One of our sporting pioneers has been named in the King's Birthday Honours list, with martial arts legend Shi Fr Philip Lamb becoming a recipient of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
The name may not ring a bell to some, but to those involved in martial arts, he is the Godfather.
Without Mr. Lamb and his nearly 50 years of guidance, there would be no Israel Adesanya.
“It's an honor to be alive in the same era as the man who started it all for all of us,” Adesanya said.
Mr Lam, 78, emigrated from China in 1975 and founded Kung Fu Gym. He pioneered Muay Thai kickboxing in New Zealand and founded the well-known City Lee Gar in Auckland.
His students, known as Ghost Fist, have since fought, trained and mentored generations of kickboxers and now mixed martial artists.
Former champions Rolo Heimuli and Wayne Varga were among his first students in the late 1970s and early '80s.
Lam was one of the first to bring kickboxers from Thailand to New Zealand and the first to take young New Zealanders to China and other parts of Asia to learn the art.
Huemle went on to train champion kickboxers and boxers such as Shane Cameron, while Ray Sefo, Mark Hunt and Jason Suttie were all trained by Lam or his students.
Mr Lamb has been a teacher for 49 years.
“None of my students go out and cause trouble.”
All of Lamb's former and current students gathered at Rieger Gymnasium to celebrate and honor Lamb.
His former student, Eugene Bareman, now a world-renowned mixed martial arts coach at City Kickboxing, said many fighters have a difficult start in life.
“They came to people like Master Lam for a fresh start, to learn discipline and to change their lives.”
Suttie, a former kickboxing world champion who now works as a trainer and promoter, said that without Lam none of them would be doing what they do today.
According to Vaega, Lamb said, “Once you become his student, you're his student and friend for life.”
“That's where we are now.”
“When you look at all the people he influenced, you see how big an impact it had on people's lives,” said Tony Angelov, a former boxer who now owns Lee-Gar Gym.
And Adesanya, perhaps the most famous of the next generation of members of Master Lam's fighting lineage, said he wouldn't be where he is today without Master Lam.
“None of us would be where we are right now.”
