Seagal's Top 10 Students

[Seagal Fan 1989]

I did an intense research on this, then had a conversation with Harou Matsuoka a month ago...and this is my list


1)Harou Matsuoka
2)Craig Dunn
3) Shaun Ravens
4)Larry Reynosa
5) Elliott Freeman
6) Glenn Odle
7)Jorge J. Angulo
8) Luis Santos
9) Francis Takahashi
10) Josh Gold


These are the stand out students of Ten Shin Aikido...along with Debbie Gorman, Binh Dang & Mino Osaka

Many of these names have been with Seagal since the beginning.

[Seagal Fan 1989]

A popular Martial Arts magazine is trying to get an interview with everyone on the above list...so far 6 out of 10 have contributed... I won't blow the whistle... but we will see a Steven Seagal devoted issue this summer.

I hope in the meantime he gets a better movie deal in the works... so far his last hit was "Exit Wounds"..I can say this because I'm a journalist and a (moviefone) AKA...(critic)...Steven has been loved by many for years, I don't understand why he went backwards instead of forwards...only Steven can answer this in an upcoming issue dedicated to him only... Stay Tuned !

[suziwong]

Also Jaime Calderon...He was senior student of Take Sensei..

Originally Posted by Seagal Fan 1989

I did an intense research on this, then had a conversation with Harou Matsuoka a month ago...and this is my list


1)Harou Matsuoka
2)Craig Dunn
3) Shaun Ravens
4)Larry Reynosa
5) Elliott Freeman
6) Glenn Odle
7)Jorge J. Angulo
8) Luis Santos
9) Francis Takahashi
10) Josh Gold


These are the stand out students of Ten Shin Aikido...along with Debbie Gorman, Binh Dang & Mino Osaka

Many of these names have been with Seagal since the beginning.

[Seagal Fan 1989]

Jaime Calderon was a student of Larry Reynosa in the beginning and later became close with Steven Seagal.

[Falc]

What about Patrick (kept books at the W.Hollywood dojo,) and Phillip Chen (not a typical Ten-Shin stylist, but practiced there all the same)?

Any word on what Shaun-Sempai is doing, how their kid grew up?

[illusions]

Hi Falc - Do you mean Patrick Gorman? He's supposed to be back in the LA area.

Most respectfully, I think of the top 10 students as:

1) Harou Matsuoko
2) Craig Dunn
3) George Gonzales (Stevens former body double, stuntman later Layola U Sensei)
4) Shawn Ravens (both Steven's and Abe Sensei's Uke - now in NY)
5) Mino Osaka Sensei (Marobiotics Sensei also) - weapons
6) Binih Dang - does Karate - now Steven's movie producer - stuntman
7) Larry Renosa / Makoto dojo - estranged from Steven - ventura
8) Larry's student Elliot Freeman - some study with Steven in St. Louis
9) Glenn Odle
10) Jamie Calderon - Reynosa's former student - now Steven's in Chico CA

I left out others because of on-going discussions on how they obtain their ranks. I left out another because of a rebellious attitude for as we know motive and attitude are a huge part of the martials arts. Phil Chen helped to produce some of Steven's movies - location currently unknown.

Illusions

[Donald Lee Wilkey]

Isn't the bad guy in Steven's movie "Glimmer Man" (Greg Palmer-guy who gets wrist locked and tossed onto the restaurant tables) a top ten student of Steven Seagal?

[Mama San]

I don't know, Don. The only 'Palmer' that I found
was a Steven Palmer, stunt man.
On Deadly Ground - 1994 - (stunts) (Steve Palmer)
Glimmer Man - 1996 - (stunts)
Fire Down Below - 1997 - (stunts)
The Patriot - 1998 - (stunts)
God bless,
Mama san

[Donald Lee Wilkey]

Originally Posted by Mama san

I don't know, Don. The only 'Palmer' that I found
was a Steven Palmer, stunt man.
On Deadly Ground - 1994 - (stunts) (Steve Palmer)
Glimmer Man - 1996 - (stunts)
Fire Down Below - 1997 - (stunts)
The Patriot - 1998 - (stunts),
God bless,
Mama san

Heavenly Father bless your assistance Mama san, that's the Steven Palmer i was talking about, i do believe he's also the bad guy in the bar room brawl scene in "On Deadly Ground", where Forrest Taft joint locks the little guy's extended arm and tosses him into the 'pull tabs' box-office window, just before Forrest inquires of BIG BALLS oil worker, "ARE YOU A MAN? Did you use those to beat up on this little native man?"

