Background
Ernest Emerson was born on March 7, 1955 in northern Wisconsin. While attending high school he displayed athletic ability as a wrestler and baseball player, being drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals to play professional baseball at the age of 17 in the Midwest League.
Emerson began his training in martial arts at the age of 16 with the Korean version of Judo known as Yudo, traveling from Wisconsin to Minnesota twice a week to attend school. He continued his study of the martial arts while attending the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse where he earned a brown belt in Kyokushinkai Karate and a black belt in Shotokan Karate while competing on the university's karate team. After graduating with degrees in physical education and world history, Emerson moved to Southern California for the sole purpose of continuing his martial arts training at the Filipino Kali Academy. There he studied Jun Fan Gung Fu, Jeet Kune Do, and Eskrima under the tutelage of Dan Inosanto and Richard Bustillo (both protégés of the late Bruce Lee). Emerson subsequently trained in Gracie Jiu Jitsu for three years at the original Gracie Academy in Torrance, California, under the founders of the Gracie Jiu Jitsu system, Rorion and Royce Gracie. Eventually, Emerson became an instructor in his own right and combined the principles of all these systems. It was in Southern California where he met his wife, Mary, who at the time was one of the world's top female practitioners of Jujutsu. During this time, Emerson worked as a technician, a machine operator, and eventually a design engineer for Hughes Aircraft in El Segundo.
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