Bret Gordon's Lies, Defamation and Unadulterated Hypocrisy

One handed hand on belt seoi throwing drill

My name is Barron Shepherd (recent picture above), I have a 35 plus year career in judo and have trained in the martial arts for over 45 years. My first introduction to judo came at the age of 14, however I would not start formally training in judo until about 9 years later. 

I have written three books in the past two years to date, two on the subject of combat judo, both published, the third will be published in 2024. My published books have sold out and have been lauded and endorsed by former Olympic Judo coaches as well as retired US military officers and experts in their fields, such as Dr. Mike Simpson, US Army Special Forces Maj. ret. and author of the book, "Honed" and Col. George Bristol USMC retired, developer of the US Marine Corp Martial arts Program (MCMAP) as well as other notable experts in the fields of judo and combatives.

In 2020 Brett Gordon wrote a defamatory article about my martial art background. Here is the link to that article https://web.archive.org/web/20201204194651/http://www.join-usama.com/blog/pot-meet-kettle.

Gordon ignored all the then current credentials and then purposely and willfully fabricated his entire article regarding my background. This was done in an attempt to damage not only my reputation but my instructors' as well. 

Judo 

Bret Gordon skirted pertinent information of my background and intentionally presented false information in his 2020 article entitled Pot meet Kettle. He stated that an expired USJA coaching credential earned in 1998 was fake. Gordon used this then expired credential to build his bed of false information concerning my back ground.  

Bret Gordon ignored all of my then current coaching credentials and rank certificates from USA Judo (formerly USJI), one of the National Governing Bodies (organizations) for judo in the US. These credentials included coaching credentials and ranks earned, verified and recognized by USA Judo. These credentials showed a recorded and verified history of years of study in judo attaining ranks of shodan, nidan and sandan over many years. The sandan of which had been earned in 2018.

Bret Gordon then went on to write that my original judo instructor, Terry Tucker, was a fictitious non existent person and that I owned the Winter Haven Judo club and simply promoted myself using forged signatures of  the person(s) who Gordon stated were fictitious.  The following information is found easily online by simply searching Winter Haven Judo club. http://winterhavenjudoclub.blogspot.com/2008/01/newspaper-article-on-judo-club.html 

Bret Gordon ignored the Winter Haven judo club's blog where there were pictures of myself and Mr. Tucker online in a 2008 blog post. Terry Tucker was clearly identified in the 1997 news article, that was in the post and shown to be my instructor and myself as his assistant instructor (below).  Additionally, in 2020 Mr. Tucker was contacted by others and his back ground verified.   

1997 Winter Haven News Chief article

Also the Judo program was not "owned by me" as Gordon stated in his article. It was a city recreational program that was started in the early seventies by Sensei Ro who Gordon stated was also a fabricated person. It was clearly stated in the news paper clipping (above) directly under the pictures in the article that the program was offered thru the city of Winter Haven. No one at the city was contacted by Gordon and if they were Bret Gordon did not acknowledge it. Instead he chose to make up the story that I owned the judo school and promoted myself. 

Coaching and member Credentials USA Judo and USA Boxing 

Bret Gordon purposely made zero mention of  the then current USA judo coaching and rank credentials, USA Boxing coaching credentials, NASM credentials or others. Not a single place in his article did Bret Gordon acknowledge or mention any current verified credentials that I had earned in other self defense and combatives programs. Instead he chose to make it appear in his article that I had no legitimate back ground or rank in anything. 

At the time Bret Gordon wrote the defamatory and slanderous article about me he was claiming to be a 5th degree black belt in judo. A rank that seems to had magically appeared out of thin air. A rank in judo that is too high for someone as young as Bret to have attained. Oddly, since this time, his claim of what rank he is in judo has changed multiple times from 5th down to 4th and ultimately down to a 2nd degree black belt rank in judo. 

Even when corrected and presented with facts from various sources, Bret Gordon did not make proper corrections to his "hit piece". Each correction that he himself made he stopped short of admitting to being wrong or acknowledging that he was wrong regarding his article about my back ground. Example: In one of his corrections he admitted to Terry Tucker being an actual person but stopped short of admitting that Mr. Tucker was indeed my judo instructor.

USA JUDO - SANDAN - AUG. 27 2018

In another correction he tries to imply that I "obtained the rank that I previously claimed to have" implying that I just had gotten or bought my sandan rank from the USJA in 2020, one of the national governing bodies of judo in the US.....This was not the case...... the rank was not gotten or bought. My sandan rank was already validated, verified and recognized thru USA Judo in 2018, two years prior to Bret Gordon's article (circled in red above). 

USJA and USJF

Within these the USJA, USJF and USA Judo organizations there is a rank verification process. The USJA along with the USJF both verified my sandan rank thru the preceeding National Governing Body, USA Judo. Upon verification both the USJA and USJF recognized my sandan rank and the USA Judo award date of Aug 2018 (cirlced in red above).

