RETURN AGAIN

1959
Bruce Lee stars in what would be his last teenage Hong Kong film, as "Ah Sam" in THE ORPHAN - the film would not be released until the spring of 1960.

April 1959
The conflicts in Vietnam, Laos and Camnbodia, which have been escalating since the mid-1950s between the North Vietnamese, backed by the Soviet Union, and the South, supported by the U.S., erupts into the beginnings of the Vietnam War.

29 April, 1959
Bruce Lee departs Hong Kong for the U.S. aboard the SS President Wilson, there are ports of call at Osaka, Japan and Honolulu, Hawaii, with a third class one-way ticket.
The same fate has recently befallen his friend William Cheung for exactly the same reasons, but he'd been sent to Australia for his troubles.

17 May, 1959
Bruce Lee arrives in the San Francisco with over a $115 in his pocket, he has supplemented the money given to him by his parents during the eighteen-day crossing by giving dancing lessons to the first class passengers. He is met at the docks by one of Lee Hoi Chuen's old Cantonese Opera friends, Quan Ging Ho, who provides him with room and board while Bruce applies for his citizenship, driving licence and gains the necessary school credits to ultimately enrol in university.

Early Summer 1959
Bruce Lee spend his time in San Francisco adjusting to life in the U.S. - he tries and fails to work as a waiter in a restaurant that Quan Ging Ho has helped him find but has better success giving dancing lessons for a dollar a time at various social gatherings in Chinatown, as well as giving impromptu martial arts demonstrations in between the dances. Occasionally, he ventures out across The Bay to Oakland, where he dazzles American patrons of the various dance halls and hotels with his dancing skills outside the comfort of Chinese communities.

18 July, 1959
Bruce Lee graduates in absentia from St. Francis Xavier High School in Hong Kong.

Late Summer 1959
Bruce Lee relocates to Seattle in Washington - again his father has softened the blow of his banishment by calling on his contacts from his Cantonese Opera days. Ping and Ruby Chow, who run a popular Chinese Restaurant, provide him with room and board in exchange for him working part-time as a busboy. He is driven to Seattle by Fook Yeung, "Uncle Fook", another of his father's opera friends, who had last seen the adult Lee as a baby shortly after his birth in San Francisco. On the long drive to Seattle, Lee would learn of Uncle Fook's mastery of Red Boat Wing Chun, which many would argue is a more authentic version of the art than others in the lineage, including the "Hong Kong" branch led by Yip Man.

06 August, 1959
Ping and Ruby Chow's high standing in the Seattle community - particularly among the Chinese - also ensures their participation in the public events held in the city. Unlike his wife, Ping appreciates Bruce Lee's martial arts skills and he is given a slot to give a demonstration at the annual Seattle Chinese Seafair Festival.
In the audience is Jesse Glover, an African American judo champion, who witnesses a demonstration of "the secret art of Chinese gung-fu" which he later learns is from Northern Praying Mantis - a style that Bruce Lee had picked up from Siu Hon Sang, "Uncle Siu", in Hong Kong.
Outside of their insular communities, Chinese martial arts is virtually unknown in the U.S. where Japanese and Korean arts are far more popular; this first public appearance in 1959 by Lee in the U.S. would mark the start of the numerous demonstrations and exhibitions he would be giving for well over the next coming decade to satisfy his own showmanship and later, as a recruitment drive for his institutes.

03 September, 1959
Bruce Lee enrols at the Edison Technical Vocational School in Seattle, after spending a short period at Franklin High School.
Luckily for Jesse Glover, he is also a student at Edison's.

October 1959
Bruce Lee is invited by the faculty of the Edison Technical Vocational School to put on a demonstration during their "Asian Day" celebrations where he meets another student, James DeMile, a former undefeated U.S. Air Force heavyweight boxing champion, and "humbles" him in front of the audience. DeMile makes it his mission to learn every he can from "this kid".

