Joe Felke’s career as a taekwondo instructor started with a desire to learn self-defense. It was the mid-1970s and he found himself in a physical confrontation.

“There was a misunderstanding that didn’t go well,” he said. He decided he was not going to be in that position again. And he hasn’t, but not for the reason you might think.

Felke is now Master Felke, 7th Dan, or a seventh-degree black belt.