Kenpo 

Gordon also stated in his article that another one of my instructors, Sam Lonewolf, claimed several tenth degree black belt ranks. Sam Lonewolf made no such claims to several tenth degree black belts. Nowhere is this statement found online...except in Brett Gordon's article. Bret Gordon himself in his article admitted that he could not find much online about Sam Lonewolf. I believe this is why Bret then decided to make up a story and state that Sam had multiple tenth degree black belts. In fact, Sam Lonewolf was only an 8th degree black belt and publicly only claimed as such, even in his own "First Nations" system, he did not claim to be a grand master or claim to have multiple tenth degree black belts. 

Bret Gordon also stated that Sam Lonewolf was never a black belt under the Tracey Kenpo system. Shortly after Bret Gordon's article, links to sites proving Sam was indeed a senior black belt in the Tracy system were provided. One link showed a date of promotion along with the certificate number of Lonewolf's promotion certificate indicating he was promoted by Mr. Tracey himself. Lonewolf's name later disappears from the family Tracy tree around 2012 or 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20040620102236/http://www.tracyskarate.com/Tracytree/Rokudan.htm 

3rd from bottom - Sam Lonewolf 

Gordon, who states that he is a "good  and respectable journalist", has been presented with all such information proving martial art legitimacy but has made no appropriate corrections to his article. 

Bret Gordon was also contacted by the Lonewolf family regarding the falsehoods in his article. Gordon has made no actual corrections, not one regarding the article. Gordon refuses to post anything that proves my back ground and seems content to leave his lies up for his readers to see.  

To further prove Bret Gordon's only purpose for this article was to defame me and my instructors, he stated in his article that someone by the name of Gary Lee was contacted.  Bret Gordon wrote in the 2020 article that Gary Lee, had "inherited Sam Lonewolf's system and stated that there was no record of me ever training with Sam Lonewolf". He apparently did not actually verify this information. Gary Lee however sometime this year contacted Bret via email and let Bret know that he, Gary Lee did not actually inherit Sam Lonewolf's system. 

It was discovered, through the Lonewolf family, that Gary Lee in fact was not knowledgeable of Sam Lonewolf's system and had never actually trained with Lonewolf. Bret Gordon was made aware of this as well. In addition to this, Gary Lee also sent a statement via email to the Lonewolf family apologizing for his false claims. He also apologized mentioning me by name specifically for his statement that "there was no record of me training with Sam Lonewolf". https://lonewolfs7th.blogspot.com/2022/08/sam-lonewolf-setting-record-straight.html  

Forwarded email of apology from Gary Lee 

Bret seems to have made a current correction pertaining to being lied to by Gary Lee but again stopped short of recognizing it as proof of my actual training under Sam Lonewolf, nor did he remove any original statements in the article. 

I think it is pertinent to note that Gordon didn't make a single change when contacted by the Lonewolf family regarding the lies in the article. He only made changes when Gary Lee requested that Gordon remove the statement. Gordon didn't remove the statement from the article he just added a notation at bottom of article. To this day a proper retraction hasn't been posted online by Gordon anywhere. 

Bret Gordon also stated in his article that I made up First Nations Kenpo. The Lonewolf family has also stated that First Nations was what Sam Lonewolf called his system and that I had  Sam's permission to use First Nations. The Lonewolf family has also vouched for me and my long standing with Sam Lonewolf. The Lonewolf family has made all this information available publicly online for months. https://lonewolfs7th.blogspot.com/2022/09/setting-record-straight-mr-bret-gordon.html 

In addition, I have multiple statements from not only the Lonewolf family but Sam Lonewolf's longtime friends, colleagues and those who trained with Sam, as well as Sam himself that verify my background and training history with him. 

Bret Gordon was not interested in clarifying anything that remotely pointed toward my legitimacy or expertise and continued to BLATANTLY LIE!

Bret Gordon then attacked another aspect of my Kenpo training claiming it was also non existent. I had been training for sometime under Rick Brumby, of Premier Kenpo in St. Cloud Florida. At the time Mr. Brumby operated under Paul Mills' American Kenpo Karate International (AKKI), The AKKI was/is the best Kenpo organization in the country by far. I took instruction from Mr. Brumby personally, Mr. Brumby was the best of Paul Mills' instructors at the time, this is why I sought him out to elevate my skill in kenpo. This statement was also made available and validated publicly by other parties, however Gordon made no attempt to make any correction. https://greysmithinvestigations.blogspot.com/2020/07/the-log-in-your-eye-by-gerald-greysmith.html

Gordon even attacked a personal relationship that I had with Sensei Ronald Duncan and his son Sensei Gregory Duncan. He attempted to imply that I had no dealing with the Duncan family. I believe he knew this was legitimate as well as I had written a lengthy memorial about Sensei Duncan for the family shortly after he passed away. This memorial and detailed biography is online on Gregory Duncan's website Duncan Martial arts and can easily be found in a web search. Bret Gordon had no intention of mentioning anything in his articles that would remotely point at anything that was actually truthful about my background. https://duncanmartialarts.com/2013/12/26/koga-magazine-publication-biographic-tribute-to-osensei-ronald-duncan/       

Bret Gordon also in his article stated that he did not know me or know who I was. Gordon did indeed know who I was and what I was teaching. Three years prior to writing his article in 2020, Gordon sent a private message to me on Facebook in 2017. 

