Chief Instructor, Pastor Marc Unger

PASTOR MARC UNGER: ANYBODY’S STORY

“Whatever your hand finds to do...do it with all your might” (Eccl 9:10) says Pastor Marc Unger, an Eighth Degree Black Belt, as he quotes from the Bible.

The story of Marc Unger’s life in Karate is anybody’s story. “It’s not about being a ‘Michael Jordan-type world class athlete,’” says Unger. “It’s about the personal discipline that Karate has to offer and the tenacity to hang on to something long enough to understand it and get really good at it.”

Unger was born in 1951 and grew up in the Throggs Neck Projects of Bronx, New York. He still remembers the crowd of about 100 kids that surrounded him outside his Junior High School because one fellow student was mad at him. “It was a loose-loose situation,” he recalls. “Fight and loose and get beaten up by the student; fight the student and win and get beaten up by the crowd.” Or another alternative: remember the words of Murray Unger, his WWII Bronze Star decorated father, “It takes a bigger man to walk away from a fight.” Fortunately, Unger walked away. However, he always remembered that if he ever really had to fight he didn’t know quite how to do so.

So in order to learn how to defend himself, on March 6, 1976, Unger enrolled in a hard-style Japanese Karate school in Kansas City, Missouri. Unger came into the Dojo early, stayed late, and rarely missed a class. He had earned his Orange Belt and had unsuccessfully competed in a few tournaments by the time he had been in Karate for two years. Then came the meeting that would change his life in Karate for the rest of his life.

“I drove down to Wichita, Kansas to compete in Roger Carpenter’s tournament on April Fool’s Day of 1978,” Unger recalls. “I was quite surprised to see that a great number of the division winners in both Kata and fighting were all wearing the same patch on their Gi, a gold Go Ju Ryu patch. I also noticed that all of those students had the same instructor rooting for them at ringside. Later in the afternoon,” he continues, “I had my turn to compete in the heavyweight men’s fighting division where I lost my first fight (as I had always done) by a score of two to one. As I was leaving the ring, the center referee came over to me, complimented me on my clean technique, and told me why I was loosing fights and how to win them. I was incredulous,” Unger states. “This was the first time in two years in the martial arts that a Black Belt bothered to take the time to talk to me. This referee put his hand on my shoulder as he spoke to me and took the time to let me know that he really cared. The man who cared was the same man I had noticed earlier--the man whose students won Grand Championships in both Kata and fighting that day. The man’s name was Sam Price.”

Unger spoke with Sam Price about Karate that day and was invited by Mr. Price to come down to his Hutchinson School of Karate And Self-Defense in Kansas to see how he trained his students. After viewing two classes at Mr. Price’s school, Unger asked him if he would accept him as a student and he set a personal goal to become one of Mr. Price’s Black Belts. Unger willingly gave up his previous Karate rank (“Sam’s white belts were killing me in the ring”), and set about training with Mr. Price. To do this, Marc traveled once a week from his home in Kansas City, Missouri to Mr. Price's school for a year and a half--logging over 22,000 commute miles on his car! Marc then moved to Hutchinson and became full-time business manager of Grandmaster Price’s school from 1979 to 1983. Marc achieved his goal on July 24, 1982 by becoming the tenth person in twenty-two years to earn his Black Belt from Grandmaster Sam Price.

In October 1982, Marc Unger entered into a personal relationship with Someone else who would forever change the way he looked at Karate and life itself--Jesus Christ. Marc left his position as Grandmaster Price’s business manager in February 1983 when he sensed God calling him into ministry as a pastor. He studied Bible at his church, taught Karate at the YMCA, and met his wife, Lynda, on June 1. By the end of the year Marc and his new bride left for Dallas, Texas where he attended three full-time semesters as a National Dean’s List Bible major student at Dallas Bible College. During this time, Marc continued to teach a few private Karate students in his back yard. He was also active as a Pastor-evangelist on staff at the church the Unger’s attended. Additionally, he held the position of Sunday evening pastor at the downtown Dallas branch of the Salvation Army where he shared the love of Jesus Christ with street people, the poor, battered women, drug-abusers, and alcoholics.

In the summer of 1988, the Unger’s, with the addition of two sons, left for Exeter, California where Marc was called to pastoral ministry with various churches. As an evangelistic outreach, Marc began to teach Karate classes for free on the front lawn of the church where he was associate pastor. Within three weeks, Unger had 27 students! A short time later, Unger moved again to assume the pastorate in another town for about a year and then returned to the Exeter area and resided in Woodlake where he opened Marc Unger Karate in July 1990.