08 January 1960
Jesse Glover finally approaches Bruce Lee at Edison's and strikes up a conversation with him about the martial arts and possibly training with him.

10 January 1960
Bruce Lee begins his first training sessions with Jesse Glover at his apartment - they live only several block apart from each other.

28 January, 1960
Bruce Lee and several of his friends put on a gung-fu demonstration at Seattle's Chinatown Chinese New Year celebrations, with the Chows again at the heart of organizing the festivities - Lee's diverse and multi-ethnic martial arts exhibition is an eye-opener for the Chinese community, and a future point of contention in his desire to popularize Chinese gung-fu in the U.S.

February 1960
In rapid succession, Jesse Glover brings in his friends and fellow judo students into his training sessions with Bruce Lee. They train informally together in public spaces. Glover is joined by Ed Hart, DeWelle “Skip” Ellsworth III, Charlie Woo, Howard Hall, LeRoy Porter, and Pat C. Hooks - their ranks will swell further when James DeMile and LeRoy Garcia.
Jesse Glover is also instrumental in bringing in Kimura Takauki, "Taky", a Japanese grocer, who at thirty-eight was by far the oldest in the "Seattle Group". Although he lacked any real fighting experience, apart from some rudimentary judo and boxing, Lee would form a close and trusted bond with him that would last throughout his lifetime. Taky was unfailingly loyal and idolized the young man.
All the while Lee is continuing his own training under Uncle Fook, even going so far as adopting the Red Boat Wing Chun salutation which he would continue to use in public demonstrations and throughout his years as a "sifu" in all his future Jun Fan Gung-fu Institutes.

03 March, 1960
THE ORPHAN opens in Hong Kong, it is a financial and critical success - it would later be ranked as one of the Best 100 Chinese Motion Pictures at the 24th Hong Kong Film Awards in 2005 - as much as Bruce Lee likes to draw attention to himself, he keeps this part of his former life away from his friends in Seattle; he is only interested in developing as a martial artist.

28 October, 1960
With a sizeable group of his friends, Bruce Lee stages a gung-fu and judo exhibition at the Yesler Terrace Community Recreation Centre Gymnasium, he has taken to include a running commentary during his demonstrations extolling the superiority of the Chinese martial arts above all others, which in time will turn into tirade about all organized forms of systems and styles.
It is at this event that he first encounters Nakachi Yoichi, a decade older than Lee and the holder of black belts in Shinpu-Ren Karate and judo, who has taken exception to the younger man's boldness and critique of Japanese martial arts as inferior descendants of Chinese gung-fu. Nakachi would stalk Lee for weeks, issuing challenges that Lee declines and tries to ignore.

01 November, 1960
Nakachi Yoichi continues to spoil for a fight; Bruce Lee's patience and temper finally snaps over his continuous campaign of intimidation and agrees to meet him at the local YMCA's handball court. Lee is in a ferocious mood and states that this is an "all-out" fight with "no rules". There are less than five people present to witness Lee's dismantling of Nakachi in eleven seconds - Ed Hart is the timekeeper and Jesse Glover, the referee, who steps in to spare the unconscious older man further punishment. Nakachi's eye socket and jaw is fractured; according to Hart, a former professional boxer and fearless brawler, his young friend's fists simply "tore him apart".

02 December, 1960
Bruce Lee graduates from Edison Technical Vocational School, Ed Hart helps Lee with much of his studies and drafts many of his essays.

1961
Jesse Glover encourages Bruce Lee to open his own martial arts school so he can afford to move out from under Ruby Chow's, Lee clashes with her often, refusing to even call her by the respectful honorific, "auntie". The "Seattle Group" band together and rent out a dilapidated store in Seattle's Chinatown, 609 S Weller Street, and the first Jun Fan Gung-Fu Institute becomes a reality. It is in truth, little more than a glorified private clubhouse with enough room for them to hang out and train - little thought is given to running it as a self-sustaining enterprise - only new members are to pay tuition fees, which Lee alone will receive.

