Greetings,
Last week, I ran across some photos that included Sigung Raymond Fogg in earlier days. Since I see that his name has been popping up a lot lately, here it goes (found at the site of Master Tom Turcotte):
http://tomturcotte.com/wahlum.html
Enjoy,
mickey
nice find.
Published 5:45 am Monday, November 17, 2025 By Robin Y. Richardson
https://marshallnewsmessenger.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2025/11/091125-FOGG-3.jpg
Dr. Raymond Fogg Thursday, September 11, 2025, at his home in Marshall. Fogg recently retired after a 50-year career as Grand Master of the United States Kung Fu Exchange. (Les Hassell/News-Journal Photo)
This story was originally published in the October issue of Harrison Magazine.
When Marshall resident and Wiley University professor Raymond Fogg founded the United States Kung Fu Exchange five decades ago, he had no idea of its global impact. “It really makes me proud,” he said. “And you know, of all places, Marshall, Texas… you’ll never know that here is where it really blossomed and became worldwide — from Marshall. You would never think. But I guess the students that I’ve had here are of different caliber (being from a) small town. … When they get something, they stick with it. Trending Texas State Technical College in Marshall to have own police department in 2026 Families ‘want answers’: East Texas law firm representing Camp Mystic victim’s family in lawsuit “These kids have been remarkable.” After 50 years of service, the kung fu grandmaster recently “washed his hands” in a ceremony that symbolized closing his chapter of service. “Kung Fu Exchange has been really good to me. We had about 30 schools around the U.S.,” Fogg, noting there also were schools in Thailand, China and Russia. “We used to take the students from Marshall and once a year, we’d drive around to most of the 30 schools from here and it’d be about 17 vehicles to caravan.” Paying tribute A retirement celebration for Fogg was held recently in Austin where students from across the globe also gathered to mark the 50th anniversary of the United States Kung Fu Exchange. The hand-washing ceremony was performed before students, peers and disciples to honor Fogg’s years of teaching as he passes the torch to the next generation. “As grandmaster, Fogg dips his hands into the ceremonial water, he is not simply performing a ritual – he is making a powerful statement: that he had given his all to his generations of martial arts shaped by his wisdom, strength and unwavering guidance,” the celebration souvenir booklet stated. “This hand-washing ceremony was not an ending, but a rite of passage – a transition that celebrates both a lifetime of mastery and the promise of a future shaped by his teachings.” Trending 18-year-old entrepreneur aims to make Drew’s Brew in Waskom an inviting, warm experience Marshall business offers community a different path to wellness Fogg said his career has been a humbling experience. “It’s always amazing because you don’t expect it,” he said of the success he’s achieved. Fogg said it’s been rewarding to see former students, such as Tyler Kung Fu & Fitness owner Brandon Jones, live out their dreams. “They’ve grown up, opened up their own schools, like you’ve seen Brandon, and they’ve done it for a career, and they’ve gone around the world and won competitions and have just become famous, and made me even more famous when (they’re asked), ‘Who’s your teacher?’” Fogg said with a chuckle. Jones credits Fogg for mentoring him and his friend, the late Dr. John Cheng, as their “sifu” – or teacher – since childhood. Cheng — a 1987 Marshall High School graduate, martial artist and California physician — died in May 2022 when he tackled a gunman and attempted to disarm him during a mass shooting at a California church. “Being able to honor Mr. Fogg for the testament that he (drew all) of these people here (means a lot),” Jones said during a 2022 event in Marshall. The journey Fogg’s journey in martial arts began in the 1960s growing up in Washington, D.C. That’s when he would read Green Lantern comic books. “… There was an advertisement in there with a person holding their legs straight up in the air. I said, ‘Wow,’ like I was a kid,” he said with a chuckle. “I said, ‘I want to be able to do that.’ And then my martial arts career started.” Fogg said he was one of the “first Americans” taught kung fu by Chinese instructors, practicing for years to hone his skills. “When I got permission, sanctioned through the Chinese community, to teach is when I opened the (first) school,” he said. Fogg was so committed to the craft, according to a biography, he used his earnings from prize fights to study with masters abroad, including in Hong Kong and Thailand. He poured back into his students, introducing the martial art not only to East Texas, but throughout Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana. However, many of his kung fu students were introduced to him through his other passion, theater arts. “I started the Marshall Children’s Theater originally. Cullen Jennings was in charge of (Marshall) parks and recreation back then. So, I created a job teaching theater and one teaching kung fu for parks and recreation,” Fogg said. “This was in the 70s.” Initially, Fogg said it was hard for his theater students to picture their teacher doing kung fu. Students like Jones and Cheng were surprised to learn their drama teacher was a master. “They saw me at Stagecoach Days in my one-man show. I did a bunch of stuff with all these weapons,” Fogg said. “They were like, ‘Oh my goodness; he really does teach kung fu!’ And him and John joined right away,” noting they were about in the fourth grade. Long before he became a kung fu grandmaster, Fogg’s early life sounds like the inspiration for a Hollywood movie. As a baby, he was discovered abandoned on a park bench and raised in an orphanage in Washington, D.C. “I had a pretty rough life growing up,” he said, adding that his mother became pregnant with him after being raped as a teenager. “I ended up in a big orphanage there with about 300 kids. I went back about 10 or 12 years ago with some of my kung fu students and we toured my hometown.” His journey also caught the attention of numerous authors. Joshua Prager, in “The Unreal Story of Raymond Fogg: The Life and Wisdom of a Living Legend,” writes that Fogg went from illiteracy to professorship, orphan to father, novice to grand master and man to a living legend. “I ended up in the Marine Corps where I did teach Marines and then continued to do kung fu and theater,” Fogg said. “I used to choreograph fight scenes and went on to acting and all those different things.” Establishing in Marshall Fogg opened his first kung fu school in 1975 in Washington, D.C. He moved the school to Marshall in 1978 when he relocated to pursue his degree at what was then Wiley College at the urging of a preacher. “He said there’s this school we donate to in Marshall. I never heard of it. It was Wiley College. So I came down here to go to school,” Fogg said. “I was a remedial student because in the Marine Corps, (to go to) Vietnam, we didn’t have to pass the (GED) test – they needed bodies. So, I hadn’t even gotten the GED. I got one right before coming here. I took it about five times. I passed it on the sixth time. “So, I was a remedial student at Wiley. And this lady named Ms. Curry, she was in the remedial lab. She taught me how to read at Wiley,” he said. While at Wiley, Fogg not only earned an education, but began introducing others to the art of kung fu. “I first started teaching (locally) on the Wiley campus and had some really good students — phenomenal,” he said. “They worked hard.” One of the students, Arnold Seay, graduated at the top of his high school class and continued the same momentum at West Point, the U.S. Military Academy. “He won divisions against the adults and everything while he was still a young kid,” Fogg said. “He was my first real amazing student here in Marshall.” Traveling around the globe to competitions with his students was always a joy for Fogg. He said it made him proud to see them win international titles. “They’ve been to China. They’ve been all over the world, defeating people,” he said. “It was funny when at one of the matches, John (Cheng) won and took things hands down and people wanted to know, ‘Who’s your sifu, your teacher?’ We want to learn from him.’ And Join pointed up in the bleachers at me sitting down. “They pointed to me and they saw a Black guy. … They thought it was some great Chinese master that he learned from.” As a newcomer to Marshall, Fogg said he’s thankful to the parents who supported his program and entrusted their children’s ambitions with him. “Not being homegrown … It seems like I just broke in with a lot of people that let me take their kids all across the country — across the world,” he said. From Wiley, Fogg opened his first kung fu school in Marshall at 615 Grove St., next to the city park. “Then we moved several locations but ended up in the old Sears building on Washington Street across from the church,” he said. “A lot of people remember me from that building. I lived on the top floor. I loved it.” The school then moved to what’s now the Inez Hatley Hughes Historical Research Center, then to the Lions Community Center and then to the Marshall Civic Center. He’s also volunteered teaching tai chi lessons at Carver Community Center. Despite his personal success, Fogg said seeing his students succeed has been his greatest reward. “It’s not me winning. I won a lot of stuff back in D.C. before I even came here. But it’s seeing the kids growing up and winning and winning all over the place, and people just seeing a significant difference, and how good my students were,” Fogg said. He said the kung fu exchange program, in general, has been a blessing. The legacy will continue on, even after his retirement. “My school’s been closed, but my exchange still exists,” Fogg said. “We still have students. And I tell them that people, they need to call them now, not me. So they represent themselves and continue to represent the kung fu exchange. “It’s all students that I taught, or their students, and their students,” he said of the exchange. “So I got students in Texas, Louisiana, the state of Washington, Florida, New York. All students of my students are my students.” Fogg remains active in the community, including serving on the Marshall Regional Arts Council board, historic landmark and preservation board, New Town Neighborhood Association, NAACP and as president of Educators of Public Service. He said he thanks all his students who “continue to carry the flame of kung fu” and the exchange’s spirit of tradition, growth and unity. “I feel excited,” he said of retirement. “I think you know, with me being older and everything else, it’s a good time to back out. I think I’ve done enough with it.”
Mistaking Martial for Marshall is so a.i. 
With our forum update, I neglected to post the article we ran on him recently.
By Thomas D. Davenport, Jr. and James McLin
