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Bob Krull Profile Page
Bob Krull
OFFLINE
Yes

Personal Info

Sensei
Bob Krull
Yes
2004

Bio

Bob started his martial arts training at age 9, in Hawaii.  From Hawaii, he and his family returned to San Jose, where he continued his study of the martial arts, this time at the Pacific Judo Academy under Professor William Montero Sr., himself a student of Professor Okazaki.

He received a shodan from Professor Montero in Kodenkan Jujutsu in 1958 and a shodan in Judo in 1959, at the age of 23.  Bob went on to receive the rank of godan in Kodenkan Jujitsu from Professor Montero in 1989. Bob was an active competitor in judo and competed at a regional and national level. It was also during this period that he subcontracted to Matsuno Segawa, a close-quarter warfare expert, to assist in developing and teaching hand-to-hand combat and survival programs for the US Navy Special Services Division, specifically, to the underwater demolition teams that eventually became the Navy SEALS.

In the early 1960s, Bob studied karate under Professor Duke Moore and under the founder of Kyokushin Kaikan Karate, Master Masutatsu (Mas) Oyama and received the rank of shodan.  From 1964 to 1972, he was also a reserve police officer with the Fairfax Police Department, where he started the department’s pistol-shooting team.

Bob hunted all his life and especially enjoyed long-range shots, 1,000 yards or more.  On one occasion, he had taken a long-range shot at a deer.  By the time the bullet hit the first deer a second had wandered into the line of fire and also went down, the bullet passing through the first one and hit the second.   

Bob had a 33-year career in the San Francisco office of the Federal Highway Administration, where, in his own words, he “impersonated an engineer.” With only a high school education, he was not a licensed engineer, but he was well read, self-taught, and mastered the skills of land and aerial surveying, road building and engineering road surfaces.   A woodsman since birth, he used to precede the road surveyors into the field to mark camping sites for them.   At the end of his career he had earned a community college teaching certificate and had written and produced a widely popular newsletter on technology transfer on the various aspects of highway engineering and safety.

In the early 1970s, Bob moved to the ranch in Calistoga where he would live until his death.  Professor Gene Edwards, formerly of the AJJF, was teaching jujutsu in Calistoga.  The two hit it off and for several years together taught jujutsu and ran their now-famous clinics on self-defense, police techniques, and combative arts at the ranch.   It was Bob’s introduction to the AJJF and the AJJF’s introduction to the teachings of Professor Montero.  Also during the 1970s, he taught judo at the Embarcadero YMCA in San Francisco and judo and jujitsu at the Calistoga Jujitsu Academy.  During the 1980’s Bob was an associate instructor at the Cahill Judo Academy in San Bruno and was assistant coach of the Stanford Judo Team with Coach (Professor) Willy Cahill.

He was good friends with Hachiro Okazaki, son of Professor Okazaki.  Hachiro would come to California to fish off the coast with Bob and Bob would go to Hawaii to fish with Hachiro.  Imagine deep-sea fishing from a canoe 12 miles off shore. . .

Few people knew that Bob was also an artist, although some may remember the brass belt buckle he designed and produced for the AJJF.  He painted—and sold—several wildlife scenes and was an avid photographer.  He played guitar, made his own wine, raised his own sheep, goats and chickens and barbecued and cooked like a professional.  Visitors would often be treated to a gourmet dinner consisting only of foods grown on the ranch.

Bob was a superbly trained and well rounded martial artist.  In addition to his competitive career in judo, he also excelled at kata, winning several AJJF kata tournaments with partner, and now Professor, Bob Hudson.    His skill at knife fighting was renowned and his course on innovative weaponry was always an eye-opener to those who watched him remove even more weapons from his person—after being searched by an experienced police officer.  And those who took his knife sharpening class learned that there is a difference between a sharp knife and a Krull-sharp knife.  During the late 1970’s and 1980’s Bob co-instructed numerous police defensive tactics and women’s self defense courses with his good friend Dave Martin, an AJJF black belt and an officer with the California Highway Patrol.

In support of Professor Sig Kufferath, Bob became one of the charter members of the Kilohana Martial Arts Association. In 2001 he became one of the co-founders of the Pacific Jujitsu Alliance, an organization of Danzan Ryu black belts established to preserve and promote the arts of Danzan Ryu Jujitsu as taught by Professor William Montero Sr.  Bob lost his good friend Pat Browne, an AJJF professor, in 1996.  Bob was often a guest instructor at Professor Browne’s Camp Midwest which was held each summer in Illinois.  Their method of teaching Danzan Ryu Jujitsu, both on and off the mat, has become somewhat of a legend in the Midwest.

At the time of his death Bob held the rank of hachidan and title of professor in Danzan Ryu Jujitsu from the Pacific Jujitsu Alliance and the Northern Arizona Martial Arts Association.  He also held the rank of yodan from the Kodenkan Yudanshakai, an Arizona-based Danzan Ryu organization founded by Professor Joe Holck, an Okazaki student.  Bob’s judo ranks included godan in Kodokan Judo from the United States Judo Federation and the United States Judo Inc.  His nidan in judo came from the Kodokan Institute in Japan.  He was also a Class “B” national-level judo referee with USJI and was a certified judo examiner by the USJA.  At the 2004 American Judo & Jujitsu Federation convention in Sacramento, Bob was posthumously raised to the AJJF rank of godan.

On Sunday, January 4, 2004, Professor Bob Krull of Calistoga, California,
passed away, the victim of a rare form of esophageal cancer.   He was an extraordinary man who will be missed greatly by those who knew him and even more so by those of us who can call him our friend.

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