Having just left the Port of Spain home of Trinidadian martial arts great and Purple Dragon founder Professor Don Jacob, the words above echoed in my mind as I gave a lift to one of his students. The aspirational young man beside me revealed how he had chosen a different path to former neighbourhood friends (who spent their earnings on weekend drinking); he wanted to establish himself financially, buy his own home, tech martial arts, travel and experience the world. The words were not judgemental, merely a focused statement of intent. My guess is, this 24-year-old will get to where he is going.

In the 41 years that have elapsed since a 16-year-old Don Jacob established a dojo in a run-down back lane in Port of Spain and began his own personal sporting and spiritual journey, he has shaped and influenced thousands of lives in such a way. Talk to anyone within the Purple Dragon family, and there are 15,000 to choose from, spread across 50 dojos and 12 countries, and you quickly realise this. More than his considerable sporting achievements, this is perhaps the accomplishment of which he can be most proud; people living lives of purpose, whatever their circumstances or background, because of his teachings.

A lot of the faith people place in Jacob is because he walks the walk. He is the embodiment of what he believes. A successful but humble man, he does not grandstand or boast, and he is a figure of strength to inspire and be respected. His story is one of struggle against the odds and one which resonates.

“The first time I was introduced to myself was when my mother left my father,” says Jacob, who was born in San Fernando General Hospital, on October 16th, 1954. “I was four years old and I asked my dad, ‘Dad, where is mum?’ He said, ‘don’t ask for your mum anymore she’s no longer with us’. Next morning I asked for her again and he said, ‘I told you, don’t ask for your mum’. Being a child, I asked again the next day and he slapped me. That was the first time I became aware of there being consequences to my actions.”

Following the break-up of his parents’ marriage, Jacob and his sister Ruth, 18 months his senior, were left with their father, but it soon became clear he wasn’t capable of raising them. The pair went to live with their grandmother Agatha Antoine, in Siparia, Southern Trinidad, but tragedy struck again as she passed away soon afterwards. The young siblings were facing an uncertain future.

“I remember my sister and I at our grandmother’s funeral, standing by her graveside holding hands, not knowing what would happen to us. Then my mum, Juliet, came over and said she would take us and it was a feeling of such utter relief that we wouldn’t have to go into a home.”

By now eight and a half years old, the young country boy and his sister moved to Belmont, a Port of Spain suburb.

“It was a very rough area and a very rough time,” says the 57-year-old. “Because I was from the country guys in town picked on me a lot. One day one of them robbed me of the single penny I had and that’s when I thought, ‘enough’s enough, I’d better learn to fight’.”

Jacob was living in Valley Road, the same street on which Clyde Thomas, a prison officer and self-defence instructor, was giving judo lessons, and he signed up. He proved a quick learner and by the age of 13 was already a black belt. Yet the teenager was struggling with issues of low self-esteem.

“My self-confidence was shot. We were passed around so much from person to person as kids I got it into my mind we must be worthless. The only person who showed me love was my grandmother, but she died before I ever got the chance to thank her.”

Martial arts became a sanctuary for Jacob, an outlet for his emotional energy.

“I always performed martial arts with a type of energy hoping that wherever my grandmother was she could see me performing. It was my only outlet. Without it I don’t think I would be here today, because the only other influences around me were negative – people being arrested, guys getting involved in gangs, shootings, drugs, all that kind of nonsense. I didn’t want any part of that.” Jacob pauses and says slowly, “I am of the ghetto but I am not of a ghetto mentality.”

By age 16 Jacob’s talent saw him competing in countries like the USA and Japan , exploring the possibilities martial arts offered. He began looking to it as a potential livelihood.

“I hadn’t finished school so I didn’t feel I could work for someone in an office, I had to make a living through my gift. I started to teach martial arts and set up my dojo at 14a Westbury Lane, Belmont, in 1970; it was at the end of a narrow lane and I paid TT$6 a month for the space.” Purple Dragon, a name inspired by the martial arts movies of the day and Jacobs’ love of the colour purple, was born.

“We used pieces of cardboard spread out on the floor as mats. The dojo was shabby, made mostly of discarded pieces of old galvanise collected from the Belmont dump. When the wind blew the galvanise would shake and bang. There was also a huge breadfruit tree there and you had to be hyper-sensitive to the sound of rustling leaves, which meant a breadfruit had come loose and was about to fall. Everybody learned that noise early,” laughs Jacob.

The dojo became known as the Hell Yard. “We called it that because it used to be like hell training on that cardboard.’”

Those early days were financially precarious times.

“I did lots of things just to get by. I bathed dogs at TT$2 each; polished floors on my hands and knees; collected discarded liquor bottles for the returns money; learned to sew and made the uniforms, selling them at TT$8 each. It was either that or don’t eat.”

Fortunately Purple Dragon soon began to flourish and Jacob became a familiar sight journeying to clients on his Chopper bicycle. But the young martial artist faced many challenges, not least of which was the widespread racism of the time.

‘People didn’t know much about martial arts then, all they knew was that Orientals did it, not black people. But I trained so hard that anyone who saw me would come to me. I gave shows and demonstrations, started teaching in schools, got a bit of publicity with the newspapers. By now I was getting a number of black belts and I let them go out and open branches under the Purple Dragon name.’

One of the biggest publicity stunts Jacob engaged in was a fight with a lion at Port of Spain’s Emperor Valley Zoo. Little wonder he was getting recognised. His talent (competing in kata, weapons, self-defence and free fighting) blossomed, but on one trip to Canada he found himself at a loose end on a basketball court. For something to do he began leaping high in the air and kicking the basketball net. A watching fellow martial artist, Don Warrener, was so amazed at this display of athleticism he offered to become Jacob’s manager on the spot.

