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When Aberdeen Kenpo Karate closed, there were several students of upper ranks who were not ready to conclude their journeys.
Coleman Carle and Al Carter wanted to continue their training and earn their Black Belts. Both had been between Green and Brown Belts at the closure of Aberdeen Kenpo Karate.
Ben Galeana, who had by this time earned his Third-Degree Black Belt, stepped in and stepped up to assist them in reaching this goal.
After promoting his brother Teo in 2000, the group moved to the neighboring town of Hoquiam, Washington. Coleman Carle would earn his Black Belt in 2002 and Al Carter would receive his in 2005.
Following these promotions, Shaolin Kenpo would take a short break in Washington State. From 2005-2010, the system in Washington State was essentially nonexistent.
This changed around 2010 when Adam Lin, Clay Micheau, and John Kraft began working out once a week in Olympia, Washington.
The group reconnected with the International Shaolin Kenpo Association and Great Grandmaster Ralph Castro. Trips were taken to Daly City, California for workouts with the creator of the system. Clay was officially recognized as a Shaolin Kenpo Black Belt, nearly 30 years after earning his rank from Maria Warwick.
The group continued training approximately once per week and in 2014, Ben Galeana, Bob Alexander, and Sam Kraft were added to the group. Shaolin Kenpo was seeing something of a resurgence in Washington State.
Left to right - Sam Kraft, Bob Alexander, Ben Galeana, John Kraft, Clay Micheau, and Professor Vince Ronan of Shaolin Kenpo Martial Arts. Vince and his brother Gerald assumed control of the Daly City school made famous by Great Grandmaster Ralph Castro upon his retirement. This photo was taken around 2016 after Ben, John, and Clay had received their Fourth-Degree Black Belts.
Photo courtesy Clay Micheau
Collectively the group would call themselves the Northwest Shaolin Kenpo Association. They had a notarized charter naming Clay Micheau as the President as he had significantly more training time than the others and was the chief instructor in their group.
Previous students of Pacific Shaolin Kenpo would eventually join this group as well. Dominic Keesler and Jeremiah Jones among them. Dominic would also bring his children to learn Shaolin Kenpo.
John Kraft would be offered multiple times to step in and teach the class but refused each time. