Mr. Longo has many sayings that would help us to keep going when exhausted....'' Suck it up!!!!, Breathe.., Smile, smile, snarl!!!, Take care of the little things and the little things will take care of you!!, Speed, Power!!!! and the one I hold close to my heart is, Mr. Longo's blue blades, Look sharp, feel sharp, be sharp!!!" (click to view picture). We all tried to do are very best to be sharp, because what we did directly reflected on Mr. Longo. For those of us who were with him the longest, we would not disrespect and dishonor him by not being sharp!. For some in Kokondo, Mr.Longo was the kindly old grandfather. Always there with a smile and encouragement. For a few, he was the father we all wished we had! I can remember having conversations with Mr. Longo that had nothing to do with karate. If we had a problem, " I'll go ask Mr. Longo" was the initial response. He would always have an answer that would help. At times, Mr. Longo would share stories with us about the early days, the hard workouts and how the bartender at the Fernwood Cafe across from Shihans Dojo in Elmwood, would know how hard a class they had by how fast the first beer went down. After some time the bartender would even have a frosty mug waiting for them!

Mr. Longo has a routine when it comes to class. I recall him taping his toe, stretching, and then he would place himself between the two windows at Hombu so he could watch himself do kata to make sure looked sharp!! He would say that if you had a mirror to work out infront of, do it...its your best motivator! Mr. Longo was an engineer by trade, and to watch him practice kata it showed with his stances and perfect angles. To see him move is to see a well oiled machine move with dynamics and purpose. Every movement was calculated and precise, nothing was wasted. No extra steps, no extra flash to impress us. Just good strong basics used to it optimum effectiveness. That's what made him so good.

I recall at one seminar Mr. Longo asked two Dans to be ukis. I also recall that a little to much of their youthful exuberance showed
through as the two ukis pushed Mr. Longo into the wall a little to hard by one hand on each shoulder. Mr. Longo did his technique so fast all I remember was a ouchi and ko uchi gari, then the sound of two hollow heads hitting together. The group fell silent as Mr. Longo simply walked away. As for the two Dans, it took them a little while to get up!

On a personal note, both Tracey and I miss him very much. I remember Mr. Longo with Tracey , and Mrs. Longo and I dancing on our wedding day. When Tracey gave birth to Aaron and Sean, our twin boys. Mr. and Mrs. Longo were the first to visit us in the hospital. We have a picture them holding the boys, with a smile ear to ear and Mr. Longo with his hands guarding side to side and top to bottom. Mr. Longo has touched so many of us in more then a Sensei-student relationship. This was evident at his funeral, with so many big burly Karate-ka crying to the point of not being able to speak. There is so much more we wanted to ask him and so much more respect we need to show him. Now two years later I still find my self holding back tears remembering the little things about Mr. Longo. When doing kata I hear his voice telling me to get lower in stance, bend your knee, harder faster, speed power!!!
I get choked up when we show a technique that was typical Mr. Longo. As for now we can continue to show him respect by never forgetting what he taught us and never forgetting the basics.

Peter Dylag