20 January, 1961
John F. Kennedy is sworn in as the 35th President of the United States.

27 March, 1961
Bruce Lee, with the aid of Ed Hart's coaching, gains the necessary school credits to enrol in the University of Washington, where he enrols as a drama student, taking classes in philosophy.
Bruce Lee takes a short course of judo lessons from the 1957 National Champion, Kato Shuzo, "Chris". Aside from Wing Chun and his training with Uncle Fook, this is the only other sustained, formal lessons of record in Lee's life. He also befriends another local judo instructor, Sato Tatsuo, "Fred", and proves so skilled that Sato awards him with an honorary black belt.
It is also while attending university that Lee meets Amy Sambo – a strong-willed, independent-minded Japanese student and dancer – theirs will be a passionate and tempestuous relationship over the next several years. Amy doesn't much care for his martial arts and thought he was wasting his talents as a dancer instead, she called him a "kinetic genius".

12 April, 1961
The Soviet Union sends the first man, cosmonaut Yuri Gargarin, into the space aboard the Vostok 1.

May 1961
The Jun Fan Gung-Fu Institute, or "club", as Bruce Lee refers to it, is forced to close. With each member of the core group expected to contribute to the rent, they soon fall behind owing the landlord $80 in back rent. The "Seattle Group" reverts back to working out together in public spaces once more, even utilizing Taky Kimura's supermarket car park on occasions for Lee's classes.

29 May, 1961
The airing of Bruce Lee's first US TV appearance, he has managed to talk himself into a slot on the Public Broadcasting Service, KCTS-TV (Channel 9), then based on the University of Washington campus, to appear in a gung-fu demonstration with Uncle Fook, Jesse Glover, Skip Ellsworth, James DeMile, LeRoy Garcia, Taky Kimura and Takamitsu "Tak" Miyabe.

05 March, 1962
The first of a scheduled "new three-week telecourse" on the "Oriental art of self-defense", is broadcast on KCTS-TV (Channel 9), with Bruce Lee and among others, Fook Yeung and Fred Sato. For most of the viewers, Lee's first show the previous year, was there initial exposure to the Chinese martial arts, and the favourable response prompts the programmers to ask him to return; he is slowly and surely making a name for himself in Seattle, word about him is spreading - albeit slowly.
Occasionally he hops across the border to Canada, and gives demonstrations in Vancouver's Chinese communities; and makes similar forays back to the city of his birth, San Francisco.

April 1962
Bruce Lee takes a second stab at becoming financially independent by opening another Jun Fan Gung-Fu Institute at 418 1/2 8th Avenue South. It is still essentially a "private" club without any signs advertising its presence, new inductees were brought in by existing members - everyone pays a monthly fee - and the training was more regimented and structured. Many of the original "Seattle Group" begin droppping away and criticism is levelled at Lee for teaching a less effective version of his art, particularly by Jesse Glover and James DeMile.

Summer 1962
Bruce Lee meets Jay Wah Leong, "Wally", who has been hearing about the young man from Hong Kong with incredible gung-fu skills and makes a point of seeking him out during one of his judo team's tournament stops in Seattle. He tracks Lee down to the basement of the Chinese Southern Baptist Church in Chinatown, where he is holding martial arts classes for children. Wally is an accomplished Danzan Ryu jujutsu champion, and Lee is especially impressed that one of his own countryman is besting even the Japanese in their own art. They become fast friends and frequently exchange ideas and techniques over the years. Wally is surprised by the younger man's depth of insight and knowledge of the martial arts and awed by Lee's "lightning speed blows" with the "devastating punching power of a heavyweight".
That summer, Lee was also approached by Allen Joe, a body building champion and childhood friend of James Yimm Lee in Oakland, who had implored him to meet with Lee while he was in Seattle with his family visiting the 1962 Seattle World's Fair. Physically, Joe was no push-over, but when he asked for a demonstration, he found himself being handled like a rag doll by the much smaller Lee, who was "inhumanly fast". When he returned home to Oakland, he told James that everything they'd heard about Lee was true.