“I was not looking to open a Karate school,” says Unger. “I was a pastor and didn’t want to get tied down again to a Karate business but, apparently, God had other ideas.” Students who remembered Unger’s free classes on the church lawn began to contact Unger upon his arrival to Woodlake and wanted to train with him. Unger needed the extra income to help with family expenses (the Unger’s were now a family of five with the addition of a baby girl) and started accepting students.

In February, 1991, Unger moved his Karate school to the Carnegie Building in Exeter City Park where Marc Unger Karate was the longest running athletic program the city has ever had under one instructor. Since opening his school in the Exeter area, Unger has trained almost 500 students. Marc Unger Karate currently owns its own building in downtown Exeter.

Because of his personal relationship with Jesus Christ, Unger felt led to use his long Karate experience to reach out to others with the love of God. Marc has done evangelistic Karate demonstrations in many prisons across the state of California. “Inmates who would not normally come out to hear a sermon come in large numbers to see a good Karate demo,” says Unger. “Then they hear how Jesus Christ changed my life and can change theirs, too.” The list of Unger’s demos run from prisons to Juvenile Halls, Juvenile Boot Camps, Christian schools, churches, rescue missions, church camps, AWANA (Bible memory club) to training sessions on how to use athletics as an evangelistic tool.

Since beginning training with Grandmaster Price, Unger broke his early tournament-losing streak and currently holds about 150 trophies for his tournament competitions while his students hold many hundreds more. Unger’s Dojo looks like a trophy company with over 500 awards on display--all of which have been earned by him and his four youngest children:

• Daniel (deceased) 5th Degree Black Belt,
• David (21) 5th Degree Black Belt,
• Elizabeth (17) 2nd Degree Black Belt and
• Anna (15) 2nd Degree Junior Black Belt.

Marc’s first son, also named Marc Unger, is 38 years old and holds a 4th Degree Black Belt in Sam Price’s Go Ju Ryu System as well as holding a 2nd Degree Black Belt in Tang Soo Do (2006) and a 1st Degree Black Belt in Kung Fu (1999). Marc Unger II currently resides in Exton, Pennsylvania with his Unger’s 13-year-old Junior Black Belt grandson. After studying, competing, and instructing, Marc II opened his own Dojo, Rising Sun Karate Academy, October 1, 2007 in Exton, PA. You can view Marc II's web site by clicking here: http://www.therska.com.

In 1991, Unger hosted the first of his bi-annual open Karate tournaments in Exeter, California. Currently, these tournaments are the largest of their kind in the greater Visalia/Exeter area and, on one event, ran up to 247 competitors. Unger’s tournaments are known for fair judging and efficient management. They have a reputation for getting the under-belt competition finished by 2:30 P.M. and the Black Belts done by 3:30 P.M.

As an author, Marc has had many opportunities to apply his writing skills to the printed page to promote the sport of Karate. Among other projects, he began writing for Action Martial Arts Magazine in September of 1996 and since that time has written three of their cover stories: Grandmaster Sam Price, January 1997; Grandmaster Karl Marx, May 1997; and “King of Kata,” Eric Lee, August 1997 along with about a dozen other feature articles and stories.

As to rank, Unger never imagined himself as attaining to higher rank than Black Belt. However, over the years he has continued to invest himself back into Sam Price’s Go Ju Ryu System and into his students. Unger states, “From White Belt through Black Belt we give objective tests which indicate what the student is getting out of Karate. For advanced Black Belt standing, we hold the student up to a subjective test which measures what he is putting back into Karate and reward him with rank accordingly.” After over 31 years in the martial arts, Unger has been held up to advanced Black Belt testing many times and was promoted to the rank of Eighth Degree Black Belt in 2006.

In the words of Grandmaster Sam Price,

“Out of all the Black Belts that I have, I have never had one that is more dedicated than Marc Unger. It is every instructor’s dream to have a Black Belt that he can share his thoughts and ideas with and make sure that what he is trying to teach will carry on. Even if I kick ol’ Suzie in the side, I can rest in peace knowing that Marc Unger is a student who is worthy to-- and will--carry on the Go Ju Ryu System that I, Mickey Gomez (Ninth Degree), Marc, Eric Taylor (Seventh Degree) and Kent Clayborn (Seventh Degree) have put together over many years [to date 49 years] of hard work born out of a true labor of love.”

