Grandmaster Marshall E. Johnson

1933 - 2006

What opened in 1959 as Johnson's Karate and Ju Jitsu Club is now the North American Taekwondo and Hoi Jeon Moo Sool Academy. Founded by Grandmaster Marshall Johnson, the NATA is the leading authority on Korean Martial arts training in the Southeast Michigan area.

Like Grandmaster Marshall Johnson, the NATA has since moved and evolved into the premier place for Martial Arts instruction in the area. Due to the NATA, thousands of students have walked the path of the Martial Artist and continue to do so to this day.

Grandmaster Marshall Johnson's accomplishments and achievements include:

• Education
  • High school graduate, Lincoln H.S. - 1951
  • U.S. Army Engineers - Feb. 1953
  • U.S. Army Leadership School - June 1953
  • U.S. Army Engineer Supply Specialist - Nov. 1954
• Experience
  • Opened weight lifting club in Willis, MI 1949 to 1951
  • Began training in Ju Jitsu 1951
  • Received 2nd Dan in Ju Jitsu Sept. 27, 1954
  • Received 1st Dan in Karate Do March 12, 1961
  • Received 2nd Dan in Tang Soo Do March 3, 1966
  • Received 3rd Dan in Chang Moo Kwan Jan. 31, 1972
  • Received 4th Dan in Chang Moo Kwan May 10, 1973
  • Received 4th Dan in World Tae Kwon Do Jan. 5, 1974
  • Received 5th Dan in Chang Moo Kwan June 30, 1974
  • Received WTF International Master Degree March 3, 1975
  • Received 5th Dan in World Tae Kwon Do May 12, 1977
  • Received WTF International Referee Cert. Sept. 11, 1977
  • Received 6th Dan in Chang Moo Kwan June 1, 1978
  • Received 6th Dan in World Tae Kwon Do Feb. 29, 1980
  • Received 7th Dan in Chang Moo Kwan March 5, 1982
  • Received WTF 1st World Tae Kwon Do Seminar (Seoul) Sept. 2, 1985
  • Received 7th Dan in World Tae Kwon Do Sept. 19, 1985
  • Received WTF Citation for Developing Tae Kwon Do as World Sport Nov. 27, 1985
  • Received 5th Dan in Jok Sool Do Nov. 30, 1986
  • Received 5th Dan in Hoi Jeon Moo Sool Jan. 1, 1988
  • Received 6th Dan in Hoi Jeon Moo Sool Jan. 8, 1989
  • Received 8th Dan in Chang Moo Kwan April 25, 1989
  • Received 6th Dan in Jok Sool Do Feb. 8, 1990
  • Received 7th Dan in Hoi Jeon Moo Sool Sept. 28, 1993
  • Received 7th Dan in Jok Sool Do Sept. 28, 1993
  • Received 9th Dan in Chang Moo Kwan Jan. 24, 1994
  • Received 9th Dan in World Tae Kwon Do 2005
  • Received 9th Dan in Hoi Jeon Moo Sool 2005
• Appointments
  • Only non-Korean in the Senior Black Belt Association in Seoul
  • President North American Tae Kwon Do Association 1976 to 2006
  • President United States Hoi Jeon Moo Sool Headquarters Jan. 8, 1988
  • Hoi Jeon Moo Sool President for Pan American Headquarters Oct. 10, 1990
  • United States Accupressure Instructor Oct. 10, 1990
• Instructor
  • Lincoln School Ju Jitsu 1957 to 1961
  • Johnson Ju Jitsu and Karate Club (Ypsilanti, MI) 1959 to 1976
  • Johnson Ju Jitsu and Karate Club (Willis, MI) 1966 to 1973
  • University of Michigan ROTC Tae Kwon Do Club 1972 to 1974
  • North American Tae Kwon Do 1976 to 2006
  • North American Hoi Jeon Moo Sool 1986 to 2006

Now run by the current president Master Jamie Johnson, the NATA continues to serve the Southeast Michigan area with tried and true teaching methods for developing Martial Artists of the 21st century.

