American Kenpo (Kempo), the first form of Karate in America, came to the United states via Hawaii. The founder of Kenpo is most often considered to be William Kwai Sun Chow, also known as William K. S. Chow, William Ah Sun Chow Hoon, William (Thunderbolt) Chow and, ultimately by the simple title of Professor Chow! Professor Chow, a child of Chinese and Hawaiian Indian parents, a teacher of Ed Parker who first brought Karate from Hawaii to the United States. Ed Parker was an instructor of Al Tracy who helped to further popularize the martial arts. Many legends have been fabricated to show a direct lineage from the Shoalin monks of China to Professor Chow. The true history has been in large part revealed by the dedicated and serious research of Al Tracy. Almost all of the information below has been taken from Al Tracy's web site, some of it verbatim. While the idea of American Kenpo evolving directly from Shaolin martial arts may be an appealing fable for some, the true story is no less fascinating.

William K. S. Chow was born in Honolulu, Hawaii on July 3, 1914. He died in Honolulu on Sept. 21, 1987 at 4:15 a.m. William Chow died of a heart attack caused by hypertension. His remains were cremated. He was survived by his wife, Patsy H. Matsumurea, and one son. His son studied Kenpo with his father and was a ranked black belt. He did not take over the leadership of Professor Chow's organization after his father's death. Oral tradition and modern legends assert that William Chow's father was a Shaolin Priest. Since Shaolin Priests do not marry, this story is problematic. Researching official documents, Al Tracy determined that Professor Chow's father was Sun Chow Hoon - also known as Ah Hoon Chow, born in Canton China in 1880. Sun Chow Hoon came to the US (Hawaii) in 1899 at the age of nineteen. Sun Chow Hoon was first married (and fathered children) in China -not giving him much time to become Shaolin. He came to Hawaii, then a U.S. territory, as an immigrant laborer and started by working in a Chinese laundry. He eventually became a tailor and worked in that profession the remainder of his life. He would change his name to Ah Hoon Chow in his later years and preferred to be called by the more formal name "Mr. Hoon Chow." Though Sun Chow Hoon never studied nor taught Kung-Fu, Professor Chow's father was certainly a fighter. These were rough and tumble times in Hawaii. When William Chow was born, his father Sun Chow Hoon was in jail. Police records show he had been in a "barroom's brawl" -- and it wasn't from "Kung Fu Fighting." Sun Chow Hoon was asked at the time, "When William was born what was your business?" Official government records quote Sun Chow Hoon as responding: "I no do nothing. That time I get trouble and stay ten months in jail." Note that Sun Chow Hoon did not simply abandon his Chinese family. It was very common at that time and in Chinese culture for one family member to travel, leaving China to work, and send money back to the family at home. Many who did this could eventually afford to bring family members to America (or elsewhere outside China). At the beginning of the 20th century there was almost constant civil war in China and a large number of people lived in dire poverty. At the age of 19, Chow Hoon left his home in China with the hopes of coming to the United States to earn enough money to bring his first family from China. He did not know that U.S. Immigration policy was so prejudiced against Asians that no Chinese workers were allowed to bring their families to Hawaii. At that period of time the United States allowed only 300 Chinese to immigrate to the US each year. For ten years Chow Hoon worked in the laundry and other odd jobs, sending part of his income back to help support his family in China. Finally Chow Hoon had to make a choice between returning to China and his family or starting a new family in the United States. In 1909, at the age of 29, he married Rose Naehu, a divorced women. Rose Naehu was William Chow's mother. Rose Naehu knew that Chow Hoon had a family in China to whom he had been sending money. This caused a great deal of concern to Rose, especially as their family grew and money was hard to come by. While she was alive, Rose would never allow Chow Hoon to return to China to visit his "other" family. This decision left Chow Hoon with two families. As best as he could he still tried to send money back to China. The bonds of a Chinese family are very tight and Chow Hoon always felt a strong moral obligation to his family in China. The practice of having more than one wife or a wife and a number of concubines was not uncommon at the time. Even the legendary Henry S. Okazaki had two wives.

In 1928, three years after Rose's death, Chow Hoon did return to China for a visit. He took all of his boys with him except William. None of the daughters went with him. William (know to the family as Willie) was 14 years of age and refused to go to China. Willie's formal education probably stopped at the 6th grade but Willie was "street smart" and a survivor. Willie knew that by Chinese tradition, being the oldest son, he was 1st in line to take the father's place as the provider for the family in China. In fact, Chow Hoon left his second son Albert in China to provide for the family in his place when he returned to Hawaii. Nine years later, Albert became seriously ill. Without modern medicine, Albert died in China in 1937.

Willies mother, Rose Kalamalio Naehu, died in 1925 after giving birth to daughter Rose-Marie. Rose Naehu was of mixed ancestry (Indian/Pakistan/Hawaiian); however, all the members of the family claimed she was pure Hawaiian. Rose had previously been married to a Hawaiian before she married Chow Hoon, but had no children from the first marriage.