05 August, 1962
Marilyn Monroe, the Hollywood actress and sex symbol of the era, is found dead at her home from an overdose of barbiturates.

Autumn 1962
Bruce Lee travels to Oakland to meet James Yimm Lee, the pair have already spoken several times by phone before James invites him to spend a weekend with him at his home with his wife, Katherine, and their children, Karena and Greglon. Although James is more than twice Lee's age, he recognizes the younger man's uncommon talents, and the pair strike up an immediate and lasting friendship. He is reacquainted with Allen Joe, and another of their friends, George Lee (no relation to either) - the foursome would become call themselves "the Four Musketeers" - Joe becomes Lee's source of advice and inspiration for his weight training and George, a master craftsman, would create his weaponary and custom training equipment for years to come.
Lee would return again and again to Oakland to spend time and train with James and his circle of friends, all of whom gladly becomes his students over the course of the next several months.
James Yimm Lee was a local Oakland legend in fighting circles, like Lee, he was a notorious brawler in his youth, and he had earned too the enmity of the martial arts doyens in San Francisco’s Chinatown for his independence and rebelliousness. When word got around that these two “troublemakers” were keeping company together, no one was particularly surprised. In the growing martial arts scene in the U.S. however, James was a highly respected, innovative and knowledgeable martial artist, specializing in Iron Palm techniques, and was a self-published author of some of the earliest books on the martial arts written in English.

October 1962
Bruce Lee, with James Yimm Lee's encouragement and help, begins working on a martial arts book that will be published by James' Oriental Book Sales, and stages a photoshoot in Ruby Chow's restaurant car park with Jesse Glover, Charlie Woo, James Demile and Taky Kimura.

16 October, 1962
The Cuban Missile Crisis brings the world to the brink of a full-scale nuclear war, which is only averted thirteen days later with the withdrawal of medium and intermediate ballisitc missles from Cuba by the Soviet Union and Jupiter nuclear missles from Italy and Turkey by the U.S.

November 1962
Bruce Lee travels to to Oakland to spend the Thanksgiving holidays with James Yimm Lee and his family, while he is there, he is introduced to two of the leading figures of the U.S. martial arts scene, Ed Parker - the "Father of American Karate" - and Ralph Castro. Like everyone else who has encountered Lee, they are in awe of his abilities despite the fact that he looks far younger than his twenty-one years, but due to James' patronage, treat him as a peer.

Spring 1963
Bruce Lee is invited to Garfield High School in Seattle, to give a lecture on Chinese philosophy, where he is first seen in the hallways by senior student, Linda Emery. Lee is accompanied by Amy Sambo, a former graduate of the public high school.
Amy Sambo walks away from her volatile relationship with Bruce Lee, despite several of his marriage proposals, she later comments that if they'd stayed together, "it's likely we would have killed each other".
Bruce Lee's CHINESE GUNG FU: THE PHILOSOPHICAL ART OF SELF-DEFENSE is published and distributed by Oriental Book Sales, who promptly uses the profits to fund an extended trip back to Hong Kong to see his family and forget about the collapse of his relationship with Amy Sambo. Charlie Woo and Taky Kimura continue the teaching of classes at the Jun Fan Gung-Fu Institute in his absence.

26 March, 1963
Bruce Lee returns to Hong Kong to visit his family and friends, and approaches Yip Man with the possibility of filming those parts of Wing Chun he had not learned, the old master declines the offer; but is impressed with his development as a martial artist. Lee is dismayed that in terms of his mother art, he has not overtaken Wong Shun Leung and one or two other seniors in Wing Chun.

26 June, 1963
Bruce Lee's student from Seattle, Doug Palmer, arrives in Hong Kong at his invitation to stay at his family home - when he brings Palmer along to meet Yip Man, he is quick to remind him that he must give no indication of having any martial arts knowledge, mindful of the old master's disdain for any aspect of his art being taught to "foreigners". Many of Lee's martial arts friends in Hong Kong are unaware of the extent of his status as a "sifu" in the U.S. - his youthful age would have almost certainly have prevented him from being considered so in Hong Kong.