For a closer look at our founder and the development of the NATA, we've reprinted an Ann Arbor news article on Grandmaster Marshall Johnson below.

Reprinted from the Ann Arbor News

Koreans believe the number 10 signifies perfection -- something a person cannot obtain until after his or her death. That is why in the Korean form of karate, a black belt can only reach the ninth degree.

But instructor Marshall Johnson isn't intested in perfection. He is only interested in doing his best and instilling that same desire in others.

"Tae kwon do is probably one of the best confidence builders, especially for children," says Johnson, owner of the North American Tae Kwon Do and Hoi Jeon Moo Sool Academy in Ypsilanti. "We even have teachers call us and want to know how come this child is doing better in school."

Johnson first became interested in the martial arts when he was serving in the Army engineers. After he got out of the Army, he continued training in the martial arts and in 1959 he opened up his first dojang in Ypsilanti where he could train others.

Today he is a ninth degree black belt in tae kwon do. His students have won international competitions and a few are planning to try out for the Olympics in the year 2000.

Johnson was born in Willis and graduated from Lincoln High School. Although he moved his business around Ypsilanti a couple of times and was on both Perrin and Pearle streets, he chose to stay in his hometown. He has been at his current location on Park Street, where he has worked with his wife and business partner Jamie Johnson, since 1976.

"I didn't stray too far from home," he says. "Ypsilanti is a decent area. It's been good to us. We have people come in and say, 'I used to train here.' One boy I taught, his kids have kids and they are here. It's pretty rewarding when they come back and say, 'Do you remember me?'"

Walking into his building, a red carpeted corridor leads you down an aisle lined with walls of trophies from the present day dating back to the 1960s. There are plaques, certificates and more trophies in the room at the end of the hall where karate is taught.

Some of those awards belong to Gerville Hall.

Hall started taking classes from Johnson as a 13-year-old. Today, as an adult, he is an instructor at the school. He has won many state championships and gone on to nationals. But aside from awards, he says he has learned far more from Johnson.

"I've gained trust in myself and in what he's teaching," says Hall. "That's come in the form of competition where you have all sorts of people from all sorts of backgrounds. Learning what I've learned from him, I've kind of expounded from it and applied it to a whole sense; I actually have a say, I actually belong, that I'm actually being responded to."

He says he took that confidence and used it in his interviews after college.

"I learned that I actually do have a place, and with good preparation, going into it with a good heart, you'll be able to overcome anything, really," says the 26-year-old.

Johnson goes to Korea once a year to train personally with a grand master. Over the years he has added hap ki do to his school and it is now the world headquarters for the hoi jeon moo sool style of hap ki do in Pan-America. Johnson is a seventh-degree black belt in that art.

"Hap ki do is a self-defense art," he says. "It's like for law enforcement and police officers and correctional institutions. We also recommend it for women as a self defense class. It's something that you don't have to actually hurt them. This art has joint locks, how to get out of a hold and put them into a hold."

Violence is not a part of what Johnson teaches, and if any of his students are caught misusing their art, they are kicked out of the training and can't return, even to another school.

Tae kwon do, he says, is probably one of the best forms of physical fitness.

"It involves the stretching and more endurance type training."

For children the sparring in tae kwon do can be especially important in building self confidence.

"You take a 4-year-old child and he's sparring with somebody who is 10 years old, that develops a lot of confidence when he finds out he can get in and spar with somebody and not get hurt," Johnson says.

So there are a lot of people who enroll their children in Johnson's academy, as well as older adults and even senior citizens who want to stay in shape. They keep coming back to him, and he keeps giving them his best.

"He won't deviate from the truth," says Hall. "He's just a very straightforward person. A lot of people like that straightforwardness. A student might ask him, 'Can you look at my form or my technique?' He won't say, 'That's good and you need to practice more.' He'll say, 'Your sidekick stinks and you need to practice more.' And if you're good, he'll say it's good and you know that it is."