who is Master Bill (William G. Snyder)

**Nefron** · Posted On: 1/07/2011 2:39pm

Master Bills biography, for reference.

http://masterbillskarate.com/Biography.htm

William G. Snyder (born August 7, 1949) is a lifelong martial artist, having devoted over 56 years to the study, performance, and instruction of the martial arts. He holds the rank of Grand Master 10th degree black belt in the Phung Hwa Do style of karate, which he founded, and a 8th degree black belt in Soo Bahk Do (Tang Soo Do) Moo Duk Kwan. He also holds masterships in Kendo, Shotokan Karate, and Hwa Rang Do, as well as black belts in Judo, Hapkido, Aikido, and Jujitsu. Snyder fought professionally as a kickboxer boxer and thai boxer during the 1960s and 1970s with a total undefeated record of 101 victories and was the reigning NAKA Heavyweight World Champion during that time. Known as “Master Bill” to his students and peers, Snyder has been teaching martial arts for over 40 years and currently has schools in the United States, Thailand, and the Philippines. Snyder has been inducted into 4 martial arts halls of fame.

Early Life

Snyder was born in 1949 in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA. Snyder’s father, an embassy guard, moved his family to Seoul, Korea in 1953 where Snyder’s love for the martial arts was forged at an early age. He began training in Soo Bahk Do (Tang Soo Do) Moo Duk Kwan at the age of four. Snyder studied under Grand Master Hwang Kee, the founder of Soo Bahk Do (Tang Soo Do) Moo Duk Kwan, and received his first black belt at the age of seven. Snyder’s family moved back to the United States in 1957 and settled in Michigan where he continued his martial arts studies in Soo Bahk Do. By the time he reached his eighteen birthday, Snyder was already a highly accomplished martial artist, having earned his 5th degree master black belt and having won five World Grand Champion Soo Bahk Do titles in the junior black belt division. In addition to amateur karate, Snyder had a very successful amateur boxing career, winning over 150 amateur contests, two National Junior Golden Gloves titles, and three Junior Olympic Boxing titles.

Military Background:

Snyder joined the United States Marine Corps in 1967 and served two tours in Vietnam. While in Vietnam, Snyder was awarded several medals for combat valor and 44 Combat Action Ribbons. While in Vietnam, Snyder began learning Muay Thai and won the U.S. Marine Corps heavyweight boxing title. After his second tour in Vietnam, Snyder was stationed in Jacksonville, N.C. where he founded the first “all marine” martial arts team. Snyder was honorably discharged from the Marines Corps in 1972.

Professional Fighting:

Snyder began his professional kickboxing career in 1968. He won the AKA World Heavyweight title in 1969 and remained undefeated until he retired from professional fighting in 1980 with a record of 101 wins and 0 losses. Snyder fought professionally at the international level, including fights in the U.S., Vietnam, Thailand, and Korea. His most memorable title defense was a 15 round decision win against John Henry Ford in 1973 at Madison Square Gardens in New York. In addition to his AKA World Heavyweight title, Snyder won a Muay Thai world title in Bangkok in 1971.

After retiring from professional fighting, Snyder continued to train, manage, and promote kickboxing professionals. Between 1981 and 1985, Snyder trained and managed six world champion kickboxers within the International Kickboxing Federation (IKF) as noted in the chronology below. Synder also continued to be active within the boxing community and was a sparring partner periodically for professional boxers.

Martial Arts Instruction:

Snyder has been providing martial arts instruction for over 40 years. In 1969, he opened his first school in Jacksonville, N.C. while in the Marine Corps. During the 1970s and early 1980s Snyder had several martial arts studios in Michigan that focused on traditional Tang Soo Do as well as amateur boxing. In 1986 Snyder founded one of the earlier styles of mixed martial arts, Phung Hwa Do. Using traditional Soo Bahk Do (Tang Soo Do) as its core style, Phung Hwa Do incorporates elements of kickboxing, boxing, Jujitsu and Judo. To date, Snyder has opened nine Phung Hwa Do school branches within the Unites States, Thailand, and the Philippines.

Over the years Snyder has personally taught over one thousand students and instructors. Snyder’s credits as an instructor and coach include 6 kickboxing world champions, 37 Golden Gloves champions, two runner ups to the 1980 and 1984 Olympic boxing teams, and numerous sparring and forms champions within the various U.S. karate tournament networks.

