Early Life
Speakman was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, where he was a springboard diver at John Hersey High School and achieved All-American status. He graduated from Missouri Southern State College.
He has said that the television show Kung Fu got him interested in martial arts, and spent years training in American Kenpo under his principal instructor, Larry Tatum, as well as under Ed Parker, the founder of the system.
Speakman received his 1st degree black belt in American Kenpo in 1984. He has subsequently obtained an eighth-degree rank in kenpo karate with other instructors, and also currently holds a 7th-degree black belt in the Goju-Ryu Karate style which he began to study under Grandmaster Lou Angel starting in 1978.
Speakman is also founder and director of American Kenpo Karate Systems (AKKS), an international kenpo karate organization with more than 50 schools across the region.
Read more about this topic: Jeff Speakman
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