Grand Master Chong Soo Lee demonstrates at his historic "Battle of the Champions" in Montreal - Circa 1976.

Grand Master Chong Soo Lee demonstrates at his historic "Battle of the Champions" in Montreal - Circa 1976.
Photo Credit: Courtesy: Ray Nikiel

The sterling legacy of legendary grand master and teacher Chong Soo Lee will live on in his students

Canada has lost one of its greatest teachers.

Chong Soo Lee
Chong Soo Lee © Facebook/Darrell Henegan

The Korean-born Grand Master credited with bringing Taekwondo to Canada, Chong Soo Lee, died of cancer on July 5 in Montreal at the age 79, leaving behind a legion of devoted students and admirers.His subjects: life and the martial art he taught.

From all accounts, he was someone who–from the start–marched to the beat of his own drummer.

Defying his family’s wishes, Lee took it upon himself to learn the art for which he would later become famous.

In 1962 he left Korea, flying into the unknown with $100 in his pocket, bound for Washington, D.C., where he took university courses and spent time with children to learn English and took odd jobs to stay afloat financially.

Two years later he arrived in Canada–first to the Quebec city of Chicoutimi and then to Montreal, where he founded a dojang and began teaching.

That was in 1964.

Fifty-three years later he leaves a legacy of love, devotion and disclipline.

Darrell Henegan after winning the Taekwondo Heavyweight World Championship in 1981, the first non-Korean to win a world title.
Darrell Henegan after winning the Taekwondo Heavyweight World Championship in 1981, the first non-Korean to win a world title. © Facebook/Darrell Henegan

In the mid-1970s, a teenager from Montreal named Darrell Henegan fell in love with Taekwondo and lucked out–making his way to the dojang to study first with his first mentor, Ray Nikiel, and then with the grand master himself.

The rest, as they say, is history.Henegan took to the sport so well that he won the heavyweight division at the Taekwondo World Games in Santa Clara, California in 1981, the first non-Korean to win a world title.

Henegan didn’t stop there, going on to become a world kickboxing champion 12 times.

He has been honoured many times over and is a member of the Taekwondo Hall of Fame.

Henegan currently is head coach of Taekwondo for cadets at the Royal Military College in St-Jean sur Richelieu, Quebec.

I spoke with him by phone about Grand Master Lee on Friday.

Here is that conversation.

Listen
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