A combination of influences planted the martial arts seed in the mind of a young boy named Art Lapham. Growing up in Fall River, Massachusetts, Art would spend several nights a week watching an older sister taking Judo and Karate classes at a nearby dojo. Besides sitting through these classes, Art would also sit in front of the television set once a week to the adventures of a couple of guys by the name of the Green Hornet and Kato. As we know, Bruce Lee, a young Kung Fu stylist who would soon rise to international stardom as the premiere martial arts action film hero, played the character of Kato. A few years later, Art began training informally under Alan Mixter, a friend who was taking lessons at the time. Here, Art learned the basic kicks, blocks, punches, and strikes that comprise many of the martial arts. It was a few years afterward, because of an altercation resulting in a broken nose, that Art decided it was time for formal lessons and, through Alan, was introduced to Paul Botelho.
A Black Belt under Julius Scott and student of George Pesare and Bill Marcierelli, Paul Botelho had just opened up the ‘Fall River Institute of Kenpo Karate’ when Art and Alan stepped through the doors for the first time. Here Art was introduced to the forms and combinations of Kenpo as well as the nuances of Ju-Jitsu. In this case, a hybrid version of the arts comprised of elements from the systems of Paul’s former instructors, with a strong emphasis on full contact sparring.
Training under Mr. Botelho was intense. Paul taught in the ‘old school’ method of training, which meant miles of running, weight training, endless knuckle hops, sit-ups, and full contact sparring in every class. All the other students in the school were adults, and Art was determined to keep up the pace. Through determination, Art was one of six to be promoted to green belt at the school’s first rank exam (there were no yellow or orange belts back then). Of those original six, Art was the only one to continue further and ended up eventually becoming Paul’s assistant instructor. In fact, in all the years Paul taught the art of Kenpo, Mr. Lapham is one of only three people to earn the rank of black belt.
Throughout his training, Art always wanted to learn more, so as he trained under Paul, he would also seek out others who would teach him in various other styles. He would learn to box from the uncle of another friend, learn Judo throws from yet another, and so on. One day, Art ran into an acquaintance he had not seen for several years. Tom Brady had a lot of informal training and was a good street fighter, and suggested to Art that they start training together. This led to daily workouts of up to seven hours long and eventually forged a friendship akin to brotherhood that the two shared until Mr. Brady’s untimely passing. This is where Art started to formulate his own combinations based mostly on his Kenpo training. Some of these early combinations even found their way into Paul Botelho’s curriculum.
After finally earning his Kenpo black belt with Paul and a Tang Soo Do black belt under Grandmaster Kwan Sup Lee, Art felt it was time to finally teach on his own. He structured many of the old combinations into a cohesive system and threw in drills, forms, and a lot of Ju-Jitsu self-defense techniques. Enlisting the aid of Tom Brady, they created even more techniques to deal with different types of attacks. Art wanted a system of Kenpo that could deal with any type of confrontation and not be limited to straight right punches from twelve o’clock as the only attack, which is what many of the New England-based Kenpo systems suffered from at that time. Not long afterward, Art’s good friend and fellow Martial Arts instructor Tim Gillett introduced Art to Joe Rebelo, an instructor in the Ed Parker system of American Kenpo. As it turned out, Joe was an encyclopedia of martial arts information, holding black belt ranks in several styles and possessing a vast martial arts library of books, magazines, and videotapes. Art learned the ‘language’ of Kenpo that Parker had created which made conveying information to students so much easier. Dabbling in the American Kenpo system, along with other such diverse styles as Drunken Monkey and White Dragon (Pai Lum) Kung Fu, Filipino stick and knife fighting, and others, Art felt he now had a large enough arsenal to start his own school.
All that was needed was a name for what he would be teaching, and he wanted something less generic than simply saying ‘Kenpo.’ He decided to name the system after his daughter, Andrea Raven. Thus, was born ‘Raven Kenpo Ju-Jitsu’, which fit perfectly. The raven is one of the most intelligent birds in the world, yet it is also both mysterious and ominous, and in literature, usually an omen for disaster. When one considers the destructive force that Kenpo can be, naming the system after such an animal makes perfect sense. Translated, ‘Raven Kenpo’ would mean ‘Deadly law of the fist’.
With influences such as Sigung Rebelo, Grandmaster Bill Gregory of the Pai Lum Kung Fu and Kajukenbo systems, Sijo Bob Smith (Art’s Kung Fu and Chin Na instructor), and others, The Raven system had expanded into a well-rounded art encompassing all forms of hand-to-hand combat. This included but was not limited to both exotic and conventional weapons, ground fighting, and acrobatic training for tournament use. After opening the ‘Raven Academy of Self-Defense,’ Art was eventually awarded the title of ‘Sijo’ (founder) by Shihan Carlos Fabres, the head of the prestigious Nindo Ryu International, for his formulation and propagation of the Raven system, and was later awarded system and 9th degree founder rank recognition by the North American Grandmasters Council through Grandmasters Al Cunningham and Winchell Woo. In years to come, Sijo was awarded his tenth Degree through GM Linc Martin. Other accolades in Sijo Lapham’s martial arts resume include K.R.A.N.E.’s 1997 state Soft Forms (Kung Fu) championship, 2 Halls of Fame inductions, and inclusion in the martial arts masters trading cards, 1998 edition.
