Students and friends celebrate a 50 year milestone with Sensei Dan Dugan

 

[May 14, 2022] 

On Saturday, May 7th, the large community room area at Guest House Coffee and Pastries was filled throughout the afternoon as dozens of friends, family, past and present students came to celebrate the 50-year career of Sensei Dan Dugan in the art of Yoshukai Karate.

Around the room guests gathered, sharing good memories with Dugan and each other talking for two hours about the long history of Dugan in the martial arts and how it has impacted not only his life but the life of many others.

Over the years, Lincoln Daily News has visited with Dugan on a number of occasions. One of the first things learned about the man and the art of karate is that it is not about fighting, ever. Some have the idea from television shows that all karate experts live to fight and look for that opportunity at every turn. But Dugan was quick to correct that image, saying that karate is about learning discipline and respect, resorting to fight only when all other, more civil methods of resolving an issue have been exhausted.

Within the art, Dugan teaches young and old alike that self-discipline, being respectful of your fellow man, and having good manners will have a much more positive impact on one’s life than learning to hurt people with your hands.

In addition, Dugan has shown this by example. Some people will recall that a few years ago, Dugan, who was then a brick layer by trade, took a terrible fall from a scaffolding where he was 30 feet in the air laying brick. He landed hard on a concrete surface, head first. The fall should have killed him, would have killed a lessor man, but Dugan was a fighter trained in the practice of self-discipline and determination. He spent quite a bit of time hospitalized, had multiple surgeries and doctors knew for some time that it was touch and go for Dugan. They also knew that there was a power within Dugan that was helping him more than medicine and surgeries ever would.

On Saturday, many of his friends commented on Dugan’s youthful appearance. He doesn’t seem to age, and looks as good as he did 10 years ago. One friend poked fun at the Sensei saying that his face is frozen in time, because it contains so much plastic. Indeed, Dugan himself says the same thing. After his fall and survival, Dugan’s face was badly injured and required some extensive reconstruction surgery. He says that his daughter recently told him that he has a one-sided facelift that just keeps him forever young.

Dugan himself would say that what keeps him youthful is the self-care and self-discipline he has learned through Yoshkai Karate. When he had recovered from his injuries he spoke with LDN and said that his disciplines in breathing had helped speed up his healing process. He said that every day, he did his deep breathing exercises and felt his body healing from the inside out.

Also, staying active and being in good health with a clean body, free of chemicals and drugs helped him, just as teaching his students to observe those same practices have helped them through difficult times in life.

On Saturday, as guests arrived, they bowed deeply to the Sensei, a sign of great respect and love for the person who has taught them how to live a better, more focused life, through karate.

Dugan began his Karate studies in 1972 at the age of 20. He was a quick student, hungry to learn and practice the art in its best form. Throughout the years, he has crossed many milestones in the martial arts, from opening his first dojo in Logan County in Atlanta, and then expanding to a second dojo in Bloomington.

Dugan has impacted many lives, including the life of his wife Nykol.

Nykol will tell you that she was on a bad track through life when she met Dugan and began learning the practices of Yoshukai Karate. She feels that Dugan saved her life though his teaching as well as his compassion for what she was going through, and over time in his love for the woman she became after she freed herself of the many vices that were dragging her down.

Dugan has also had a great impact on others, such as Troy Lowe, who is a student of Dugan. In 2019 Lowe purchased what was once the Little Lambs Daycare Center building and immediately renamed the building Dugan Center in honor of his Sensei.

Lowe said then that Dugan had been an inspiration to him. Lowe felt that what he learned from the Sensei was helping him to focus on a new business venture with confidence and self-assurance that he was moving his life in the right direction.

Around the room on Saturday there were numerous displays that reflected the way that Dugan has lived his life and influenced others through the martial arts.

Guests enjoyed looking through all the displays and recalling their own good memories with the Sensei.

All those who visited on Saturday admire and respect Dugan not just for the teacher he is but for the kind of person he is - kind, warm, considerate, polite and caring. But he is also strong and firm with his students when it is required. Regardless of what he is doing, Dugan himself will tell you it is now and will always be for the well-being of his students and the art of Yoshukai Karate.

Thank you Dan for 50 years invested in our community and the people who have been your students.

[Nila Smith]

Dan Dugan: a lifetime of teaching the martial arts
http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/
2010/Jul/26/News/today072610_p.shtml

'Fall seven times, stand up eight'
How Dan Dugan survived tragedy by practicing what he teaches
http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/
2012/Jun/25/News/today062512_dd.shtml 

Yoshukai Karate Alliance celebrates 10 years and other milestones
Album one -
http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/
2012/Jun/26/News/picturepage062512
_karate01.shtml

Yoshukai Karate Alliance celebrates 10 years and other milestones
Album two –
http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/
2012/Jun/25/News/picturepage062512
_karate02.shtml