15 August, 1963
Bruce Lee and Doug Palmer make the return trip back to the U.S. They make a stop in Honolulu at the invitation of Ed Parker to give a demonstration at a Chinese martial arts school, before finally arriving back home in Seattle.

September 1963
Bruce Lee finally moves out of his room above Ruby Chow's restaurant, to stay at Doug Palmer's family home while he finds a place of his own; Palmer returns to his law studies at the prestigious Yale University in Connecticut.
Lee recieves his draft notice, he luckily avoids the U.S. involvment in the war in North Vietnam by failing his medical and is classified as "4F" due to his poor eyesight, a sinus disorder and cryptorchidism - an undescended testicle.
Among the crop of Lee's new students at his Jun Fan Gung-Fu Institute in Chinatown is Linda Emery, brought there by her best friend, Sue Ann Kay.

05 October, 1963
Bruce Lee sets up his new home on the ground floor of a new apartment building on 4750 University Way, it is a large commercial space where he is able to relocate his Jun Fan Gung-Fu Institute to, close to his studies and its proximity to the University of Washington, helps recruit many students. It is the most financially successful of his schools to date, with around fifty students paying a monthly membership fee of $15.

25 October, 1963
Bruce Lee asks Linda Emery out on a date, and takes her to Seattle's recently opened Space Needle for dinner; they soon become inseparable.

22 November, 1963
John F. Kennedy is assiasinated in Dallas, Texas; Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in as the 36th President of the United States.

25 February, 1964
The twenty-two year old Cassuis Clay stuns the boxing world by defeating the "unbeatable" champion, Sonny Liston, in six rounds - Liston refuses to come out of his corner and quits having been humiliated, hurt and cut by the brash challenger. Shortly after the fight, the new champion announces his conversion to the Nation of Islam, and emerges as "Cassius X", before he is given the name of "Muhammad Ali".

02 May, 1964
Bruce Lee is invited to Wally Jay's annual lūʻau celebrations at the Alameda’s Colombo Hall in California, among those attending from the martial arts world are James Yimm Lee, Al Novak, Ed Parker, Ralph Castro and a neophyte Leo Fong. James, who usually performs his brick-breaking techniques has instead given his place to his young friend, for many there this is not only their first exposure to gung-fu but to Lee himself.
A practised hand now at giving demonstrations, Lee had earned the ire of traditionalists by bluntly criticizing their arts and advocating a more modern and pragmatic approach to unarmed combat, "scientific street fighting", he called it. Neither did he rehearse his performances beforehand, preferring instead to spontaneous display of his attributes – his speed and power – with volunteers from the audience who were usually bigger in stature than himself. Few would deny his impressive abilities, but Lee’s straightforward calling out of organized systems of martial arts rubbed their collective noses in his increasingly arrogant tirades.
The audience were divided in their muted response – James, on the other hand, relished the controversy his young friend stirred up.

01 June, 1964
James Yimm Lee, together with his friend, student and business partner, Al Novak, switch to Bruce Lee’s non-classical approach to the martial arts, they even rename their own school as the second branch of the Jun Fan Gung-Fu Institute. Lee was actively toying with the idea of operating a chain of such ventures across the country much like Ed Parker’s own franchise of Kenpo Karate schools. Aside from James and Novak, Lee also inherits half-a-dozen or more of James' students, including a quiet and unassuming Bob Baker, who was a product of the hybrid system, Kajukenbo.

