Bart Vale:
2006 Full-Contact Fighter of the Year
Bart Vale:
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As a kid, Vale got into the martial arts because he loved to fight and decided he needed to learn how to do it properly. He quickly realized there was more to the martial arts than just fighting. He began to set goals and imagine a future for himself as a martial artist. He wanted to earn his black belt and open a school or two. He also wanted to train in Japan so he could compete with the Japanese. One by one, he started checking the goals off his list. He earned his black belt with ease, and by the mid-1980s, he’d become the head instructor of 10 kenpo karate studios in South Florida. In 1986 Masami Soranaka spotted Vale at a televised Muscular Dystrophy Association event, where the kenpo expert demonstrated his skills during a 30-second slot. Soranaka was impressed enough to ask Vale to try shootfighting, a Japanese eclectic art that combines muay Thai striking with grappling and the “shoot-in” takedowns of wrestling. Vale rose to the challenge and went on to become one of the first Westerners to compete in Japan’s Universal Wrestling Federation. A few years later, he fought a pre-UFC Ken Shamrock and several of Japan’s top competitors. In 1992 he became the first non-Japanese to win the world championship, defeating his own instructor, Yoshio Fujiwara. Vale says that match remains the highlight of his career. When he wasn’t competing in Japan, Vale would return to the United States, where he strove to introduce the Japanese fight sport. He coined the term “shootfighting” to describe the hybrid style and helped Soranaka found the International Shootfighting Association in 1987. As vice president, Vale was in charge of U.S. operations, ferrying fighters from overseas and arranging matches for them in America. When Soranaka passed away in 1992, Vale assumed his partner’s duties. Vale now maintains a single school in the Fort Lauderdale, Florida, area, but through shootfighting he’s affiliated with 75 other institutions around the world. In 2001 he and Mark Jacobs wrote the definitive guide to the style, Shootfighting: The Ultimate Fighting System. Despite his success, Vale hasn’t rested. He’s organized fundraisers for the MDA, as well as kickathons for the St. Jude’s and St. Thomas’ charity organizations. And for the past several years, he’s had his students teach underprivileged kids in YMCA programs. For his pioneering bouts in Japan and America, his tireless devotion to promoting shootfighting around the world and his ongoing efforts to bridge the gaps that divide martial arts and cultures, Black Belt has inducted Bart Vale into its Hall of Fame as 2006 Full-Contact Fighter of the Year. (This profile originally appeared in the December 2006 issue of Black Belt.) |
