Page 5 - Hawaii Island MidWeek - Feb 2, 2022

Di Virgilio: Carrying On The Rich Tradition Of Wing Chun
FROM PAGE 4
you find your own way.” The system first burst upon the international scene in the mid-’ 70s, thanks mostly to the Bruce Lee phenomenon. At the time, many of those caught up in the kung fu cin- ema craze wanted to simply know who taught Lee to fight, and when it became clear that the international movie star had studied briefly under Wing Chun master Ip Man, schools began popping up all over the planet to satisfy the growing interest among martial arts fans. Decades later, Wing Chun would get another boost in popularity after Donnie Yen began por- traying the legendary master in a series of Ip Man movies. This is where Di Virgilio’s martial arts lineage helps
explain — at least in part — why he’s such an in-demand instructor. Although he did not learn directly from Ip Man, Di Virgilio did study under several of the kung fu grandmaster’s most notable pupils. They include Ip Man’s most senior student, the fa- mous Wong Shun Leung, who earned the nickname “King of Talking Hands” during his younger days due to his success in Hong Kong’s street fighting competitions, and who was Lee’s prima- ry teacher; and well-known practitioners Wong Chock and Wong Long.
Eventually, Yeung gave in and told Di Virgilio to join his class. Not surprisingly, Di Virgilio already knew more than many of the pupils who had been studying with Yeung for months.
history — and most notably when it comes to military chronicles. In the last sev- en years, he has carefully researched and co-authored three books on the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (No One Avoided Danger, This Is No Drill and They’ re Killing My Boys). A fourth book is scheduled to go to print lat- er this year and a fifth one is tentatively slated for release in 2023.
Finding success in football as a starting center and backup outside linebacker at Kailua High, he was able to parlay that rugged gridiron demean- or and adept mind of his into a solid foundation built on brawn and brains.
One of Wong Chock’s best students was the Kow- loon-born Robert Yeung, an aggressive young fighter who moved to Hawai‘i in 1971. Less than two years later, Di Virgilio, then just 18 and con- templating a career in college football, crossed paths with Yeung while working out at the YMCA in Nu‘uanu.
His growth in Wing Chun was quick and Yeung soon recognized that his newest student had much to offer the school. One day in 1975, Yeung asked Di Virgilio what he would do to improve the system of drills known as san sik if given the opportunity. Before the student could an- swer, the teacher requested a detailed plan by the following week.
His military focus also makes sense considering his parents both served in the U.S. Army, and one of his master’s degrees was in American History with an emphasis on American mili- tary history. His first master’s
“Wong Shun used to say that a lot of Chinese practitioners were a bunch of scaredy cats who didn’t like getting hit,” remembers Di Virgilio, who would spend many of his adult years coaching football at his alma mater. “When he found out that I was a football coach, he really liked that.
“I was at the Y getting ready for football when I met him and one of Bruce Lee’s
Not wanting to waste a
But with lots of practice and patience, you might just become like John Di Virgilio, one of martial arts best teach- ers and rarest of treasures.
E 5students, James DeMile.
“I wasn’t just going to sit there and do nothing, so I would learn the forms indi- rectly,” he recalls. “At the time, I was a young guy look- ing for something that I felt I needed as a core. My thing was to challenge myself in a martial way and to see im- provement.”
“We’ve been working hard on the books,” says the for- mer director for Pearl Harbor History Associates, who was presented with the Emperor’s Award in 2015 for his efforts in “creating acts of reconcili- ation and renewed friendship between Japanese and Amer- ican veterans. “The books have been something of a calming point for me.”
Turns out it was his phys- ical nature that made Wong Shun Leung take notice of him when the two first met in 1980.
Indeed, the student — who would eventually turn into Yeung’s successor — was well on his way to becoming the master.
“Actually, my very Chinese grandmother tried to get me into (kung fu) classes, but they wouldn’t let me in because I wasn’t Chinese enough,” re- calls Di Virgilio. “So, I was kind of let down as a kid and wound up spending most of my time trying to get into high school sports.”
B
is an ardent student of
esides being a teach- er at heart, Di Virgilio
“I mean if you don’t like getting hit, you’ ll never be a martial artist.”
FEBRUARY 2, 2022
HAWAI‘I ISLAND MIDWEEK 5
They were giving a demon- stration there and making a comparison between what Bruce Lee taught James and what a classical Wing Chun guy like Robert would do,” explains Di Virgilio. “I re- member being so impressed with what Robert was do- ing.”
minute, Di Virgilio went to work. By breaking down the san sik steps to their bare es- sentials, he was able to cod- ify them into a more perfect system. Today, that system is enjoyed and practiced by scores of students both here and abroad.
was in Education Curriculum. “My dad was a major and my mom was a lieutenant nurse,” explains the oldest of six children born to Louis Di Virgilio and Sadie Yoshida
Di Virgilio wound up studying under DeMile for about six months before de- ciding that he wanted Yeung as his teacher. For whatever reason, Yeung would not accept Di Virgilio as a stu- dent — at least not initially. Di Virgilio remained unde- terred and kept showing up at Yeung’s school on Hotel Street. He’ d patiently wait on the sidelines and quietly observe the Wing Chun in- structor’s lessons, making copious mental notes along the way.
“Robert Yeung used to say, ‘There’s imperfection every- where — in oneself, in oth- ers and in things. But a true master knows how to work around or with this,’ ” says Di Virgilio.
stories he’d hear in his youth, his eyes were always fixed on the kung fu realm. Yet, despite desperately wanting to study a Chinese-based style and find “Asian cultural enrich- ment through a martial art,” he was rebuffed at every turn until DeMile and Yeung came along.
and raised in Kailua.
While he loved the military
G