Faces
and Spaces of J. R. Roy Martial Arts and The American
Karate Studio
The Greenfield Massachusetts
American Karate Studio was founded by Sensei Steven McCabe
in 1972. The first Dojo location was a small,
cement floored room on Main Street with one heavy bag, a
roman chair, and a weight bench. (Only a few pictures are
around from that
original local, look
for
them
on this
page soon)
The second location of the American Karate
Studio was a small barn on Leyden Road
in Greenfield.
This was the home for the AKS for better than 5 years and
is affectionately (and naturally) remembered as 'The Barn'.
The barn was very small, approximately 20X20 feet. We still
remenisce about the time we fit 17 students in that small
school for a seminar with point fighting legend Danny Zarbo
-- it was warm in there that night!
Below are a few pictures from that 1975-1980 era:
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L-R: Peter Aubrey, Brent Borbeau, J. R. Roy, Sensei Steven
McCabe, Pat Maloney
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AKS Black Belts 1977
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Sensei McCabe (L) demonatrating applications from Kata Nihanche |
Chris Mitchum, our original Youth Karate student
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Pickle ~1976 |
Testing at the Gfld YMCA.
Front row L-R:
John Egloff, 'Bumpy' Bellows, Dennis Sevene, Ron Sargeant. |
Tom 'T.C.' Campbell ~1980 |
Sensei McCabe (R) advises one of Tom Campbell's Kickboxing training partner |
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When the AKS had
begun to run out of room to expand, J. R. Roy moved the school
to a new facility, a reconditioned factory building on Well
St in Greenfield. This location had two large training spaces,
an
office, and a changing room. Now remembered as
"Wells Street", this location was home base from 1980-1988.
Below are a few pictures from that era:
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J. R. Roy in his office ~1985 |
L-R: Ken Hubbard Sr and Mike Stemple |
Mike Stemple blitzing John Gundlah
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J. R. Roy
~1980
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J. R. Roy 1984
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Sensei McCabe tests Geoff Villani's stomach tension in Kata
Sanchin |
Chamin Jamrog leading an evaluation, 1985 |
Chamin throws Marylou Molongoski
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Always a good turn out of family and friends to observe classes
and evaluations
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An early Holiday Party
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Youth Class, 1985
L-R:
Christy Brown, Erica Jacques, Ken Hubbard Jr, Geoff Villani, David Karkut (supervising),
Travis C Roy, Jason Kratz |
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Youth evaluation, ~1985
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Stretchers L-R: Steve Shattuck, David Karkut ~1983 |
John Gundlah and Marylou
Molongoski sparring |
John Gundlah and students ~1986
York Maine
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Mike Stemple training privately at Sensei Roy's home ~1982
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In 1988, the Wells Street studio was lost suddenly
due to a massive flood. After a short time of intense searching
(at which time Sensei Roy was teaching out of his home),
a new location on the ground floor of 1 Osgood Street was
found.
This Dojo was smaller than Well Street, but had wood floors
and a higher visibility downtown location. It was at this
location
between 1988-1998 that Sensei Roy changed the name of the
school from
The American
Karate Studio to J. R. Roy Martial Arts to better reflect
the diverse curriculum offered. Below are a few pictures
from that era:
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Matt Hannon supervises Eli and Jamie
~1998 |
Sharon and Jennifer ~1995 |
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Tom Sokol and Jason Kratz
free spar
~1990 |
Mike Stemple with Joe Lewis
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Bill "Superfoot" Wallace with J. R. Roy ~1992 |
L-R: Sifu Brian Zawilinski, Grandmaster Remy A Presas, J. R.
Roy 1995
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Paul Curran |
Lisa Berger plays flute at an early T'ai Chi camp
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Matt Hannon slipping a side kick from Eli
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JRRMAS Black Belts L-R:
Travis C Roy, Jason Kratz, Hal Manning at their 1995 graduation from Seasonal
Federal Law Enforcement Academy. Mr Manning is now a US Customs Agent in Texas
and Mr Kratz is a Police Officer with the Gfld Police Department.
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Justin Searles and Travis C Roy after lunch at the East Coast
Modern Arnis Camp 1998 |
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Tom "Gentle Giant" Sokol as uke for Professor Presas at a Modern
Arnis seminar ~1992
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