The PKA and Joe Corley: How Full-Contact Karate Reached Television

For a decade and a half, the Professional Karate Association was the way most Americans saw karate: live, full contact, on network and cable television. It began with one night in Los Angeles in September 1974, and it was kept alive for more than forty years by Joe Corley, the Atlanta school owner who also founded the Battle of Atlanta. This is the history of the PKA, of Corley, and of why both matter to the business of teaching martial arts.

Why did full-contact karate need a professional league?

By the early 1970s American karate had stars but no professional sport. Open tournaments used stop-and-score “point” rules, prize money was small, and the pioneering attempts at contact fighting, from Jim Harrison’s 1968 World Professional Karate Championships in Kansas City to Joe Lewis’s January 1970 kickboxing bout in Long Beach, had no lasting organization behind them. A United States Kickboxing Association had come apart by 1972. Fighters and promoters wanted a format that could be scored like boxing, shown on television and sold to the public.

What happened on September 14, 1974?

At the Los Angeles Sports Arena, promoter Mike Anderson, with Don and Judy Quine, staged the first World Professional Karate Championships. Fighters wore protective foam gear and boxing gloves and fought continuously, with knockouts allowed. ABC broadcast it on Wide World of Entertainment. Four world champions were crowned:

The Professional Karate Association grew out of that event. Its founding is credited to the Quines, with Anderson and the British promoter Mike Haig; the PKA’s own history credits Joe Lewis with the concept. See Mike Anderson.

What were the PKA’s rules?

PKA bouts were fought in a boxing ring, in boxing gloves and foot pads, over two-minute rounds with one minute of rest, and were scored like boxing. To keep the sport distinct from boxing, each fighter had to throw a minimum of eight kicks above the waist in every round, and holding was not allowed. Those rules produced the kicking-heavy style that made fighters such as Wallace famous.

How did the PKA reach television?

According to the PKA’s history, its events appeared on CBS Sports and NBC’s Sportsworld from 1975 to 1979. From 1979 to 1989 it produced roughly a thousand hours of programming on NBC, CBS and ESPN, beginning with 44 ESPN events in the network’s first year and around forty a year into the early 1980s. From 1989 to 1994 it moved to Showtime and pay-per-view. For many young Americans in the late 1970s and 1980s, a PKA broadcast was the first martial arts they saw, and school owners felt it at the front desk.

Who is Joe Corley?

Grand Master Joe Corley was born in Atlanta. He began training in Tang Soo Do at 16 and earned his black belt at 19 under Master Kim Dae Shik. In 1967, with Chris McLoughlin, he opened the Kim Institute of Karate, described as Atlanta’s first full-time karate studio, and in 1972 he founded Joe Corley’s American Karate System, which grew into a chain of schools across the Southeast.

In 1970 Corley and McLoughlin founded the tournament that became the Battle of Atlanta, which Black Belt describes as the first open tournament to feature full-contact evening finals. Corley ran it personally for more than four decades before transferring it to Truth Entertainment, led by Greg Ruth, in 2013. It was one of the founding events of NASKA in 1986.

As a competitor Corley was consistently ranked in the national top ten as a point fighter. He judged the first PKA championships in 1974 and in 1975 challenged Bill Wallace for the PKA middleweight title, appearing on the April 1975 cover of Professional Karate. He became a partner in the PKA in 1977 and, as its lead commentator and host, called its events on NBC, CBS, ESPN, Showtime and other networks, often alongside Chuck Norris and Pat Morita. His biographies credit him with producing more than a thousand hours of PKA kickboxing for television.

In 1989 Corley gained the rights to the PKA in an out-of-court settlement. With Don Willis he later re-established it as PKA Worldwide, of which he is chief executive. He was promoted to 10th Degree Black Belt on June 16, 2016, and he has trained national point champions and world kickboxing champions. He is a contributor to this magazine; his columns are in the Joe Corley archive.

Who were the PKA’s champions?

The PKA’s first generation of champions became some of the best-known names in American martial arts. Joe Lewis, Bill Wallace and Jeff Smith were followed by fighters such as the lightweight Larry Carnahan, rated in the PKA’s world top ten from 1976 to 1982 and later NASKA’s president for 38 years.

Grand Master Jeff Smith, the first light-heavyweight champion, defended his title on October 1, 1975 against Karriem Allah on the closed-circuit card of Ali–Frazier’s “Thrilla in Manila,” and held the PKA title until 1980. For fifteen years, from 1970 to 1985, he was also a senior executive of the Jhoon Rhee Institute, one of the clearest examples of a champion fighter who was equally a school operator. See Grand Master Jeff Smith and Jeff Smith: Champion Fighter, Master Businessman.

How are the PKA and the sport karate circuit connected?

The same people built both. Corley’s Battle of Atlanta was a founding NASKA event. John Worley, who co-founded the Diamond Nationals, was an ESPN karate and kickboxing commentator from 1983 to 1989 and a PKA vice-president. Larry Carnahan was a PKA-rated fighter before he became NASKA’s president. The PKA gave the sport television and stars; the open tournaments gave it a pipeline of competitors and a business for school owners. The rest of that story is in From Karate Illustrated to NASKA.

The connections run through this magazine as well. Joe Corley and Jeff Smith are both contributors, and both served on the boards that promoted our publisher, Stephen Oliver, to 8th and 9th Degree Black Belt.

Timeline of record

Frequently asked questions

When was the Professional Karate Association founded?

The PKA was formed in 1974, growing out of the first World Professional Karate Championships held at the Los Angeles Sports Arena on September 14, 1974. Its founding is credited to Don and Judy Quine, with Mike Anderson and Mike Haig.

Who were the first PKA world champions?

Joe Lewis (heavyweight), Jeff Smith (light-heavyweight), Bill Wallace (middleweight) and Isaias Duenas (lightweight), crowned on September 14, 1974.

Did Joe Corley found the PKA?

No. Corley judged the first PKA championships in 1974, became a partner in 1977, gained the rights in 1989 and later re-established the organization as PKA Worldwide, which he leads as CEO.

Who founded the Battle of Atlanta?

Joe Corley and Chris McLoughlin, in 1970. Corley ran it for more than four decades before transferring it to Truth Entertainment in 2013.

What were the PKA’s rules?

Two-minute rounds in a boxing ring, boxing gloves and foot pads, scoring like boxing, no holding, and a minimum of eight kicks above the waist per round.

What is PKA Worldwide?

The current incarnation of the Professional Karate Association, re-established by Joe Corley and Don Willis and led by Corley as chief executive.