And pass it on he has been doing. Unger now has 23 Black Belts under him in Sam Price’s Go Ju Ryu System:

• Anthony Alberti, 7th Degree Black Belt
• Daniel Unger, 5th Degree Black Belt
• David Unger, 5th Degree Black Belt
• Marc Unger, II, 4th Degree Black Belt
• Olaf Saul, 3rd Degree Black Belt
• Sharon Laney, 2nd Degree Black Belt
• Gary Pokorney, 2nd Degree Black Belt
• Anna Unger, 2nd Degree Black Belt
• Elizabeth Unger, 2nd Degree Black Belt
• Teresa Carranza, 1st Degree Black Belt
• Jonathon Cotta, 1st Degree Black Belt
• Paul Navarro, 1st Dergee Black Belt
• Robert Barajas, Black Belt
• Jarrod Carter, Black Belt
• Jonathan Carter, Black Belt
• T.J. Fousek, Black Belt
• Mark Goff, Black Belt
• Brandon Mallard, Black Belt
• Jeff Neumann, Black Belt
• Victor Yates, Black Belt
• Micah Ziessler, Black Belt
• Wyatt Doyle, Junior Black Belt
• Ukiah Heasley, Junior Black Belt

Marc continues to teach Sam Price’s Go Ju Ryu System as he says, “Exactly as I have learned and continue to learn it.” At the same time Marc is the full-time founding pastor of Exeter Baptist Church, a Southern Baptist church that the Lord started in the Unger home.

Other honors Mr. Unger has achieved in Karate are included in the Who’s Who in Karate, 1982/83 Edition, and in the Who’s Who in The Martial Arts, 1998 Edition. Marc also has the distinction of being the Secretary of the Midwest Brotherhood Karate Association Honor Society and is a lifetime member of the Midwest Karate Official’s Association. He is also one of the few holders of the prestigious “Wolfpack” patch personally awarded to him by Grandmaster Price in the 1970’s for “action above and beyond the call of duty.”

Surprised by the honor, Mr. Unger had been nominated for a Golden Lifetime Achievement Award into the Florida Hall Of Fame Martial Arts Brotherhood. With typical humor, Unger asks, “Does this award mean that I am getting old?” “A further honor,” he says, “is to be contacted by Carmen Katsaitis and the Karate Voice Magazine to appear as their cover story.”

Marc attributes his success in Karate to tenacity and persistence--he simply refuses to quit. His parents, Murray and Gloria Unger, always taught him to put forth his very best effort at anything he does and to expect the best. Marc says that anyone can--by the grace of God, focus, and determination--accomplish any goal in his life if he labors hard and perseveres. Marc Unger’s hand has indeed found something to do, Karate, and he has been doing it with all his might ever since.

On May 25, 2004, Marc and Lynda’s beloved son, SPC Daniel Paul Unger, CA Army National Guard/US Army, gave his life in Iraq. Daniel’s Commander states, “Daniel placed his own well-being in jeopardy by making sure the civilian workers went inside the protective bunker before he did.” Daniel was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star with Valor Device, Purple Heart, Combat Infantryman Badge, California Memorial Medal and the Warriors Medal of Valor (from the North American Nations of the United States).

Daniel was a licensed minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ and a beloved Platform Guest and Karate demonstrator/preacher with Champions for Life prison ministry where he served with his dad for years. Daniel will never be forgotten by Sam Price’s Go Ju Ryu System with whom he trained and instructed for over fourteen years. On April 2, 2005, Daniel was posthumously inducted into the Midwest Brotherhood Karate Association’s Honor Society. You can read all about Daniel and his ministry by clicking: http://www.danielunger.com. Daniel is memorialized in the motion picture documentary, “A Hero’s Love: The Daniel Unger Story.” You can see a three-minute trailer and/or purchase his movie: “A Hero’s Love: The Daniel Unger Story” by clicking here: http://www.familyfirstfilms.com.

Pastor Marc Unger is now Chaplain (First Lieutenant) Marc Unger, California State Military Reserve where, among other responsibilities, he is proud to serve as Chaplain of Daniel’s battalion, the 1-184th Infantry “Nightstalkers” of the California Army National Guard.

On June 2, 2007, Marc and his son, Daniel, were inducted into the USA Martial Arts Hall of Fame. Marc was inducted in two categories: “Ministry Martial Arts Leader” and "Go Ju Ryu Master of the Year.” Daniel was inducted as “Master of Recognition, 5th Degree Black Belt-in Memoriam.” Again, on May 10, 2008, Marc was inducted as recipient of the "Pioneer Award" and received his Doctorate of Martial Arts Philospophy and Martial Arts Science.

In May of 2008, David Unger was inducted into the USA Martial Arts Hall of Fame as "Go Ju Ryu Master of the Year. Then in March 2009, Marc Unger II was inducted as "Multi-Diciplinary Practitioner of the Year."

Pastor Marc Unger would welcome your contact by phone or letter if you have any questions about Karate or Jesus Christ that you would like to discuss with him. You may reach him at: Marc Unger Karate, 239 West Pine Street, Exeter, CA, 93221, (559) 592-6610, pastormarcunger@verizon.net.

This article appeared as a feature article in Karate Voice Magazine, December 1998 and has been modified by the author to reflect current information.