John S. O’Hara Sensei
February 8, 1934 to January 7, 2015
My Lifelong Teacher
A Profile by Sensei Steve Wilson, 8th Dan, Senior Student OGRKK
The Early Years
Shihan John S. (Stan) O’Hara, Kudan (9th Degree Black Belt), began training in Naha-Te in 1962 in New Mexico. He later trained in Shotokan Karate-Do. After achieving his 2nd Kyu (brown belt), O’Hara (ne Magedson) left his beloved New Mexico for California. Because of the proximity of Sensei Gosei Yamaguchi in San Francisco, O’Hara converted to Goju-Ryu in 1966. In 1968 he made Shodan under Gogen (the Cat) Yamaguchi. Even though O’Hara was fully involved in Goju, he continued to train in Shotokan until he reached the level of Shodan. Ironically this was in 1969, after he had reached the same level in Goju-Ryu.
In the early1970’s Shihan O’Hara had one of the largest Goju-Kai dojos in America. The attendance at a promotional examination was regularly more than 200 participants testing, and an overall membership of well over 350 active students. In 1990, Sensei switched over to Okinawan Goju-Ryu, under Hanshi Higaonna Morio. Under Higaonna Morio Sensei, he obtained his Godan and was appointed Central California Chief. He was also appointed to the Yudansha grading panel. He was also in charge of the Miyagi An’ichi retirement fund and helped write the criteria for Sanchin testing. O’Hara Sensei was awarded his Shihan License under Higaonna Sensei. O’Hara Sensei left the IOGKF in 1995 for personal reasons pertaining to organizational and political matters he didn’t agree with.
Sensei was very knowledgeable about kinesiology, physiology, and body power. In 1957 and ’58 Sensei went to Germany at the invitation of the U.S. Government, where he was assigned to German/American relations. It was during this time that he became part of a German athletic club where he performed Track and Field as well as weightlifting. In 13 months O’Hara was able to garner over 24 German records, both local and national. O’Hara was quite active in American weightlifting on the local and national level as well. He captured many state and regional records some of which, as far as can be determined, still stand. His first love was Olympic weightlifting, but he also competed in numerous powerlifting tournaments. The highlight of his career was having been chosen alternate on the 1960 Olympic Team in Rome.
Sensei’s experience in sports including football, professional power lifting, and karate; along with his deep knowledge of the human body and how it functions, especially in regard to power, made him a very rare and special teacher. As a professional teacher, Sensei knew how to best convey information to people of different mental and physical capabilities.
I trained with Sensei 3-4 classes per day, 5 days per week and for 2 classes each Saturday, for 5 years. When I became Sensei’s senior student, he began teaching me privately, in addition to group classes. Eventually, he only taught me privately, as he desired to transmit the complete art to me. I had well over 100 private lessons with Sensei, where he conveyed his lifetime of study to me. These private lessons often lasted 4-6 hours and were very difficult, as I was the only student on the floor. Sensei was very modern in his methods and teaching, but he was very traditional and old fashioned in that he chose and believed in transmitting his complete knowledge to just one student. I trained with Sensei for 42 continuous years.
In 1999, after having trained for 38 years, Sensei finally formed his own organization. He asked me to help him co-found the organization. That organization is called the Okinawan Goju Ryu Kenkyu Kai. The focus of the organization is simple. Sensei wanted people to train hard, share with one another, and be good citizens who contribute to society. Sensei loved researching and sharing information. He wanted an organization absent of politics. He also has set-up the organization to contain a lot of value for little money.
Three weeks before passing away, Sensei called a meeting in his house for all of his black belt students and family to gather together. At that meeting Sensei appointed me (Steve Wilson) as his successor. He appointed me to the positions of Chairman and Chief Instructor of the OGRKK. Sadly, Sensei passed away on January 7, 2015, at 4:32 P.M. in his home in Bakersfield, California. His family was by his side. All the members of the OGRKK, work hard to practice, teach and preserve the organization he created.