KCA Hapkido
Master Eddie A. Hurley
Master Hurley is a 4th Dan GHA Black Belt in Hapkido. He is also a Cofounder of the KCAcademy. We lost him in 2017, but his memory is still with us today.
Master Hurley‘s Coaching Badge for the GHA Championship in Mexico 2017
Posthumously awarding Master Hurley’s GHA Hapkido 4th Dan Master’s Certification. It was long overdue, my friend. Grandmaster Lee was very supportive and helpful in correcting any discrepancies from past affiliations.
Master Hurley passed away one week prior to this event. The KCA’s Grand Opening was one week after this picture was taken. Master Hurley was present at the official KCA start date two months earlier in Battle Creek, Michigan, for our school’s GHA membership appointment ceremony.
If there is one word that encapsulates Master Eddie Hurley’s legacy and leadership style, it is empowerment. Master Hurley was a lifelong practitioner of the martial arts. His incredible physical stature made him an obvious target for lesser men with something to prove, and created an inexplicable draw with children.
For those who sought only power, Master Hurley was the immoveable object they had never encountered. For those who sought knowledge through humility, Master Hurley represented an unstoppable source of guidance and training.
Many Masters possess the ability to create an example to be followed. Many are technically proficient to pass along the most complex techniques with ease, but Master Hurley had a gift for training students. When many others would have created replicas of themselves, Master Hurley was in tune with his students’ strengths and weaknesses. He knew how to train them to be the best they could be. While many seek to create carbon copies of themselves Master Hurley was secure in himself and his own power and mastery of the arts, and he was able to help others attain that same strength.
While most instructors teach technical proficiency, Master Hurley was able to see the total person. He could put his finger directly on what held his students back, not only freeing them to master technical skill, but empowering them from the inside out. His students were not only powerful, they were humble, because Master Hurley trained the mind as well as the body while nurturing his students spirit to believe they could attain more than they thought possible.
His presence lives on through those he trained, and those who trained alongside him.
Not just in physical stature, Master Hurley was a giant of a man. The loss felt through the martial arts community is matched only by the intense love and respect those who knew him have.
We continue to stand in his shadow, lifting up others the way Master Hurley would be doing if he was still among us.
EMPOWERMENTS
E ddies
M otivation
P ushed
O thers
W hatever
E xternal
R estrictions
M ight
E xist
N ever
T olerating
S tatus-quo
