COMBAT JUDO: JUDO, BOXING, CAPTAIN AMERICA AND REB BROWN

It isn’t often that I get to write a more light hearted and entertaining article. Most of my articles are, of course, on techniques and the does and don'ts of  something but this article was such a fond undertaking. Taking me back to some of my favorite memories  as a kid and teenager. I am a boxing and a judo coach and as a kid my inspiration came from super heroes. In particularly Captain America and the actor that played him when I was 14. 

I still have the very first book I bought as a kid on the martial arts. I purchased it for a couple dollars at a book fair in elementary school. The book was called Junior Judo. I was also a big fan of the comic books back then. One of my favorite comic book characters was Captain America as a kid he just embodied everything a hero should be. Even today as a grown up man in his 50’s cap is still one of my favorites. Recently in my Combat Judo facebook group one of the members posted cap doing judo on the Hulk which I thought was super cool and it so brought back memories. 

Judo was very popular back in the 50’s and 60’s so much so it made it way into pop culture via the comics. According to The Marvel Directory Captain America is listed as having mastered boxing and judo, and has combined these disciplines for his own unique hand-to-hand style of combat.  

When I saw this, I couldn’t help but think that they were describing what was known as Combat Judo, the very thing my Combat Judo group is about trying to preserve. It kind of slowly dawned on me that Captain America is a part of Combat Judo’s unique history and legacy. 

Combat judo was a military combatives system whose roots stem from WWI. It is a combination of judo and boxing. This method was basically recast as “combat judo” to distinguish it from any of the classical/traditional martial art.  Whether knowingly or unknowing this combination of fighting styles make up Captain America’s fighting style. Being a hero whose origins stem from WWII this would make perfect sense.....Combat Judo was basically the apex of hand to hand combat fighting at the time.

To much of a surprise to many Captain America fans, in 1979, Captain America would get a made-for-television superhero movie starring Reb Brown.  Reb Brown’s Cap was a contemporary version of the character whose father had served in WWII as a government agent. Like Cap though, Reb Brown himself did know boxing, according to online biographies was an amateur boxer. As a teenager in the seventies Reb sure fit the bill for Cap and it was so in character to find out Reb could actually box.....Our super heroes never fail us and always, always seem to inspire.

Captain America’s fighting style would go on and be felt in the comics for years. His old school fighting style indicative of the times and even alluded to in the modern movie version of cap in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Watching the scene with Cap pounding away on the punching bag I remembered that Reb Brown was an amateur boxer.  

In the comics Captain America was often seen fighting using old combatives techniques and there are more than a few references of cap teaching combat judo. If one googles “Captain America and Judo” you see all kinds of stuff pop up even throwing Nick Fury. You will find comic book panel after panel of Cap doing judo or others crediting him for teaching judo/boxing to them.

For many of us who watched Reb Brown as Cap he still is and always will be Captain America. One has to remember there was no CGI back then Tv shows and movies were on a budget an they really had to find someone who looked the part. Reb embodied Captain America. They found the right guy.  I certainly can’t forget when Cap blasted out of the back of his fan on his motor cycle you just knew it was about to get real.  Reb seems to never cease to inspire this 55 year old kid, he is in his 70s and looks like he could still play Cap. Captain America is indeed part of the unique legacy and history of Combat judo and Reb Brown for a lot of us 50 somethings will also be the real Captain America.