Draeger Tales
Occasionally I hear stories about Donn Draeger, my sword instructor's first teacher. Draeger was a legend in his own time, probably the foremost English-speaking expert on martial arts during his life. He was also a badass mofo. You know all those Chuck Norris facts? Most of them are based on things that Draeger actually did. On ordinary stuff that Draeger did; the crazy stuff that Draeger did just isn't funny.
This weekend I heard one of my all-time favorite Draeger tales. Draeger was a judo man, but he studied just about everything at least once, and he loved testing himself against people from other styles. One day he accepted a challenge from a karate guy for a little no-holds-barred match. During the course of the match, the karate guy unleashed a devestating kick to Draeger's groin. Draeger ignored the pain, grabbed the karate guy, and immediately choked him out. He then staggered back to his apartment and passed out in a chair. When he awoke hours later, he could not stand up. For two days he sat in that chair, surviving off water and tapioca pudding from a minifridge that happened to be within arms reach, until finally some folks noticed that he was missing and went looking for him. When Draeger was taken to the hospital, he learned that the karate man's kick had broken Draeger's pelvis. And Draeger still took him down.