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Volume 38 Issue 5
November 7, 2000

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MCC martial arts pioneer to retire

BY JOLAYNE HANRAHAN
FOR THE MESA LEGEND
Submitted November 7, 2000

Debby Gordon began teaching at MCC in 1967 and has been a member of the staff for 33 years. In her years at MCC, some of her positions included nine years as the first department chairwoman of women’s physical education. She has also worked for five years as a writer and editor for The Global Reporter, MCC’s international newsletter.

Kim Patterson/ MESA LEGEND

Debby Gordon demonstrates one of many intricate T'ai Chi moves. T'ai Chi is a form of martial arts made popular on campuses by Gordon.

However, Gordon believes her greatest accomplishment at MCC is the creation of the Martial Arts program. And this December, the “mother of martial arts in Arizona,” as the Arizona Republic has called her, is retiring.

Gordon began teaching at MCC in 1968 as a yoga instructor. That year, she took a group of students to a camp and saw T’ai Chi being demonstrated there.

T’ai Chi intrigued her and she began incorporating the art into her own life with a teacher and mentor, Benjamin Ran Jen Lo.

In 1982, she offered her first T’ai Chi class at MCC. The class had 22 students, but the number increased each semester.

Gordon began teaching Chi Kung in 1983 and Kin Fu in 1984. By 1990, MCC’s martial arts program had become the largest of any university or college in the nation with 250 students.

On average, the martial arts programs have an enrollment of about 200 students per semester with class sizes anywhere between 15-30 students.

T’ai Chi is an ancient Chinese art form. Chi Kung is a therapeutic method of the martial art, whereas T’ai Chi and Kung Fu are methods of kickboxing.

T’ai Chi involves the mind, breath and movement to create a calm, natural balance of energy that can be used in work, recreation or self-defense. These exercises have a reputation for aiding the treatment of heart disease, high blood pressure and arthritis.

After five years of T’ai Chi experience, students incorporate a sword into their training.

Darin Henry, a chiropractor and one of Gordon’s students, has been taking T’ai Chi for 16 years and began his training at MCC.

“She is a great benefit to everyone who is lucky enough to be instructed by her,” Henry said. “She is one of the reasons I became a T’ai Chi teacher.”

Henry also believes that the positions and movements help with alignment of the spine and could alleviate back problems.

“T’ai Chi is an exercise for all, a meditation motion for most, and a finely-tuned martial art for those students who continue,” Gordon said. “Throughout the world it is used as exercise which only later manifests itself with hard work into a martial art. T’ai Chi is such a wonderful thing because it is such an individual entity. Each person can work at their own level,” Gordon said.

Gordon has taught all age levels, from 17-80, as well as several Down syndrome and quadripilegic  students, all of whom have seen improvements in their focus, concentration and circulation.

Clara Antkowiak, 80, has been taking T’ai Chi for 12 years. She has had problems with her balance and said that T’ai Chi has really helped her.

“Her one-on-one help with students is just exceptional,” Antkowiak said. “She really cares about her students.”

Gordon also has a private studio, Plum Blossom T’ai Chi, at her home, and has traveled with some of her students to T’ai Chi demonstrations and camps around the country and abroad.

With seven martial arts instructors taking over the program next semester, Gordon can be assured that the MCC martial arts program will continue to be strong and beneficial to students.

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