Professional Karate Association
| Martial Arts Organization | |
| Industry | Karate& kickboxing |
| Founded | 1974 |
| Founder | Don Quine, Judy Quine, Mike Anderson |
|
Area served
|
Worldwide |
|
Key people
|
Don Quine, Judy Quine, Joe Corley, Bill Wallace, Joe Lewis |
| Services | Organization of karate and kickboxing professionals and promoters |
| Owner | Joe Corley |
| Website | / |
The Professional Karate Association (PKA) was originally a martial arts sanctioning organization, now transformed into a martial arts promotion company. Through the 1970s, the PKA was the major professional kickboxing organization in the United States and in Europe, featuring such fighters as Bill "Superfoot" Wallace, Joe Lewis, Benny "the Jet" Urquidez, The Iceman Jean-Yves Thériault, Howard Jackson, David Sepeda, Isaias Dunenas, Dennis "the Terminator" Alexio, Bad Brad Hefton, Billy Blanks, Jimmy (the Hurricane) Turner , Jerry (the flash) Rhome, Tom Hall, Rick "the Jet" Roufus, Rodney Batman Batiste, Steve Taberner (The Wigan Hammer), Bob Thunder Thurman, Johnny Superfoot Davis, John Longstreet, Larry Carnahan, Gordon Franks, Jerry Trimble and Jeff Smith.
The Professional Karate Association was formed in 1974 by Don and Judy Quine in association with Mike Anderson. It was launched with the initial world championships in 1974 at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, and was telecast on ABC's Wide World of Entertainment. The winners of the initial championship were Joe Lewis (heavyweight), Jeff Smith (light heavyweight), Bill "Superfoot" Wallace (middleweight), and Isiasis Duenas (lightweight). Additionally, Vernon Mason (also called Vernon "Thunder Kick Mason") would become US PKA's first bantamweight champion after knocking out Sonny Onowa.
Joe Corley joined the PKA in 1977 and organized the committees that would control the sport of full contact karate for the next 9 years. The PKA went on to have a long term relationship with ESPN that lasted until 1986, while also airing a series of fights on CBS under the watch of CBS Sports VP Barry Frank and on NBC via Sean McManus. The PKA was by far the most visible sanctioning body for what became better known as kickboxing in the United States, in 1982 sanctioning 43% of events worldwide. and producing more than 1,000 hours of television content.
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Wikipedia