Back Elbow Break	Twin board break - fist and elbow

Videos from October, 2010 Halloween class

You are here: Halloween2010

Flying Side Kick	Stepping Behind Side Kick
Class Exercises: Punches and Blocks	One Steps
Class Exercises: Side Kicks	Beginning of Pattern Do-San
Three Steps	First Part of Pattern Gae-Bek
Class Circle: Testing of Student Creed

Videos from October, 2011 Halloween class

Thanks to Beatrice Girard for sharing her videos.

You are here: Halloween2011

Bowing out	Candy hunt.
Blocks and Kicks	Warmup
Student Creed -- in costume!