Does anyone remember Bob Fulton III?

Contributors offers insight into the non-physical side of the Martial Arts, often ignored when discussing self-defense.
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gmattson
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Does anyone remember Bob Fulton III?

Post by gmattson »

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Ive been carrying around an obituary page since May 11th, waiting until I had time to post this picture and story about Bob's dad, Robert E. Fulton Jr., who invented the "flying automobile" among many other inventions and achievements and died at the age of 95.

His son Bob, was a student during the Columbus Ave Uechi era. Bob came to mind as I was joking with "Topos" on another forum, regarding Topos's inquisitive and probing mind as he studied the "Way" of Uechi-ryu.

Bob was kind of a soul mate with Topos (not his real name). Bob was a gifted writer, but became famous for his photography work. (Last I heard he had married a very wealthy woman and sort of retired to Colorado, but did come to Boston Summers to teach at Harvard.)

Bob and some of us during the Columbus Ave era did lots of experiemental work with Uechi. I remember him creating a film of the kata, performed in the dark with tiny light bulbs attached to various joints of the body.

I hope someone knows where Bob is now and maybe he can check-in to say hello. One quick story:

Bob lived across the street on Columbus Ave, in a very seedy apartment, above an apartment full of drug pushers and users. Bob relates how one afternoon this very tough hombre knocked on his door, threatening to kill Bob if he didn't fork over all his money. Bob said no and the guy began to attack Bob.

Now, Bob's head wasn't into the "physical" or self defense end of Uechi-ryu. He was what some of our posters might call a "lotus pusher" or whatever. Anyway, before the guy's punch could reach Bob, Bob hit him with two powerful hits to the head that sent the guy tumbling over the bannister and down the stairs.

Unfortunately, Bob broke both hands, because when he trained, he never formed a strong fist.

For a "lotus pusher", Bob got into lots of situations where his Uechi helped him survive,even though he never trained to fight. He was at the dojo every day and trained harder, albeit differently, than any other student at the dojo.

I miss him. Hope he reads this and drops in to say hello.
GEM
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I'm sorry to report

Post by gmattson »

That I just learned Bob died in a private plane accident in 2002!
GEM
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More on Bob's dad

Post by gmattson »

And this is Steve Ember with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today we tell about an unusual man who traveled alone around the world. He was an inventor and a filmmaker.
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He wrote a best-selling book. He was a poet, an artist and an airplane pilot. His name was Robert Edison Fulton, Junior. He was named for two of America's most famous inventors, Robert Fulton and Thomas Edison. We begin his story at a dinner party in London, England in nineteen thirty-two.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Robert Edison Fulton, Junior was twenty-four years old. He had graduated from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He had recently completed advanced studies in building design at the University of Vienna in Austria. He was on his way back to the United States when he stopped to visit friends in London. At a dinner party at his friends' house, a young woman asked him if he would be sailing home soon.

He answered: "No, I am going around the world on a motorcycle." Robert Fulton would say for the rest of his life that he had no idea why he said such a thing.

Another man at the party said such a trip would be a great idea. And, he said he owned the Douglas Motor Works Company. He offered Robert Fulton a new Douglas motorcycle to use on his trip.

Many years later, Mister Fulton said this dinner party was the beginning of an eighteen-month adventure. His trip would extend over more than forty thousand kilometers and include twenty-two countries.

VOICE TWO:

Within a few days of the dinner party, Robert Fulton began his preparations. He started collecting maps of the different countries he might visit. In nineteen thirty-two, maps of some countries were difficult to find.

The Douglas company added special equipment to a new motorcycle. This included a second gasoline tank. Mister Fulton would learn that he could ride about five hundred sixty kilometers without needing more fuel.

Two common automobile tires were fitted to the motorcycle. This would make it easier to find new tires or repair the two he had. And the company made a special box to hold tools and a motion picture camera and film. Robert Fulton decided to make a movie about his trip.

VOICE ONE:

A few weeks later, Robert Fulton found himself riding his new motorcycle out of London. He rode to the port of Dover. He crossed the English Channel on a ship. Robert Fulton said the first part of the trip was not exciting. He had traveled in much of Europe before.

The only new thing was the motorcycle. He quickly rode through France, Germany and Austria. He also passed through Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Greece. Each time, it took several hours to get permission to cross the border. Often, border police thought he must be insane. Some said they would permit him to cross, but not his motorcycle. But each time, Mister Fulton was able to talk his way across the border.

