Tommy Burks began martial arts on June 15, 1966 and earned black belt rankings in Tae Kwon Do and Okinawan karate. In April 1986 Tommy Burks met Jeff Dukes a black belt in Ed Parker’s American Kenpo Karate. After working with Jeff Dukes for two hours on Kenpo, Mr. Burks realized he had found what he had been looking for in the martial arts for twenty years. Jeff Dukes recommended to Tommy Burks that he should allow him to contact SGM Ed Parker Sr. on his behalf about being allowed to become a member of the IKKA and also being allowed to have his own club in the IKKA. Jeff Dukes stated he thought Mr. Burks could learn Kenpo on his own and would be available to help him if he needed help. Mr. Burks agreed and was advised by Mr. Parker to submit an application to become an individual and club member of the IKKA. Mr. Burks received a packet from the IKKA showing his individual and club membership from the IKKA which included the Red Manual with belt requirements from Yellow belt through 3rd degree black belt. The IKKA packet also included a provisional 1st degree black belt certificate dated May 1, 1986, good for a period of one year and a letter welcoming Mr. Burks to the IKKA and stating Mr. Burks needed to test for his Kenpo 1st degree black belt within one year of receiving the provisional 1st degree black belt certificate to show his progress in Kenpo Karate.

Mr. Burks immediately began working on the material, spending one to three hours a day, six and sometimes seven days a week learning the material. Mr. Burks only had an opportunity to work with Mr. Dukes during three seminars before Mr. Dukes moved back to Phoenix, Arizona. Mr. Burks did get the opportunity to attend a seminar by Mr. Stephen LaBounth 7th degree black belt and seminars conducted by Richard “Huk” Planas also a 7th degree black belt under Mr. Parker during his first year in Kenpo Karate. Mr. Burks also paid a mat fee and attended three classes taught by Mr. David Ceniceros a 5th degree black belt under Mr. Tom Kelly a 7th degree black belt under Mr. Parker. After attending a couple of seminars and Mr. Ceniceros’ classes, several students whom he had met approached Mr. Burks inquiring if they could become his students, which provided him with much needed bodies to work on.

On May 1, 1987 one year to the date of Mr. Burks becoming a member of the IKKA, Mr. Burks tested in Irving, Texas for his 1st degree black belt, in front of a testing panel consisting of Mr. Parker, Mr. Mike Pick, Mr. Richard “Huk” Planas and Mr. Kieth Se. At this test Mr. Burks knew all the Ideal Techniques plus the 48 Extension Techniques, Sets and Forms required from Yellow belt through 1st degree black belt.

On August 25, 1988 Mr. Burks arranged to take a student who was a black belt in Tae Kwon Do whom Mr. Burks had previously trained with and who had completed his one year provisional period and needed to test for his 1st degree black belt in Kenpo to Albuquerque, NM to test. Upon arranging this Mr. Parker asked Mr. Burks if he knew the requirements for 2nd degree black belt and when Mr. Burks stated “yes”, Mr. Parker stated then you will be testing also. Upon earning his 2nd degree black belt Mr. Parker stated during his belt promotion “you have never had a Kenpo instructor, but now you do, I am your instructor and I will take good care of you”. Mr. Parker is the only instructor Mr. Burks has ever had in Kenpo and ever will have, and yes Mr. Parker has always taken very good care of him.

In early 2015 Mr. Burks was contacted by Darlene Parker, Mr. Parker’s oldest daughter who owns all of Mr. Parker’s intellectual properties, copyrights, trademarks etc. and asked if he would be her direct advisor for KAMIV and the IKKA. On October 5, 2019 the IKKA and their advisors elevated Mr. Burks to the rank of 9th degree black belt.

On August 15, 2015, the KSDS Kajukembo organization made Mr. Burks an affiliate of their organization of equal rank that he holds in American Kenpo after teaching at their annual event in Ft. Worth, TX for several years. This is an honor Mr. Burks holds dear to his heart.

On June 17, 1990 on Mr. Parker’s last visit to Texas, he and Mr. Burks had a 4 ½ private discussion prior to him returning home to Pasadena. During that discussion Mr. Burks asked about the project Mr. Parker had stated he was developing titled Speak With a Knife. Mr. Parker stated that the project had been put on hold because of some specific concerns he had developed of that knowledge being misused. Mr. Burks stated he agreed with those concerns and offered some suggestions concerning how to minimize those concerns. Mr. Burks had discussed knife work on a couple of occasions previously with Mr. Parker. Mr. Parker stated he liked Mr. Burks’ suggestions and wanted some time to think about them. On December 5, 1990 prior to Mr. Parker going to Hawaii for Christmas, Mr. Parker called Mr. Burks and during their discussion he stated he would be calling back after his return to Pasadena and they would discuss further the project Speak With a Knife. Several days after this discussion Mr. Burks received the written outline of what Mr. Parker had put together on Speak With a Knife in the mail.

Another part of the discussion on June 17, 1990 with Mr. Parker was related to the knife form, originally titled Form 7 but had been renamed Form 8 after Mr. Parker developed the club form. Mr. Burks asked Mr. Parker if there really was a Form 8, Mr. Parker stated yes there is, but I don’t teach it anymore because it’s out dated and I need to revise it to meet the current curriculum and I haven’t had time to do that.

After his promotion to 9th degree black belt in 2019 by the IKKA, Mr. Burks having access to Mr. Parker’s computer files and a printed version of the original Form 7 and a copy labeled Form 8, created for his students a revised version of Form 8 using the original pattern of the form but revising the techniques to a higher level of expertise and Mr. Parker’s latest curriculum using principles and concepts of Kenpo. Mr. Burks then created the Kenpo Tactical Knife System, a knife system utilizing only the principles and concepts developed for the American Kenpo Karate system. During the conversation Mr. Burks had with Mr. Parker on June 17, 1990, Mr. Parker stated the reason he was creating Speak With a Knife was “there are lots of good knife systems out there, but that is not how we move”. Mr. Parker expressed to Mr. Burks his displeasure in seeing Kenpoist changing their motion from Kenpo to something else when they were using weapons.

Mr. Parker states in his belt manuals and his other written material that “Kenpo perpetually evolves” which means it does not stay at the “ideal phase level” which unfortunately so many Kenpo instructors have continued to do. Mr. Burks continuously works on perpetually evolving Kenpo to a higher level. On the night Mr. Burks became a direct student of Mr. Parker, Mr. Parker gave him a project to work on. Mr. Parker told Mr. Burks “I want you to work on learning more about controlling Height, Width and Depth, you are already doing that but there is more to learn”. Upon creating the Kenpo Tactical Knife System Mr. Burks took that knowledge to an even higher level when using Contact and Control Manipulation. Mr. Burks has also included pressure point striking and manipulation knowledge to the Kenpo techniques to again bring Contact and Control Manipulation to a higher level of expertise.

During the sixty plus years of martial arts training of which forty plus years have been in Kenpo, Mr. Burks also spent 6 ½ years in law enforcement as a police officer and a deputy sheriff which increases knowledge of the practicality and consequences involved in using a martial art for self-defense purposes.