[tatami eater]

Originally Posted by Seagal Fan 1989

I did an intense research on this, then had a conversation with Harou Matsuoka a month ago...and this is my list


1)Harou Matsuoka
2)Craig Dunn
3) Shaun Ravens
4)Larry Reynosa
5) Elliott Freeman
6) Glenn Odle
7)Jorge J. Angulo
8) Luis Santos
9) Francis Takahashi
10) Josh Gold


These are the stand out students of Ten Shin Aikido...along with Debbie Gorman, Binh Dang & Mino Osaka

Many of these names have been with Seagal since the beginning.

Francis Takahashi is a Shihan in his own right with ties to the founder I believe with a dojo in Alhambra last time I checked.Awesome instuctor!

[Glen Grey]

What an outrageous error. Do errors like this help anyone?
Francis Takahashi was most definitely not a student of Mr. Segal.
In fact Takahashi Sensei was head instructor at Chicago Aikikai in 1965 -when Mr. Segal was in Junior high school believe.
In fact, Takahashi Sensei started his relationship with O-sensei and the Ueshiba family and Hombu dojo in 1959, about the time Mr. Segal was born.

[Gaucho]

I did an intense research on this, then had a conversation with Harou Matsuoka a month ago...and this is my list

1)Harou Matsuoka
2)Craig Dunn
3) Shaun Ravens
4)Larry Reynosa
5) Elliott Freeman
6) Glenn Odle
7)Jorge J. Angulo
8) Luis Santos
9) Francis Takahashi
10) Josh Gold

These are the stand out students of Ten Shin Aikido...along with Debbie Gorman, Binh Dang & Mino Osaka

Many of these names have been with Seagal since the beginning.

This person has absolutely no clue who the top ten students of Seagal Sensei are. Claiming to have spoken to Matsuoka Sensei is useless in that he would never rank his students in this way. What likely happened is he merely agreed with the caller. I joined this site to set the record somewhat straight. Any answer is going to be political in nature as there are more who were interested in Seagal and fewer who were interested in his Aikido.

The list, in no particular order, should read like this.

• Matsuoka Haruo
• Nick Scoggins
• Japanese student who can be seen taking excellent ukemi in Osaka footage on YouTube
• Craig Dunn
• Sean Dawson
• Osaka Minoru
• Carlos Gonzalez
• Mano Mitsu
• George Gonzalez
• Patrick Gorman

There are probably a number of people who trained in Osaka who should be on this list. With the exception of Josh Gold, Shaun Ravens, Debbie Gorman, and Binh Dang from the earlier post, none of the other names from that list were even Ten Shin Dojo students and, if put on some sort of Seagal student list, would be listed below these four and many others. There were a number of people who visited Ten Shin Dojo, or were 'associated' with Ten Shin Dojo, but the new list is made up only of students who spent an extended period training directly under Seagal Sensei or Matsuoka Sensei.

By 1990, or even earlier, Seagal sensei had stopped teaching regularly. Students joining after that date, who came to Ten Shin Dojo on a weekly basis, trained with Matusoka Sensei primarily, and with Seagal Sensei during Seminars and private training sessions. Everyone who, after 1990, joined or trained or became "associated" with Ten Shin Dojo - especially the associated students - did not train on a weekly basis with Seagal Sensei no matter what anyone claims.

Beyond the Ten Shin Dojo names mentioned already, there are probably 10 or 15 others who would appear on a Ten Shin Dojo student list before any of the non-Ten Shin names from that other list at the top of this post would even appear.

As to the ranking of the students above, it is entirely subjective. Some continued to train under Matsuoka Sensei, others drifted away, some no longer train, and some moved on to other teachers. Depending on the time period, the students below #1 could end up in an entirely different order.