Judo came to New Brunswick in the mid-1950's completely unaware of the existence of judo
in Canada. In the summer of 1955 two young Germans immigrants, Heinz Wazal and George
Taenzer, arrived in Saint John and began practicing their judo at the local YMCA. Both
had achieved green belt levels in Germany from their teacher, Peter Neufeld, 2nd Dan, who
in turn was a student of Julius Flack of Austria. Their judo was a mixture of sport judo
and self-defense. Soon, they were joined by a few of us interested locals and the first
unofficial judo club in New Brunswick was born.
Coincidentally, about the same time, Canada's first national judo body was being formed.
In 1956, six Japanese-Canadians applied for Letters Patent or Charter from the Department
of State in Ottawa to form the Canadian Kodokan Black Belt Association, now known as Judo
Canada. These six were: Shigetaka Sasaki, Atsumu (Stephen) A. Kamino, Yoshitoma (Frank)
Mukai, Shigeo Nakamura, Masatoshi Umetsu and Masato Ishibashi.
In March 1956 Frank Minoru Hatashita of Toronto sent his prize student, Vern Fagan, shodan
to New Brunswick for a month to teach us Kodokan style judo. Judo was well on its way in
New Brunswick.
In the spring of 1959 Carl Schell, brown belt and President of the YMCA club, along with
Harry Thomas, founded a new club which was later to be named, The Judo Shimpokai. Carl
and Harry were joined quickly by John Crawford, Ken Meating and Doug Kearns. These five
judo enthusiasts converted an abandoned, soot filled, roofing/tinsmith shop into a clean
judo dojo (the story is told in the book "Judoka - The History of Judo in Canada" by
Glynn A. Leyshon). In their search for judo information they became aware of the judo
legend, E.J. Harrison. His book, "The Fighting Spirit of Japan", found in our local
library, had been our first contact on judo in the world outside our home town.
Surprisingly, upon writing to the publisher, we were put in contact with Mr. Harrison.
After the exchange of correspondence, Mr. Harrison consulted with his close friend
Gunji Koizumi, the father of British judo and the founder of the world famous Budokwai
of London, and suggested our club should be known as "The Judo Shimpokai". Shortly
thereafter, Mr. Harrison accepted the position of Honorary President of our Judo Shimpokai -
The Progressive Group of Judo.
Heinz Wazal lived in the Saint John area until his recent death on May 4, 2003.
He kept the YMCA club going until the late 1970's when the club closed and Heinz left
the judo scene with the rank of Sandan. His friend, the late George Taenzer, after a short
stay in Saint John, moved to Rochester New York and earned his black belt there. Carl Schell
is still very much involved in judo and is active on the mat two to three times a week
teaching the sport of judo to children.
More Recent Events To Our History!
On the evening of March 18th 2004 the Shimpokai On-The-Mat Committee, assisted by the Parent's Committee, held
a special evening to honour the club's founder, Carl "Dutchie" Schell, on his induction into the Judo Canada Hall
of Fame. His induction had been rumoured for some time and the club decided it was time to hold a celebration.
With club Director Harold Stears acting as a professional MC, a great evening unfolded with practically all of
the local judo people, judo kids of the club, and their parents filling the dojo.
To begin, several members from the past were on hand to the great surprise of Dutchie. Two such surprise guests
were Don Glaspy and Paul Plume. These two had started in the club as children with Dutchie and had earned their
black belts as teenagers with him back in the early 1970's. After more of these surprise introductions, Harold
began reading one after another congratulatory messages, mostly e-mails, from former members across the country.
(It seems that Harold had been working behind the scenes for quite sometime preparing for this event). Dutchie's
wife Pat was presented with a large bouquet of roses and they sat together listening as Harold read out the many
e-mails. To quote Dutchie, "It was like a night out of the past"!
Also, Harold had invited Fred Blaney, a representative of Judo Canada, to present to Dutchie the official
certificate confirming his induction into the Judo Canada Hall of Fame. It was dated June 2002.
Fred spoke of Dutchie's great contribution to judo over the years and pointed out that Don Glaspy, as a young
black belt instructor from the Shimpokai attending UNB, had been his own first judo instructor. Fred went on to
become the Canadian Champion on several occasions, a Pan-Am medal winner, and an Olympian.
Framed commendations were presented on behalf of Mayor Shirley McAlary and the Common Council of
the City of Saint John, from Premier Bernard Lord and MLA Trevor Holder, and from the MP for Saint John, Elsie
Wayne. Also presented was a plaque from the members of the club along with a monogrammed vest bearing the club name
as well as Dutchie's in case he gets lost.
A banquet was held at the conclusion featuring a huge celebration cake. Again, to quote Dutchie, "It is
overwhelming to be so highly honoured and to be remembered by so many for simply doing what I enjoyed doing so
much for almost 50 years. It makes one very humble. This is a night to be remembered. Thanks everyone!"
See our Photo Album for historical photos.
