Tribute to Bruce Lee

By Jeremy Chau, staff writer
Thursday, December 7, 2006

If you were asked, “Who was the greatest martial artist of all time,” what is the first name that pops into your mind? Bruce Lee, of course.

Monday, November 27, 2006 marks what would have been the actor’s 66th birthday. Not only was he a legendary fighter, but he was also an actor and a philosopher who found joy in spreading his knowledge and expertise to others.

Born on November 27, 1940 in San Francisco, California, he was given the name Lee Jun Fan. “Bruce” was a nickname given to him by his mother, which meant "strong one” in Gaelic.

Lee first began his studies of kung fu in 1953 when he moved back to Hong Kong and became a member of a street gang. He later moved back to the United States and, in bringing back what he learned, he began coaching others in martial arts.

As time progressed, Bruce began exploring his innate potential. He initially taught only the Wing Chun style of martial arts to his students, but finding Wing Chun inadequate, he sought to master both the psychological and the physiological.

He applied martial arts to philosophy, and later, with newfound inspiration, created a new style of marital arts called Jeet Kune Do.

“Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless — like water. If you put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot. It becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend,” he once said.

Evidently, his philosophy worked pretty well. A martial arts legend, Bruce Lee was rumored to move with such agility that the cameras couldn’t catch up. Imagine watching Kiss of the Dragon and knowing that he was “cruising” through the punches and kicks.

“Bruce Lee proves that size doesn’t matter,” praised Christopher Pham, senior. Throughout his movie career, Bruce has taken down monumental giants, such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, with his slingshot kicks and rock-hard fists.

Bruce Lee died on July 20, 1973, at the age of 32, but the reason for his death remains open for interpretation. The official cause was found to be a strange reaction to a prescription painkiller he had been using for a back injury.

However, there has been some claim that he was murdered. A curse is believed to surround this mystery as his son, Brandon Lee, also later died while filming a movie. Brandon was shot during a scene by a gun that was supposedly filled with blanks but somehow contained live rounds.

“I read somewhere that Bruce Lee’s moves were so fast that they blurred when recorded on camera,” says Jon Pham, a freshman who claims to be one of Bruce Lee’s greatest fans of all time. Following in Bruce’s footsteps, Jon currently trains martial arts and is close to attaining a black belt, the highest rank.