'A sign of respect': Memorial honors El Paso police Chief Greg Allen's martial arts skills

*Editor's note: This article was updated from an earlier version to correct attribution in final two quotes.

If Greg Allen had decided to become a professional martial artist, he likely would have had as much success on that path as he did in becoming El Paso's chief of police.

Allen, who died Jan. 17, was remembered by the El Paso martial arts community with a "bowing out" ceremony at Thursday's memorial.

"In martial arts, bowing is simply a sign of respect," said local kickboxing promoter and manager Hilary Sandoval III, who featured Allen in his 2013 book, "Yes I Can Kids." "When the student bows to the teacher, the student is thanking the teacher for sharing his knowledge. When the teacher bows back to the student, the teacher is thanking the student for allowing him to share his knowledge.

"To bow him out is the ultimate sign of respect."

To the public, Allen was a deeply private person, but in El Paso's martial arts community he was widely respected for his ability and dedication. While the 71-year-old was a police officer for 45 years, he was a martial artist for 59 years, his wife Rosanne said.

"When we first married, Greg showed me this gi (karate uniform) in plastic," Rosanne said at his memorial Thursday. "He kept it in our bottom drawer. He asked if any time he didn’t make it home from work that I should make sure he is buried with this because martial arts gave him the life lessons of discipline and dedication that made him successful.”

Sensei Taichi Hayashi of Hayashi’s Martial Arts Academy in El Paso said Allen's interest in martial arts began in 1966 when he was looking at Black Belt Illustrated magazine, spotted a studio in El Paso and began training with Taichi’s father Tarow Ty Hayashi.

By 1970, Allen had a black belt in shotokan karate and also was studying judo and other martial arts, including aikido and boxing. By the 2000s, he was an instructor and taught martial arts to hundreds of students at the YMCA in Northeast El Paso, the University of Texas at El Paso and in his garage.

"He was a teacher, a friend and a brother," Taichi Hayashi said.

Kirk McCune of the Bahala Na Martial Arts Association drove from Irvine, California, to participate in the bowing out ceremony.

"It is to recognize a warrior and to show him what he taught you and to let him know that you will continue on the fight and these are the skills that you are going to use," McCune said, noting that the ceremonial sword used during the carenza, a martial arts dance in honor of a fallen warrior, was a training sword and not a real sword because of the nature of the event.

"Even though I wasn’t a student, I respected him as my senior in the art and I looked to him as being a leader of our group. I had the upmost respect for his abilities and his martial knowledge.”

Sandoval said Allen had immense potential as a martial artist.

"When I started in martial arts in 1974, he was very, very well known and respected in the martial arts community," Sandoval said. "When I started out, all I'd hear about was Greg Allen, how skillful he was. I saw him work out a few times.

"I used to tell people as a promoter and manager I was able to work with 23 world champions during my career. It takes two things to reach that level: You have to be given some God-given skills and then you have to be willing to work hard.

"I've seen fighters born with all the talent in the world who weren't willing to put in the effort. I've seen guys who had a tremendous work ethic but didn't quite have that talent. In my estimation, if Greg wanted to be a professional, he had both those things going for him. He was very talented and very respected in the martial arts community."

More:Read El Paso police Chief Greg Allen's obituary before memorial, funeral services

Instead, Allen made a career out of law enforcement, joining the El Paso Police Department in 1978 and eventually working his way up to chief in 2008.

"I asked him how much martial arts helped him in his career and he said two things: It allowed him to know how to set goals, with the ultimate goal being to earn a black belt, and two is discipline," Sandoval said. "He definitely had both of them. To get to where he did in his career he certainly had the discipline and he's a great leader for El Paso."

McCune said that Allen's legacy will be around forever.

"We were so proud of who we know as Guro Greg, but we always called him ‘Chief’ because we were so proud of him being chief of police," McCune said. Guro is the Tagalog word for teacher.

"The martial arts community has suffered a huge loss with his death, but he will live on in the many students that he created and inspired," McCune said.

Bret Bloomquist may be reached at 915-546-6359; bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on Twitter.

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This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Memorial honors El Paso police Chief Greg Allen's martial arts skills