“We went to the Middle East together, England, all over the world,” says Jacob. “He set up shows and tournaments for me and helped me write my first book, High Impact Jiu Jitsu, which has now sold over 100,000 copies.”

During these travels Jacob came under the influence of many great teachers, such as the late Grandmaster Moses Powell and Master Tusui Yoshitaka, who he credits with the greatest impact on his physical development. Professor Wally Jay of California, who was once Bruce Lee’s teacher, helped most in terms of spiritual growth. With this augmented knowledge and experience Jacob introduced his own Jiu Jitsu system, Don Jitsu Ryu, in 1975. It was a defining moment as with it he became the first Caribbean man to create a martial arts style.

The story from this point is one of continued and dizzying success. In 1978 he won the World Jiu-Jitsu Self-Defense Championships in Canada, in 1980 he performed in front of 28,000 people at New York’s Madison Square Garden; he has authored further highly successful books; produced and starred in instructional videos and DVDs; appeared in Black Heroes of the Martial Arts; featured on numerous international sports and talk shows; won many more championships and honours, holds a ninth degree black belt and the title (Hanshi) Grandmaster or Professor, and is the Caribbean’s most-decorated athlete. In 2010 he was recognised with Trinidad and Tobago’s highest national honour the Hummingbird Medal, Gold (for loyal and devoted service in the sphere of sport) and, in the same year, Purple Dragon hosted the World Karate Championships at Port of Spain’s Hyatt Regency (it will do so again in 2013). The organisation continues with its regular international trips, this year to China and next to Japan, researching and learning from other martial arts systems whilst providing many with their first taste of foreign travel. Forever looking forward, Jacob’s next big goal is to establish a permanent base (all the dojos are leased or rented) for Purple Dragon, a fully-owned headquarters providing modern learning facilities and accommodation for students, a centre for the study of Don Jitsu Ryu.

With all these, and other accomplishments too numerous to mention, Jacob says his greatest memories remain the family ones. But anyone who knows the Professor knows this is also a bitter-sweet area because of the murder of his prodigiously-talented and much-loved son, Antonio Jacob. 19-year-old Antonio was so much in his father’s image, both as a martial artist and a man, that he became known as Don Jacob Junior.

He was killed when set upon by three assailants intent on stealing his jewellery, as he waited in line to pay his car insurance on Christmas Eve 2002. He had already overcome two of the robbers when the third, unsighted and on the other side of a glass door, shot him through the heart.

“That was a big, big loss for me,” says Professor Jacob. “Of all the times I’ve had to test my strength, all the lectures I’ve given on motivation, that was the time I had to see if I was really made of all the things I had been telling other people to be, do and feel.”

It will come as little surprise that Jacob proved to be every bit the person he encourages others to be. The loss is still raw, not helped by the fact that the court case surrounding it still drags on, but Jacob finds solace in his remaining three children, Kassandra, Donika and Daniel, and two granddaughters, Jahzara and Zaniyah. And the future looks even brighter as in early 2011, Jacob married Elizabeth, the mother of one of his Purple Dragon black belts, in New Jersey USA. It is difficult to conceive of a more rags-to-riches story than Jacob’s, not just financially but spiritually and emotionally. Rising from a turbulent childhood bereft of affection, he survived the considerable dangers of the environment in which he grew, rebutted the limiting beliefs and attitudes of those around him, overcame low self-esteem and entrenched societal racism, endured immense personal tragedy and emerged as a source of inspiration, advice and support to thousands.

“I want to show people that if you didn’t finish school there’s still hope. If you lose family members and you feel weak and defeated, there’s still hope. There is always hope if you are a hopeful person.”


Purple Dragon Caribbean Dojo Listings
If you’re interested in learning Don Jitsu Ryu, Purple Dragon Dojos can be found at the following LIAT destinations…
TRINIDAD Purple Dragon World Headquarters, 151 Eastern Main Road, Barataria, Trinidad, WI • Phone: 868-675-1688 • E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it • Instructors include: Prof. Don Jacob • Mon-Wed-Fri: 10am to 12.30pm Sat: 10.30am-2pm Mon to Fri: 3.30-8pm 
TOBAGO Purple Dragon Tobago, Calder Hall Community Centre, Calder Hall, Tobago. • Phone: 1-868-620-4676 • Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it • Instructor: Sensei Rosemarie Thomas 
GRENADA Deponthieu Street, St Georges, Grenada WI. • Phone: 1-473-403-9228 • Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it • Instructor: Sensei Ryan Lewis 
TORTOLA George’s Yard, Fish lock Road, Tortola, PO Box 205, Road Town, Tortola, BVI • Phone: 1-284-499-5989 • Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it • Instructor: Vern Turnbull 
TORTOLA BOTANIC STATION Road Town, Tortola, BVI Phone: 1-284-499-0270  • Instructors: Sensei Abeana Baptist and Bevon Baptist 
ST LUCIA PO Box 1878, Castries, St Lucia Instructor: Dr Romel Daniel 
ANTIGUA New Gate Plaza, New Gate Street, PO Box 364 St John’s, Antigua WI • Instructors: Shihan Don Francis, Sensei Ivan Rodriguez, Sensei Jason Joseph, • Phone: 1-268-464-9311 • Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  
ANTIGUA Dock Yard Drive, English Harbour, Antigua, WI • Instructor: Sensei Sean Clarke • Phone: 1-268-460-2701 Tues & Thurs 5-7pm 
DOMINICA #43 Hillsborough St Roseau, Commonwealth of Dominica. • Phone: 1-767-245-8902 or 1-767-614-5406 • E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it • Instructor: Shannah Robin