I find myself equal parts awestruck and humbled in the presence of Richard Bustillo. He is a giant among masters, a legend in his own time, a martial arts lifer who can proudly say he trained shoulder to shoulder with Bruce Lee, Cacoy Cañete and Leo Giron. Few men in the annals of American martial arts have touched so many and accomplished so much in giving back to an industry that often rewards character with character assassination.

For a guy who’s been in the martial arts for 50 years, Bustillo remains unusually grounded. He’s seen the best, trained with the best and mixed it up with the best, yet he still knows how to make a new student—in this case me—feel like the only one in the room. Maybe it’s part of the “Aloha Spirit” that serves as his lifeblood. Maybe it’s the humility woven into the fabric of every martial art he ever studied. Maybe it’s as simple as never forgetting from where he came.

Born and raised in Honolulu, Hi., Richard Bustillo cut his martial arts teeth on judo and then added boxing to his repertoire. Over the past 50 years, his training resumé includes eskrima, kung-fu, Machado jiu-jitsu and muay Thai. But perhaps the crowning achievement came in the 1960s when he studied Jun Fan jeet kune do with Bruce Lee at the Los Angeles Chinatown School. Opening the Filipino Kali Academy with Dan Inosanto in 1974, Bustillo worked stick and stick with Lee’s senior disciple to revolutionize and modernize the American Filipino martial arts movement.

With greatness comes titles, and Bustillo has an impressive list to be sure: ninth-degree black belt in doce pares eskrima; certified Olympic Training Center coach and official with USA Boxing; 2001 World Martial Arts Hall of Fame inductee; and designated sensei and kru by the Catchascatchcan Wrestling Association of Japan and former muay Thai champion Nanfa Satenglam, respectively.

When not conducting law enforcement and martial arts seminars throughout the world, Bustillo dispenses wisdom at the famed IMB Academy, a world-renowned Torrance, Calif., training ground where experimentation and innovation have been the mantra for more than 30 years.

Along with an extraordinary list of achievements, Bustillo carries with him a string of memories that spans nearly 50 years, and features some of the martial arts’ celebrated figures. In this exclusive two-part interview, Bustillo looks backs on whom he’s met, what he’s accomplished and how he hopes to be remembered.

 —A.G.

Espada y Dagga