Martial Arts Hall of Fame for Horton
Fifty-seven years of tireless martial arts study has netted a Farragut man national recognition.
Stephen Horton, 71, received the U.S. Martial Arts Hall of Fame Award for Distinguished Service in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in July. He was one of more than two dozen honored from across the country by the U.S. Martial Arts Hall of Fame, an organization that has been recognizing excellence in martial arts for nearly 20 years.
While there, honorees also participated in advanced training sessions with masters in the Krav Maga techniques, he said.
Horton was nominated for the award by his current instructor, Grand Master Pete Mills, and found out he won prior to the Oklahoma City trip.
“It was unexpected, and marks a life-long journey,” Horton said. “It has been a good culmination of all the years I have studied.”
Mills also attended the event, along with several others from Knoxville, Horton said.
A Knoxville native and Bearden High School graduate, Horton currently is a sixth-degree blackbelt and has studied Isshinryu karate since 1961 under international Isshinryu pioneer and master, Harold Long.
“I got into it as a young kid,” Horton said. “I wasn’t really strong in other sports, but I liked [martial arts]. It helped to improve my balance, coordination and confidence, and it just happened to click.
“I was glad I found a niche.”
He was a quick study, and he himself taught students while attending the University of Tennessee, a move he said paid for his college education.
Horton said he has enjoyed the relationships he has formed over the years. “They have been very significant,” he said.
One of the reasons Horton said he enjoys martial arts is “being able to learn a Christian manner of self-defense.
“Learning how to defend yourself and being able to protect yourself and your family really means a lot,” he added.
“You not only learn what to do, you learn what not to do, too.”
Horton said he still studies at least once a week at Mills’ studio, which is located along Tazewell Pike in North Knoxville, noting he has been trained by Mills “to help others” in martial arts form.
Outside the studio, Horton worked in the medical field and retired from Children’s Hospital. He and his wife, Barbara, have three children and two grandchildren.
