Grandmaster Dennis Brown
President
Grand Master Dennis Brown, accomplished businessman,
martial arts event promoter,
on-screen actor,
and competitor rated #1 in the country during his competition years.
Highly regarded in the martial arts business community:
President and Founder - Dennis Brown Shaolin WuShu Center
Lifelong U.S.A. Chairman - Wang-Qihe Taijiquan Association, Heibei, China
Founding Board Member - Educational Funding Company
Board Member - North American Sport Karate Association
Business Hall of Fame - Educational Management Company
One of the most influential martial artists in the country:
First African American to study martial arts in China, 1982.
Certifications from Jiangsu Sports Center in Nanjing and Beijing Institute of Physical Education.
Dennis Brown is a Kung Fu artist and martial arts legend12345. He learned wushu and tai chi from Chinese instructors and trained at Shaolin Temple in China, becoming the first African-American to do so1. Brown is recognized as a true pioneer in the art of Kung-Fu in the U.S.3. He has won national grand championships for his staff work and sword forms2. Black Belt magazine named him one of the "25 Most Influential Martial Artists of the 20th Century".
Recognition Career Awards
September
11,1982, ‘Dennis Brown Day ” as proclaimed by Mayor Marion Barry for his
continued work with the youth.
Nominated for the Wu-Shu Performer Hall of
Fame.
Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., recognized him as Official
Consultant of
Wu-Shu for the People ’s Republic of China.
Inducted into
Kung-Fu Hall of Fame in 1996.
Inducted into World Christian and Pastoral
Martial Arts Hall of Fame,1998.
Inducted into BLACK BELT Magazine Hall of
Fame ,Kung Fu Instructor of the Year, 1999.
INSIDE KUNG-FU Magazie ’s List
of “Who ’s Made the Greastest Impact in Martial Arts
Over the Last 100
Years,” Dec. 1999.
BLACK BELT Magazine - List of “25 Most Influential
Martial Artists of the 20th Century,”
May, 2000.
Martial Skills
Expert in Wu-Shu fighting
skills,weapons,forms,Tai Chi
Chin-Na grappling arts and other internal
systems
On August 13th, 2007, at a simple tea ceremony rarely held in public, 67-year-old Grandmaster Willy Lin passed along "the robe and bowl" of t'ien shan p'ai to his disciple of over 40 years, Washington, D.C. kung-fu pioneer Master Dennis Brown.
Grand Master Brown - 80's weapons star, trainer of champions and promoter of his own long-running U.S. Capitol Classics tournament - is now officially the yiban, or heir apparent, to the world-famous fighting system, which originated in the T'ien Shan mountains of northwestern China.
A member of half-a-dozen Halls of Fame, Grand Master Brown was cited at the turn of the century in Black Belt magazine as one of the "25 Most Influential Martial Artists of the 20th Century." Today Dennis Brown stands as a living legend of the original United States generation to discover it was possible for an American to have a destiny in the martial arts.
Chinatown insiders recall the youthful Dennis Brown as a fighter of closed-door matches in New York and Washington, including one famous bout in which he bested a full-contact hero who later retired unbeaten from the public circuit. As a weapons forms competitor, Dennis Brown won national grand championships for his staff work and sword forms; and he redesigned and revolutionized the rope dart, of which he remains one of the few living experts.
Grand Master Brown has continuously developed all his skills through an ongoing lifelong study of the fighting forms, traditional weapons and training resources of classic external and internal wushu. In 1982, he became the first African American to train in Mainland China. He has returned there to do advanced studies in every decade since then.
In 1982, when he first arrived in China, Grand Master Brown had already founded the U.S. Capitol Classics (so named because there already existed an event called the Capital Classic, spelled with an "a'). The 21st century U.S. Capitol Classics has evolved into one of the country's most famous and glamorous venues. It has been said by martial arts historians that, over the years, the greatest champions of the last quarter-century have given some of their most memorable performances at the Classic.
Grand Master Brown's pioneering has also extended to broadcasting. In the Washington area, he is fondly remembered for a six-year run as "The Morning Sound" Exercise Consultant on WHUR radio. And, for three years in the late '90s, beginning on ESPN, the Grand Master co-hosted "Black Belts," a weekly half-hour TV show which covered the grand championship showdowns at major national tournaments.
Currently, Dennis Brown stays hands-on, busy running three successful Shaolin Wu-Shu Training Centers in the greater metropolitan area. Popular respect and deep affection for the Master have spread globally. His life story traces a martial hero's inspirational rise from family poverty to the summit of old-school traditional kung-fu.
Grand Master Dennis Brown's one life/one style integrity singles him out. And in his unforced modesty, deep learning and positive attitude, a new generation is discovering that, even in the postmodern world, the classic Way of the Chinese Warrior matters more than ever.
Black Belt Hall of Fame and Inside Kung Fu Hall of Fame. Cited as one of the “25 Most Influential Martial Artists of the 20th Century.”
Founder and promoter of the 6-A rated US Capitol Classics China Open international martial arts event. Only American to represent China’s leading style of Tai Chi and meditation in the U.S.
Featured in the Smithsonian American Art Museum exhibition: Sightlines: Chinatown & Beyond .
Lead Actor, “The Warrior,” motion picture
Featured in: “Secrets of the Warriors Powers,” Discovery Channel Documentary; “The Black Kung-Fu Experience,” PBS Documentary; “How I Made It In America,” national documentary
Hosted “Martial Arts Showcase,” Talk Show