VOICE TWO:

Robert Fulton spoke English, French and German. Soon, these languages did not help him. But he always seemed to be able to communicate with almost everyone. He was a nice-looking, friendly young man. People liked him almost immediately. Many people offered him help when they learned what he was trying to do. Police in small towns often let him sleep in the town jail at night.

In time, he reached Damascus, Syria. His next stop would be Baghdad, Iraq. He quickly learned he would have to cross almost eight hundred kilometers of the great Syrian Desert. Officials told him it would be impossible with a motorcycle. Other people said it could be done.

Robert Fulton decided to find out for himself. He loaded the motorcycle with extra cans of fuel and water and began his trip across the desert. Syrians called this desert "the Blue." This was because all you could see was the very blue sky and the very hot sun.

He rode sixteen kilometers on the road out of Damascus. Then he saw a sign showing the way toward Baghdad. It was here that the road ended. In front of him was the great desert. Robert Fulton was alone for most of the trip. He worried about his motorcycle. If the engine failed, he could die of lack of water before anyone could find him. He could fall off and break a leg or arm. The severe heat could kill him. But the motorcycle did not fail him. He survived the fierce heat. He arrived safely in Baghdad.

VOICE ONE:

Robert Fulton successfully completed his trip. He traveled through what are now Afghanistan, India, Vietnam, China, Malaysia and Japan. He crossed the Pacific Ocean on a ship, and arrived in San Francisco. From there, he rode his motorcycle home to New York City. He arrived one day before Christmas, nineteen thirty-three.

When he began his trip, Mister Fulton said he wanted to study buildings and monuments because that is what he had studied in school. He later wrote that he became much more interested in the people he met. He said race or religion did not make a difference. The people were almost always very friendly. He said many people in small villages did not trust him because he was a stranger. But almost everyone tried to help him when they found out that he was riding around the world.

In nineteen thirty-seven, Robert Fulton wrote a book about his trip. He called it "One Man Caravan." It included many photographs of buildings he had seen. Some were very beautiful. They included religious buildings in Malaysia and old military forts in India.

But Robert Fulton liked the photographs of people's faces best. The photos showed people in their native dress, working, playing and examining his motorcycle.

"One Man Caravan" still sells well today. People can order it from bookstores. The movie he made of the trip is called "Twice Upon a Caravan." People can also order it from some bookstores.

VOICE TWO:

Robert Fulton would be considered an unusual man if this long trip was all he did. It was a dangerous thing to do. Some experts said he was lucky to survive. But the trip was only a small part of his long and interesting life. Later, he became a professional photographer for Pan American World Airways. He taught himself to be a pilot.

During World War Two, he designed a machine used to train military aircraft crews to fire guns at enemy aircraft. Both the United States Army Air Corps and Navy bought many of these machines.

VOICE ONE:

Another invention earned Robert Fulton a special place in aviation history. He designed and built an airplane that was also a car. It flew like any other aircraft. But when it landed, the pilot could take off the wings and propeller and drive it like any other car. He called this invention the Airphibian.

In nineteen fifty, Robert Fulton flew his Airphibian to National Airport in Washington, D.C. Then he drove the car from the airport to the headquarters of the Civil Aeronautics Administration. There he was given the legal documents needed to produce the vehicle.

But it was not a success. The costs to develop the Airphibian were too high. Now, the Smithsonian Institution owns the only remaining example of Mister Fulton's unusual invention.

VOICE TWO:


Mister Fulton invented the Skyhook.
Robert Fulton owned more than seventy legal documents that protected his inventions. Among these was a special wheelchair that helped people enter passenger airplanes. He also invented the Skyhook, an air rescue system that involved an airplane and a large helium balloon. The Skyhook was an emergency device designed to rescue people in areas that were hard to reach, such as spies in enemy territory. This device was used in the spy movie "Thunderball" about British secret agent James Bond.

VOICE ONE:

Robert Edison Fulton, Junior died at his home in Newtown, Connecticut at the age of ninety-five on May seventh, two thousand-four. He did not own a copy of his flying car. He no longer had many of the inventions he had made. However, he did own a motorcycle. It was the same special motorcycle made by the Douglas Motor Works so many years ago. He had had it rebuilt to look new.

Robert Fulton could never give up his Douglas motorcycle. It was a part of him.

He once said the year and a half he spent traveling around the world was the experience that changed his life. He said it gave him the courage to try many things and succeed. It was an experience that began with a few simple words: "I am going around the world on a motorcycle."