July 1964
The disproportionate time Bruce Lee is devoting to his martial arts and dividing his time so frequently between Seattle and Oakland, has led to his studies falling to pieces. He makes the momentous decision to leave the University of Washington, and at James Yimm Lee’s urging, move in with his family where he will apply himself full time as a martial artist in Oakland. Lee's father is furious and insists that he return to Hong Kong - again in disgrace - but he has no intention of following anyone's wishes, except his own.
The Seattle Jun Fan Gung-Fu Institute is moved back to it orginal site, 418 1/2 8th Avenue South, Taky Kimura has now been promoted as the head instructor, with Charlie Woo assisting. In Oakland, Lee relocates his latest school to 4157 Broadway, just on the outer edges of the city's Chinatown, where James Yimm Lee and Al Novak run the classes.
Shortly after moving to Oakland, Lee learns from Linda that she is pregnant.

02 August, 1964
Ed Parker’s inaugural Long Beach International Karate Championships is held at the eight-thousand seat Municipal Auditorium in Southern California, attracting the best martial artists throughout the U.S. and beyond. Bruce Lee is invited to appear as a special guest – “a master of Gung Fu from Hong Kong” – to close out the event but has zero-interest in competing in the points-based, or light-contact, contests before a panel of judges.
Parker assigns one of his students, Dan Inosanto, to look after Lee while he is in Long Beach, who makes such an impression on Inosanto that he begins training under Lee almost immediately.
Lee turns in a compelling and highly individualistic performance, but he has not toned down his anti-classical rhetoric and gleefully executes them perfectly before tearing them apart as a “classical mess”. He succeeds again in riling up most of the audience by disparaging their adherence to a system or style, and their general consensus is that he is “an arrogant prick” – but not one, as it turns out, they could easily ignore or forget.

17 August, 1964
Bruce Lee marries Linda Emery at the King County Courthouse in Seattle, they had intended to marry in secret and elope – Linda’s parents are not even aware of their relationship, let alone that their daughter is now in the early stages of pregnancy – but at the last moment, their plans are discovered. The young couple’s marriage is begrudgingly “approved”, but only Linda’s mother and grandmother are present for the hasty ceremony, along with Taky Kimura as Lee’s best man.
Soon after the wedding, Lee brings Linda home with him to Oakland and the James household.
Lee's parents are more accepting of the union and are non-plussed about their interracial marriage – mixed bloodlines flowed freely on Grace’s side of family – and it was finally she who spoke for all, “If she is your choice, she is ours.”

Early Autumn 1964
The Shaw Bros. Studios in Hong Kong send one of their biggest stars, Diana Chang, on a three-month tour of Chinese communities in New York, Washington, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles to publicize her new film, THE AMOROUS LOTUS PAN. There are reports that in the theatres where she is booked to appear, local Triads are attempting to extort money or making demands on her. By the time she reaches California, Lee’s father has let Shaw Bros. know that his son in the U.S. and is available to escort her during the final stages of the tour, and Bruce Lee is hired as her dancing partner and bodyguard.
Lee takes advantage of the tour's publicity to have a slot made available during their stage show to promote the Jun Fan Gung-Fu Institute and give a brief demonstration once they meet up in San Francisco’s Chinatown. With both Taky Kimura and James Yimm Lee unavailable, he asks Dan Inosanto to accompany him on the trip instead. At the very same theatre where his father had performed in the year of his birth, the Mandarin Theatre - now renamed the Sung Sing Theatre – Lee is greeted by an indifferent crowd that soon turns outright hostile.
Lee takes advantage of the tour's publicity to have a slot made available during their stage show to promote the Jun Fan Gung-Fu Institute and give a brief demonstration once they meet up in San Francisco’s Chinatown. With both Taky Kimura and James Yimm Lee unavailable, he asks Dan Inosanto to accompany him on the trip instead. At the very same theatre where his father had performed in the year of his birth, the Mandarin Theatre - now renamed the Sung Sing Theatre – Lee is greeted by an indifferent crowd that soon turns outright hostile.
His unchecked criticism of even the Chinese martial arts is met with cigarette butts being thrown at him on the stage; Lee responds by making a pointed insult at the current gung-fu masters of Chinatown as “old tigers” with “no teeth”. The reception clearly unnerves him, and he uncharacteristically fumbles his demonstration, and upon leaving the stage, the promotion of his Oakland institute is interpreted as a challenge to “try out my Wing Chun”.