William Chow was the third child born and the first son of Rose Naehu and Chow Hoon. After his mother's death, at age 11, William dropped out of school (having completed the 6th grade). He would have no further formal education. William grew up with no parental supervision and learned to live on his own, drifting from one friend and relative to another. His oldest sister, Josephine, assumed the responsibility of raising his younger siblings. His younger brother, Frank, also learned martial arts and was Ed Parkers first instructor in Hawaii.

By today's standards Willie came from a "dysfunctional family". One of 16 children he simply got lost in the midst of the herd. The family, while large, was not very close, at least in Willie's case. In 1944 at an official government hearing (regarding his citizenship) he was asked his mother's name. He replied; "I don't know". He was 29 years old at the time. William Chow was a great fighter, and apparently fought often. He had an uncanny gift for remembering every self-defense technique he had been taught. Street smart, he took each new self-defense technique and spent hours working it with different partners, practicing, perfecting, and refining each technique. William Chow then used the streets of Honolulu, with its limitless supply of U.S. military personnel, for his final testing ground. Despite his many fights William Chow had few problems with the police. In those days if a GI got into a fight and lost, he took his licking, kept his mouth shut, and was ready for a few more beers and another fight next "payday"!

William Chow from early childhood was a loner and a fighter. At an early age Willie learned to survive on the street. Being of mixed ancestry he was not accepted into the Chinese community, nor did he study "formal Kung-fu". To the Chinese he was a "half-breed"*, which placed him off limits. While not very tall (5'2"), William was extremely powerful. His was proven by his great "breaking ability" and his hours of practice on the Makawara. Many masters who knew the professor claimed his "powerful stance" was the root of his power. Because of his explosive and rapid firing of techniques to the vital areas of the body, he was referred to as the man that struck like a thunderbolt. This stuck and he was nicknamed "Thunderbolt".

By the start of W.W.II, William Chow (age 26) had learned to survive so well, and was so independent, that he did not even bother registering for the draft as required by everyone at the beginning of the war. William could simply "drop through the cracks of the system". He learned at an early age never be in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was able to keep out of trouble with the police and -- except for a couple of fights -- had no police record. With no police record, no social security number and no draft record and no permanent address, Willie Chow did not exist. During the war he found plenty of odd jobs since there was a great shortage of manpower.

William finally found his niche in life when he enrolled in one of Mitose's Kenpo Jui Jitsu classes. During this period William Chow and James Mitose would develop a closer relationship than many realized. For a period of time Chow actually lived with and worked for James Mitose. However, this did not mean that Chow and Mitose were great friends; their worlds were too far apart for them to have much in common except Kenpo.

William Chow spent most of his time training with Mitose and hanging out at Henry S. Okazaki's Jui-jitsu dojo! Okazaki had so many students that in 1936 he had to build his own gym in Honolulu that he called the Hawaiian Jujitsu Guild. The name changed many times, finally becoming the American Jujitsu Institute of Hawaii. Henry S. Okazaki died in 1951. Sig Kufferath was the source of a wealth of information, as he knew Mitose longer than anyone headed the style. Sig Kufferath died in 1999 at 90 years of age. He lived in San Jose, California. He was active in the martial arts his entire life.

William became an excellent instructor but had difficulties making close friendships. This is one of the main reasons why each of his advanced students would reach a certain level of proficiency and leave. Others would leave because they could not stand the Professors brutal style of training. The Professor, in his entire life, never created a kata! To the Professor "Kata" was the proper method of doing anything. Individual self defense techniques were Kata's to William. As kata started to become important in the 60's and 70's, his students would make up their own; they would then explain to Chow the kata's purpose and meaning. At this point Chow would either give his approval or the kata would die. Since the katas were not Chow's he did not learn any of them; as the individual katas were not part of the system, they left with the person who created them.

During his life time Professor Chow received very little credit for his important role in all the systems based upon Kenpo/Kempo. Outside the Kenpo community he was relatively unknown. None of the major magazines ever gave him any coverage. His death was not well reported by many of the martial arts magazines. He toiled all his life teaching the arts he loved, but never made a living at it. He never had more than a handful of students. He never had a "dojo" of his own. He taught out of YMCA's, boys clubs and recreation halls. A few private students he taught in the park. Professor Chow lived most of his life in poverty.

William Kwai Sun Chow would take on in later years the humble title of "Professor Chow". To many (especially in Hawaii) he was simply referred to as the "Professor". Others in Kenpo would later take the title Professor, but to the older generation there was only "one" Professor and that was "Professor Chow"!

It can truly be said Professor Chow "taught from the heart"! His warrior spirit never left him! To the Professor, Kenpo was a war art. It was pure Martial Arts! The Professor would never compromise. The Professor understood there is no sport in a street fight. He had been in too many. There are no rules, no referees, no times out, no "King's X"s! The only rules of self defense techniques: simple, direct, fast, powerful, effective.