Sensei Ernie Dunkelberger
I was born June 25, 1958.
In February 1979 I began training with Renshi James Harlan. Renshi Harlan trained under Hanshi (Sensei) C.T. Patterson in Nashville, Tenn. After he earned his black belt, James Harlan relocated he and his family to Ephrata, Pa.
I first met Sensei Harlan in a machine shop. Mr. Harlan had a picture of himself in his karate uniform. I "pestered" Mr. Harlan to the point where he finally said "Ok, you have two weeks. If you can get 15 people to join you, I'll begin teaching karate classes". The rest is history.
I/we began in Mr. Harlan's laundry room in his house on Lincoln Ave in Ephrata, Pa. It didn't take long until we relocated to several different places to train. One was in Mr. Harlan's in-laws' garage, Reamstown Community Center, then to a place along Rt.272 near the current Weis Market. The Harlans bought a house in Akron where several of us helped build a dojo in his backyard.
I eventually spread my wings, with the permission of Sensei Harlan and USEWF President Sensei C.T. Patterson, I began teaching at the Denver Rec Center. I eventually relocated to the Adamstown YMCA in the mid-1980s where I had a dojo until 2022. During the time I held classes at the YMCA, I was asked if I would like to also teach at the Ephrata Rec Center due to Mr. James Harlan moving to Florida and his son, Mr. Matthew Harlan moving to Smyrna, Tenn. I could not have done the following without the wonderful help from our black belt instructors - I took over the Rec Center classes traveling back and forth between the YMCA and Ephrata Rec Center until February 2022, which then I combined the two class locations into one at our current location along Rt.272 at 1832 N. Reading Rd. Stevens, Pa. 17578. To this day, our current dojo is blessed with those same instructors who continue to teach our students.
During my 45 years of Wado Ryu karate, I've trained with several high-ranking Wado Ryu leaders such as Mr. C.T. Patterson, Grand Master Hironori Otsuka II, Sensei Kazutaka Otsuka, Sensei Suzuki, Sensei Shoji Nishimura, as well as many other high-ranking senseis from our USEWF location in Tennessee.
USEWF means United States Eastern Wado Ryu Federation. Wado Ryu means "Way of Peace or Harmony".
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