02 October, 1964
James Yimm Lee's wife, Katherine, passes away after a long battle with cancer - she was just forty-three years old - Linda had taken over the running of the household, and looked out for their young children since moving in and was Katherine's primary caregiver.

November 1964
Bruce Lee is visited by a contingent of young martial artists at his Oakland Jun Fan Gung-Fu Institute, claiming to represent San Francisco’s Chinatown. They have brough along a newly arrived immigrant to the U.S., Wong Jack Man, a Northern Shaolin stylist of considerable skill without much in the way of a fight pedigree, to take Lee up on his Sung Sing Theatre challenge.
Also present that evening are James Yimm Lee and Linda, then heavily pregnant.
Despite being outnumbered, Lee is not at all intimidated and his infamous temper explodes once they to establish some basic rules for the fight. He turns the tables on them and gives no quarter – as far as he is concerned it is all or nothing at this stage. They attempt to downplay the challenge as nothing more than a friendly exchange of skills rather than an actual fight once they sense Lee’s deadly earnestness. However Lee's emotions have gotten the better of him, and in his eagerness to blast Wong away decisively - just like he had with Nakachi Yoichi - the opponent before him had obviously now had a change of heart and was not willing to engage once he felt the first glancing blow from Lee on his forehead. He backpedalled furiously with the enraged Lee in pursuit, showering the moving target with a fusillade of punches, as Wong dodged and retreated from the fight. Within the small confines of the room, Lee’s opponent tripped, and he continued pummelling him until Wong submitted and was rescued by his friends - the fight had lasted somewhat less than five minutes.
Wong later recalled, “He really want to kill me.”
For Lee, it was a less than edifying victory, but what disturbed him the most was his lack of stamina – a point that James had once raised on the importance of cardiovascular conditioning – and how tired he felt towards the end of fight. The knowledge than even professional boxers rarely fought flat out for the full three minutes of a round, offered him little comfort or an excuse that justified what he judged to be a poor performance on his part.

The lesson learned was that his best was just not good enough.

sources : Bruce Lee: King Of Kung-Fu (1974 Wildwood House Ltd.) Felix Dennis, Don Atyeo | Bruce Lee Memorial (1974 Rainbow Publications Inc.) | Jun Fan Gung Fu: Origins And Evolution (2023 Independently Published) Ryan Ohl | Chinese Gung-Fu: The Philosophical Art Of Self-Defense (1963 Oriental Book Sales) Bruce Lee | Bruce Lee: Letters Of The Dragon (2016 Tuttle Publishing) Bruce Lee, John Little | Striking Distance (2016 University Of Nebraska Press) Charles Russo | A Guide To Martial Arts Training With Equipment (1980 Know How Publishing Co.) Dan Inosanto | Jeet Kune Do: The Art & Philosophy Of Bruce Lee (1994 Know Now Publishing) Dan Inosanto | The Legendary Bruce Lee (1986 Ohara Publications Inc.) Black Belt Magazine | The Making Of Enter The Dragon (1987 Unique Publications) Robert Clouse | Tao Of Jeet Kune Do (1975 Ohara Publications Inc.) Bruce Lee | Who Killed Bruce Lee (1978 H. Bunch Associates Ltd.) Editors Of Kung-Fu Monthly | Combat Magazine (Martial Art Publications) | Inside Kung-Fu Magazine (Cfw Enterprises Inc.) | Karate International (Dojo Publishing Ltd.) | Kung-Fu Monthly (H. Bunch Associates Ltd.) | Martial Arts Illustrated (Martial Arts Ltd.) | The Hong Kong Film Archive (Sai Wan Ho, Hong Kong) | Bruce Lee Filmography (HKMDB & MyDramaList) | Bloodyelbow.Com | BruceLeeWasHere.com | Bruce Lee Lives! Forum