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

This program was written by Paul Thompson. It was produced by Mario Ritter. This is Steve Ember.

VOICE ONE:
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Post by Van Canna »

I remember Bob Fulton well. Quite the guy. Extremely intelligent and a most unusual character.

He got into the “macrobiotic craze” like no other. He was selling “macro” food out of his apartment across the street, and was always trying to get me “hooked” on it.

Once he took me up there and sold me a piece of old stale bread telling me that the “diet” it had some special properties. One of them being that when a “macro-man” went to he toilet, he did not need to use toilet paper, because “all would come out very clean” _ :lol:

You remember that crazy diet, don't you George? Apparently it did kill a number of people, and or screwed them up in other ways.

Remember we hosted the founder some "Doctor" at the dojo?

He was fond of reading “in the dark” telling me it was good for the eyes.

Another time I walked in the dojo, early in the day. It was pitch black, and there was a strange hissing noise all around. I flipped the light switch, and found myself face to face with Bob practicing sanchin.

He had a long beard in those days, down to his midsection. It was covered with caked saliva from his mouth all the way down. I though he was about to die. 8O

But that was Bob Fulton, and I think of him fondly, and I am so sorry to hear about his death.

Did he ever marry?

We did have a collection of eccentrics at the dojo in those days. I wonder what the attraction was.
Anyway, before the guy's punch could reach Bob, Bob hit him with two powerful hits to the head that sent the guy tumbling over the bannister and down the stairs.
Well, he had learned your lesson well, George. That was what you were teaching those days. The “blocks” came later, much later when the Kyu and Dan kumites were introduced.
For a "lotus pusher", Bob got into lots of situations where his Uechi helped him survive, even though he never trained to fight. He was at the dojo every day and trained harder, albeit differently, than any other student at the dojo.
Bob had something very rare in students today. He was very “intense” _ and this innate gift helped much in his defensive encounters.

Had he trained to “fight” such as a Walter Mattson, and others, he would have been more formidable in his defensive encounters.
Unfortunately, Bob broke both hands, because when he trained, he never formed a strong fist.
Had he known to use open palm strikes, as it is predicated today by the Modern approach, his hands would have remained whole.

This is the interesting part about evolution. Maybe, forty/fifty years from today there will be much better ways to put martial arts techniques/concepts into action.

Anyway, I think of those days with so much longing. Our lives as twenty something.
Van
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Post by Van Canna »

George, this brings to mind another “eccentric” Bob Mormon. You know the stories. And I have found out more colorful ones recently.

As you know, He died in the desert, where he had driven his jeep to “meditate” without a cell phone or an itinerary behind. The jeep struck a rock and busted the radiator.

Sometimes you have to wonder about such “geniuses” _ common sense seems lacking. :(

Like the time he flew in from California for a “pick up” _ and tried to enlist my help in riding in the back of his car with one of my 12 gauge shotguns in plain view across my shoulders. 8O

Quite the con man and “reformed” cocaine addict.
:(
Van
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Post by David Mott »

Hi George and Van,

I'm sorry to learn that Bob Fulton is no longer with us. I remember him very well. It seems like a number of the weekly classes that I took, when I began at the Columbus Ave. Dojo, were led by him after he had taken a vow of silence for 100 days. For three months of his classes it was simply a matter of trying to follow along and, since they were all ranks classes, by the end of three months we could all fumble through 7 of the 8 katas because no told us not to!! Every now and then somebody's ineptitude would give Bob the giggles which he tried very hard to suppress. I can picture him now silently convulsing with laughter as we looked on bewildered. I can also remember the standing practise – very much like the standing qigong practises used by other martial arts –which apparently he introduced to the dojo. The discipline of this practise made a lasting impression on me. His ability to lead endless repetitions of drills moving up and down the dojo without breaking a sweat
(did all that brown rice do that for him?) is also imprinted in my mind. After all these years, my arms and legs still hurt from those drills of his.

About ten years ago, I happened upon a time lapse film of a western skyscape that he made while I was channel surfing in a hotel room. It was very beautiful and I can picture him standing in the sun without moving the camera for days on end. Quite a person. He certainly helped shape my karate practise.
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Welcome

Post by JaySal »

Hi Dave:

Welcome to the forums. Its great to see you here.

Take care

Jay
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gmattson
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Hi David...

Post by gmattson »

What a pleasant surprise to see you on our forums. Hope you will have a chance to drop in often.
GEM
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