Chronology:

1949 Born in Raleigh, N.C.

1953 Moved to Seoul, Korea and began studying Soo Bahk Do (Tang Soo Do) under Grand Master Hwang Kee

1956 Earned 1st degree black belt in Soo Bahk Do at the age of seven

1957 Won his first U.S. Junior Olympic Boxing title

1958 Earned 2nd degree black belt in Soo Bahk Do. Won 1st National Junior Golden Gloves title and 2nd Junior Olympic Title

1959 Won 2nd National Junior Golden Gloves title and 3rd U.S. Junior Olympic Boxing title

1960 Won 1st World Grand Champion Soo Bahk Do title in junior black belt division

1961 Earned 3rd degree black belt in Soo Bahk Do

1965 Earned 4th degree master black belt in Soo Bahk Do

1966 Won 5th consecutive World Grand Champion Soo Bahk Do titles in the junior black belt division

1967 Earned 5th degree master black belt in Soo Bahk Do

1967 Joined the United States Marine Corps

1968 Won the US Marine Corps Heavyweight boxing title. Began kickboxing at the professional level

1969 Won the NAKA World Heavyweight kickboxing title

1969 Started the first “all marines” martial arts school in Jackson, N.C. Began studying Muay Thai in Bangkok, Thailand.

1970 Earned 6th degree master black belt in Soo Bahk Do. Founded the first “all marines” martial arts team.

1971 Won the Muay Thai Boxing Association’s World Heavyweight Title in Thailand.

1971 Opened his first school to the public in Jacksonville, N.C.

1972 Honorably discharged from the Marine Corps and moved back to Michigan.

1972 Opened martial arts school in Mount Clemens, MI and formed an amateur boxing team under the USABF.

1973 Won three NAKA title defenses, including a 15 round decision win at the Madison Square Gardens in New York.

1973 Founded the Knockdown Production Company, a kickboxing fight promotion organization.

1973 Earned Judo black belt

1974 Earned Hapkido black belt. Founded the American Martial Arts Association

1975 Founded the International Kickboxing Federation (IKF), a governing body for professional kickboxing

1975 Earned Aikido black belt while studying in Japan

1976 Earned 7th degree black belt in Soo Bahk Do. Earned Jujitsu black belt while studying in Japan.

1978 Earned Kendo mastership while studying in Japan. Opened martial arts school in Clinton Township, MI.

1980 Retired from professional fighting with a combined record of 101 wins and 0 losses, undefeated for 11 years.

1981 Trained Kenny “KO” Osterlan who won the IKF Light Heavyweight Kickboxing Championship that year

1982 Earned 8th degree black belt in Soo Bahk Do

1983 Trained two more IKF champions: Beverly Szymanski (IKF Women’s Champ) and Mark Lang (IKF Heavyweight Champ).

1984 Trained Merrick Patriotski (IKF Light Heavyweight Champion) and Dave Manter (IKF Middleweight Champion).

1985 Trained Johnny Link (IKF Cruiserweight Champion)

1986 Earned Grand Master 9th degree black belt in Soo Bahk Do

1986 Received 1st martial arts Hall of Fame induction

1986 Founded the Phung Hwa Do style of martial arts as the president and founder

1992 Earned Grand Master 10th degree black belt in Phung Hwa Do

1992 Opened Phung Hwa Do school branch in Korea
1994 Opened Phung Hwa Do school branch in Rochester, NY under Master Steve Blowers
1996 Opened Phung Hwa Do school branch in Glen Burnie, MD under Master Cliff McPherson
2000 Opened Phung Hwa Do school branch in Thailand. Received 2nd martial arts Hall of Fame induction
2001 Opened Phung Hwa Do school branch in Austin Texas under Jose Flowers
2002 Opened Phung Hwa Do school branch in Waverly, TN under Master Steve McLaren
2003 Opened Phung Hwa Do school branch in Glendale, CA under Marna Smith
2007 Received 3rd martial arts Hall of Fame induction
2008 Received 4th martial arts Hall of Fame induction
2009 Opened Phung Hwa Do school branch in the Philippines

**hungryjoe** · Posted On: 1/07/2011 3:54pm

Military Background:

Snyder joined the United States Marine Corps in 1967 and served two tours in Vietnam. While in Vietnam, Snyder was awarded several medals for combat valor and 44 Combat Action Ribbons. While in Vietnam, Snyder began learning Muay Thai and won the U.S. Marine Corps heavyweight boxing title. After his second tour in Vietnam, Snyder was stationed in Jacksonville, N.C. where he founded the first “all marine” martial arts team. Snyder was honorably discharged from the Marines Corps in 1972.

