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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| USA JUDO - SANDAN - AUG. 27 2018 |
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| USJA and USJF |
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.jpg) |
| 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
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| Forwarded email of apology from Gary Lee |
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.
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| 2017 FaceBook message from Bret Gordon |
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. 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.
Regarding my 4th and 5th dan ranks he fails to mention my verifiable time in judo. He neglects to mention that I have been doing judo since before Gordon was even born and that my 35 plus years in judo are ALL verifiable. I got my green belt and was a member of the USJI which is now USA Judo, the last one I competed in was a USJI now USJA sanctioned tournaments as a black belt in my mid 30s before Gordon was even born. The legitimate judoka who I EARNED my rank from I have known longer than Gordon has been alive. This didn't stop him from calling them frauds. Also according to his 2020 article none of my USA JUDO credentials, that he INTENTIONALLY ignored, pointed to my legitimacy.
The Depth of Bret Gordon's Hypocrisy
Last year Gordon was GIVEN a Shodan rank in Judo by none other than USA JUDO. He NOW claims that the USA JUDO credentials are undeniable proof of HIS legitimacy. This is the same Judo organization, whose credentials that he refused to acknowledge as proof of mine. Hypocrisy and a glaring double standard.
Before Bret continuously wrote on his old USAMA blog that rank certificates don't matter, that the only test of real skill is on the mats. This coming from a guy who cant even defend any of his ranks on the mats and is now waving a USA JUDO certificate around going this is the one thing that makes him legit.
However this was not the extent of Gordon's glaring double standards and hypocrisy.
Gordon spent years painting me and my instructors as fakes, frauds, and blatantly admonished ALL of them and ALL the judo orgs for promoting me in judo. A couple of months ago Gordon decides to email one of MY judo instructors. Yep, one of the very ones who he admonished for promoting me! He begged my instructor to GIVE him a Nidan in JUDO! He was politely turned down. He quickly found out that my instructors don't just GIVE someone a rank in judo. My instructor sent Gordon on his way. Gordon was told to go back to those who had given him rank previously, instead of going BEHIND THEIR BACKS and asking for rank from others. My instructor even told Bret that he (my instructor) would not contact the ones that Bret had gotten his ranks from.
Why would Gordon even go to ANY of my instructors in the first place? Gordon not only attempted to smear my name, but theirs as well, simply because they were my instructors.
Gordon has never APOLOGIZED to me or any one of them! Nor has he so much as published a single PROPER retraction of ANY of his defamatory articles. He hasn't acknowledged, not one time, that my entire background and my instructors is indeed VERIFIABLE. Gordon emailing my instructor asking for a promotion proves that he did indeed know that I was legitimate but he chose to lie and defame me anyway.
Gordon has claimed multiple Judo ranks over the past 4 years, from 5th dan down to 1st. He retracted his 5th dan claim in 2020 by saying it was a "typo". If any of his ranks were indeed garnered legitimately there would be no need to ask for rank from strangers.
Gordon cant fight his way out of a wet paper sack. He cant even defend any of his rank claims (whatever rank he is claiming this week) on the mats. However, his blatant lies, defamation and hypocrisy obviously know no bounds.
