Profile of Presenters

GM Thomas Gordon – 8th degree

Florida, USA

Master Thomas Gordon is the founder of Gordon Martial Arts in Crestview, Florida; host of the Korean Martial Arts Festival (KMAF) and Gulf Coast Martial Arts Championships; and host and custodian of the Korean Martial Arts Masters Hall of Fame (KMAMHOF).

Thomas began his martial arts training in a relatively closed organization and later partnered with Mr. Gregory Bledsoe to operate a school in a neighboring community. After years of teaching, training, and competing throughout the United States, he began looking beyond organizational boundaries to broaden his martial arts education.

In 2003, he opened Gordon Martial Arts in his hometown of Crestview and aligned himself with two men who became important mentors in his martial arts career: Grand Master K.S. Hwang (K-9-1) and Grand Master Rudy Timmerman.

That philosophy of training without unnecessary organizational politics helped lead to the creation of the Korean Martial Arts Festival in 2007. KMAF was built around a simple concept: bring good martial artists together, leave rivalry and egos at the door, and give everyone an opportunity to train and share knowledge.

Master Gordon has trained and taught throughout the United States and internationally in Canada, Korea, Australia, England, Scotland, and the Netherlands. Living and teaching in Northwest Florida has also provided opportunities to work with conventional military personnel, Special Operations and Special Forces members, and law-enforcement officers.

Among the highlights of his martial arts career are watching both of his daughters test for black belt before panels of grandmasters; being featured six times on the cover of Taekwondo Times, including being named one of the magazine’s ten “Movers & Shakers” in Korean martial arts; testing for sixth degree in Taekwon-Do before Grand Master K.S. Hwang and Grand Master Rudy Timmerman; and the friendships and experiences gained through decades of martial arts travel.

Master Gordon currently holds an eighth-degree black belt in Taekwon-Do, seventh degree in Hapkido, third degree in Combat JuJitsu, and second degree in Krav Maga.

Outside the traditional martial arts, he is very active in the community, works in the construction trade, and played semi-professional football at center into his early 40s, completing his final season in 2012.

Despite the ranks, travel, magazine covers, and recognition, his basic philosophy toward martial arts has remained relatively unchanged:

“I got into martial arts to do martial arts.”

That philosophy continues to drive KMAF each April—a weekend built around training, camaraderie, reconnecting with old friends, and making new ones.