SENSEI
Those who made the road before
Don Nagle
Isshinryu lineage: Tatsuo Shimabukuro → Don Nagle
Donald Hugh Nagle was born on April 5th, 1938 in Jersey City, NJ. Don Nagle entered the U.S. Marine Corps right out of high school at the age of 17. In December 1955 he was stationed on the island of Okinawa. Having studied both Judo and Goju-Ryu karate in New Jersey, as a teenager, he gravitated to the martial arts and began his study of Isshinryu with Tatsuo Shimabukuro in 1956.
Don Nagle returned to Camp Lejeune, NC in mid 1957 and became a partner in the dojo of Sgt. Ernie Cates, eight time All-Marine Judo Champion and the first non-Japanese Judo-ka to be promoted to 6th Dan at the famed Kodokan. This dojo in Jacksonville, NC was just outside Camp Lejeune and was only open to Marines. It produced a second generation of teachers and fighters, who became famous in their own right; Rick Niemira, Jim Chapman, Ed McGrath, Don Bohan, Ralph Bove, Lou Lizzotte, and many others.
Don Nagle founded the Isshando Karate Association (IKA) in 1958, the first Isshinryu organization in the USA.
After his discharge of the Marine Corps, September
1959, he
returned to Jersey City, NJ.
There he opened his first commercial dojo in Jersey
City, followed by his next dojo at Broadway, Bayonne, which remained
his dojo until his death. During the next three decades these dojo
turned out fighters and teachers that would be revered in Isshinryu,
names such as: Joel Bucholtz, Gary Alexander, and his own cousin
James Nagle.
In 1964 Master Nagle visited his instructor Tatsuo Shimabukuro for a short time in Pittsburgh, PA. In 1966, during Tatsuo Shimabukuro's second and last visit to the United States, Shimabuku stayed for two weeks at Nagle's dojo and promoted him to 8th dan.
Don Nagle became a member of the Jersey City Police Department, in 1967, where he served with distinction, serving as an undercover drug officer and eventually a detective.
He passed away on August 23, 1999 at the age of 61. Before his death he chose Ed McGrath to be his successor of the Donald H. Nagle "American Okinawan Karate Association, Inc.".