Below is the one and only article ever written/published by Pete Robinson. This discontinued magazine is circa 1970, however there is no publishing date anywhere inside. Considering the article by Chuck Norris makes no mention of his first major screen credit in 'Return of the Dragon' (or 'Way of the Dragon') with Bruce Lee, its probably safe to say this was written prior to 1972. The zoom feature is enabled to allow you to read this very insightful and rare interview with a true master - Pete Robinson. If you are unable to view an enlarged version, copy the picture to your pc then open with an appropriate application that will allow for zoom.

With much respect, I offer this page of material for your review, and for your reference. This is quite possibly the most comprehensive source of Pete Robinson information, as theres not much out there...unfortunately. I have received numerous emails and a couple photo contributions from former students. It would seem that the late 60's and 70's in CT produced the majority of Robinsons kung fu students. Your contact is always welcome and of course any information or photos of Pete.

In some martial arts circles, he is well known, but those circles are shrinking. The general public certainly hasn't heard of him as he obviously didn't write many articles, any books, or made a video of any kind. Nonetheless, Pete Robinson studied with some of the finest Kung Fu masters of his time to the point where they deemed him a master as well. He is worthy of recognition and I am honored to have been one of his students...we are a fortunate and rare breed.

A rare photo of Pete receiving his master sash from William Chung at a ceremony in New Jersey, 1975.
 

Sifu Robinson's post:

FYI, and by way of an intro....

My name is Pete Robinson.
In chronological order, I am a TCMA student of:
John Leoning
Wong Ark Yuey
William J. Chung
Liang Kam Yuen (a couple sets by referral from Leoning)
Liu Kim Yuen (Share Lew)(equal parts TCMA & not-TCMA)
Mark Gin Foon

I became the first disciple of William J. Chung in a Bai Si ceremony in 1967 conducted by Mark Gin Foon.
At that time I could have become a direct student of
Mark Gin Foon if I "passed the test"...... I flunked.
"Fortunately for me" I didn't flunk so badly that I got "nothing out of it".
Turned out that I was still "entitled" to "see something".
Stupidly, I asked about "internal power"....

Master Chung allowed me to use the name of his association on my school & I incorporated in Ct. in the late 60s as "Chinese Shaolin Kung Fu Association" (Inc) and registered with the State Boxing Commission as well.

I taught Bart (Butch) Crofton. (who had no problem knocking many folks on their ass before he ever met me)
Butch did not "get on well" with everyone.
(can we all say "xenophobia"?)
("a bit of a problem" if you were in TCMA "back then")
Of course, this also held for MDs, DDs, LLDs, PDs, etc.
For whatever reason, he did not choose to use or was not allowed to use the association name I used, thus
"Chinese Shaolin Boxing Association".

Butch did not train with either William J. Chung or
Mark Gin Foon.
He did "fill in" for me in a few classes at Aron Bank's second Times Square School when Master Chung wanted a "demo dummy".
I "dragged" (he was twice my weight) Butch along to watch one of my private lessons with Master Mark...
Mark Foon pretty much refused to do anything at all in front of Butch.... until I mentioned Pak Hok's
"Needle in the Cotton" and agreed strongly, presenting it to me in a manner (snickering) that let me know he was"flipping me off". (my fault he even knew that use for that particular finger)

I did not learn SPM from Mark Gin Foon or anyone else.
Not so surprisingly, I did not teach and never did teach SPM, and make no claim whatsoever to that style/lineage.

As for Share Lew and Iron Hand, he is not listed in Sifu Manganiello's bio, but is mentioned on the "Philosophy" page.
Share Lew never mentioned or demoed Iron Palm when I was in his presence.
*I* once brought it up and he seemed to think that there were more important topics.
"For some reason" he then related (and re-enacted) an "incident" from a time when he'd been helping a friend at a restaurant.
Oh, yeah.... that's usually how I learned what I learned from him, and that particular demonstration
"got my mind off" Iron Palm for a rather long time.

As for Sifu Manganiello, I don't believe I ever met him.
Butch brought two of his senior (older) students to some of my classes, but I remember no teenagers being carted back and forth across state lines.
I have no problem with the Hung Kuen set demoed on his site, although the student seems to be going too fast.... perhaps due to "nerves"?
I'm not at all familiar with that or any other WC.

Pete

"Mo Gung Fu (forms or katas) is actually a library of techniques, and to negate it or to say it is useless is ridiculous as this is the source of all your future techniques."

"Nowadays we have people saying that form is a waste of time, and that some movements in the forms have no use. Actually, all the techniques in a form have a definitive combat usage..."

'Robinson feels that the only way to get the proper understanding of your forms is to take the techniques found in them and use them in a practical situation, so as to get the proper feel of how they are applied. Then you take that data and input it back in Mo Gung Fu so that you're actually experiencing the fight as you go through the form.'

"When the form is there, the power is there; when the form is not there, nothing is there."

"Stick to your basics and learn how to use them, because your basics are the foundations of your advanced techniques. If your basics are wrong, your advanced techniques will be no good either."

'Robinson explains that a lot of emphasis is placed on the basic stances in the beginning, as maximum power is imparted if the stances are correct from the start. About 90% of a person's power should be coming from the ground up.

In tournament fighting however, people are moving too fast to execute their basics properly, therefore the force is lacking.'

'For complete mastery of form, a person should have nine variations for every technique found therein. In effect, this translates into having nine alternatives for every move an opponent tries to hit you with!' 

"Pete Robinson in Southern California is a superb experienced , knowledgeable and long standing kung fu person, who has studied with some of the very best and distinguished kung fu sifus in the US going back to the sixties. He was the late Ark Yuey Wong's student for many years. He does not have a web site to my knowledge and does not run an open over commercialised school. He is careful about who he takes on as a serious student. He does not get involved in political web xxxx chats.

He occasionally has scanned through the forum- most recently in a Southern mantis -tong long lineage issue. If serious- you can pm him via a search in this
forum's list of members or go back to that SPM thread."

joy chaudhuri

http://forum.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=46406