2017 FaceBook message from Bret Gordon

He asked me if I could write articles specifically for his blog to share my knowledge and expertise. I believe this further shows and validates that he was well aware of my credentials and intentionally skirted them in his 2020 article and kept continuously lying to defame and slander me. The sole purpose of his article was to paint me  and anyone who I trained under as frauds and put my reputation under scrutiny regardless of  my verifiable my back ground or my certifications and licensed credentials. 

Even when it came to Bret making his so called later corrections and edits at the bottom of his article in 2020,https://web.archive.org/web/20201204194651/http://www.join-usama.com/blog/pot-meet-kettle Gordon purposely ignored multiple USA judo credentials and other credentials from legitimate and prestigious organizations and national governing bodies.  In all his so called edits Gordon stopped short of admitting that and my instructors were indeed legitimate.

Gordon actually believes that since the old article is no longer up online then that means he never wrote it or said it.....BUT HE DID. 

In 2023 Gordon then writes another article, a supposed part two of his original defamatory article from 2020,  https://bretgordon.weebly.com/blog/pot-meet-kettle-barron-shepherd-part-2#/, Gordon INTENTIONALLY leaves out pertinent information that point directly to the extent of his lies. In the original article Gordon defamed me and ALL my instructors. In his 2023 article he lied again to down play and diminish what he actually wrote in his 2020 article. 

Gordon actually believes that since the old article is no longer up online then that means he never wrote it or said it https://web.archive.org/web/20201204194651/http://www.join-usama.com/blog/pot-meet-kettle BUT HE DID. 

Firstly Bret makes a statement in his 2023 article regarding my sandan rank in judo. https://bretgordon.weebly.com/blog/pot-meet-kettle-barron-shepherd-part-2#/ He leaves out that he claimed in the 2020 article that ALL my ranks were fake. He wrote that I had made up my entire history along with fake instructors. In the 2023 He again purposely leaves out that he INTENTIONALLY ignored USA JUDO credentials, that were dated from the years 2015 -2018...this included my sandan.  

Regarding my judo ranks Gordon claims that there are gaping holes in my background. 

My formal training in judo to 1^st degree black belt took 7 years. My instructor Terry Tucker only tested once a year.  This is 2 to 3 times longer than what is required today in all the Judo orgs.

I was a first degree black belt for 12 years before I was  promoted to 2^nd degree black belt. Time in grade for 1^st to 2nd is 3 years but I had 12 years Time in Grade (TIG) as a 1^st degree black belt. This is 4 times more than what was required by ALL the Judo orgs. My total time in judo from white belt to being promoted to 2^nd degree black belt was 19 years.

I was a 2nd degree black belt for 8 years. Time in grade for a 2^nd degree black belt to be promoted to 3^rd degree black belt is 4 years. I had 8 years time in grade, twice the amount required for a 3^rd degree black belt by all judo orgs. My total total time from white to 3rd degree black was 27 years at this point. 

I was a 3rd degree black belt for 4 years before being promoted to 4th degree Black Belt. Time in grade for a 3rd degree black belt to be promoted to 4th degree is 4 years. I had 4 years Time In grade.

At this time Steve Scott, H.G. Robby Robinson and Patrick Burris recognized that the Judo organization's had ALL grossly  IGNORED and OVERLOOKED a lot of my years in judo. It takes approximately 20 years of being active in judo to go from shodan to godan (5th degree BB). I had TWENTY TWO  years from 1st degree black belt to the time I got promoted to 3rd degree (Sandan). When I got my 4th I had TWENTY SIX years. This isn't counting the 7 years I put in from white to 1st black. 

There were more than enough years for 5th degree black belt (godan) and currently for a sixth degree (rokudan), a rank though I probably won't see for a few more years yet. My ranks were all earned and fought for through diligent study and training...not one was given. In addition I can certainly back up these years on the mats.

Gordon knew the extent of my background, the years I had in formal training and in my black belt ranks attained in judo, all my dated rank certs were online for all to see. Gordon ignored them then purposefully and maliciously and repeatedly lied about it...all of it.....MULITPLE TIMES!!! 

In June of this year  AFTER Gordon spent the past 4 years calling me and my instructors fakes, frauds and non existent people. Gordon emailed one of MY judo instructors asking my instructor to give him a 2nd degree black belt in judo.  

My instructor isn't a member of USA Judo. So why is Gordon even asking him to promote him to nidan through USA Judo? My instructor cant, he isn't a member or a rank examiner of that organization.  

Gordon asked for a promotion based on his USTKJ certification. That isn't how one attains rank in judo. Gordon found out that my instructor doesn't give rank away and he was politely turned down. 

Why is he asking to be promoted by one of my instructors all of a sudden? He spent years defaming me and them. It is my opinion Gordon wanted to be able to tell people that he and I had the same instructor. Why? Gordon knew I had a verifiable back ground. He knew my instructors were legitimate and he wanted to sponge off that. 

Regardless of motives, Gordon being stupid enough to email my instructor asking for a promotion proves that Gordon knew I was legitimate when he wrote his articles. It proves that he did indeed knowingly and purposely lie about everything pertaining to my back ground.