Kudos for his service. It was before my time. I'm curious if the above claims are above board.

The 5th degree black belt at age eighteen is laughable.

1967 Joined the United States Marine Corps

1968 Won the US Marine Corps Heavyweight boxing title. Began kickboxing at the professional level

1969 Won the NAKA World Heavyweight kickboxing title

1969 Started the first “all marines” martial arts school in Jackson, N.C. Began studying Muay Thai in Bangkok, Thailand.

1970 Earned 6th degree master black belt in Soo Bahk Do. Founded the first “all marines” martial arts team.

1971 Won the Muay Thai Boxing Association’s World Heavyweight Title in Thailand.

1971 Opened his first school to the public in Jacksonville, N.C.

1972 Honorably discharged from the Marine Corps and moved back to Michigan.

1972 Opened martial arts school in Mount Clemens, MI and formed an amateur boxing team under the USABF.

Very busy years. Wondering if any fellow jarheads have a way of checking boxing claims going back that far. Possibly any boxing championship was base level at best. TSD is not the best at teaching boxing skills.

**I Am** · Posted On: 1/07/2011 8:46pm

1. If he'd served in every operation for which the Combat Action Ribbon has ever been awarded, and qualified for it each of those operations he would only have seventeen Combat Action Ribbons. You can only earn one per operation.

http://usmilitary.about.com/library/...mbataction.htm

Theoretically the guy could have a single award for it based on his claimed service, but 44 seems like one hell of a typo. It also seems odd that he would mention that award specifically, but not any of his other combat awards.

2. Based on the claimed two tours and station info, he was in Vietnam ??/1967-??/1969 and Jackson/Jacksonville N.C. ??/1969-??/1972. So he started "kickboxing at the professional level" while stationed in a combat unit, in a war zone, as a Marine‽ O_o

3. Toshio Fujiwara's big claim to fame is being the first non Thai to win a national Muay Thai championship in 1978. So Snyder won a World Muay Thai title seven years earlier that, but nobody ever talks about it?

4. He earned a black belt a year for four years. Judo, Hapkido, Aikido, and Jujitsu. None of which he's mentioned as having studied prior to earning said black belts. Oh well at least it took him six years to become grandmaster of an art he founded.

**dknight231** · Posted On: 1/10/2011 7:00pm

I don't know about Master Bill, but martial arts aside, his website is a riot to read as a Korean.

The patch on the first page reads "Pyung Hwa Do" (평=pyung. 펑 would be the closest, pronunciation, as "Pung"). "Pung" is a sound, like a pop sound. Not a master of Hanja (Korean pronunciations in Chinese characters), but "pyung" does have chinese characters and it is either a unit of area (坪) or criticism (評). I'll give him credit for getting "Do" right though. I have no talent for Japanese, but that does not sound anything like karate-do to me.

As for the second part of the patch, it says "heam jot ta kwan" (힘좋다관). That literally means "strength is good school". First of all, "heam jot ta" is used in actual Korean conversation something like this: "you sure are strong." So imagine naming your school something like "you sure are strong school." Second, "heam jot ta" is written in natural Korean, while "Kwan" is in Chinese. It sounds really awkward. Combined, "Pyung hwa do heam jo ta kwan" does not mean anything remotely like "a brotherhood and school of stopping inner and outer conflict and developing virtue according to the way of peace."

**sanchez62** · Posted On: 1/10/2011 7:03pm

First of all he was born august 7 th 1956..... He was in the marines and fought there. He didn't win all these world championships. But he did study tang su do, and has met a few legends. that part is true... When he was younger he was a strict awesome teacher.. But he got super lazy over the years, and he has a lot of b.s due to wanting to be accepted. But that karate style is a real style, that he does know.. you don't have to be a super star to teach, take it or leave=it...... I do know all your answers, so ask me...

**sanchez62** · Posted On: 1/10/2011 7:09pm

i know his real age

**sanchez62** · Posted On: 1/10/2011 7:10pm

that whole bio someone posted is cmpletely WRONGGGGGGG

**It is Fake** · Posted On: 1/10/2011 7:14pm

You are not texting or im'ing. Post once or twice not 8-10 one sentence responses. That Bio comes from his website so, if you have some facts, start posting the information to prove it is wrong.

Thank you.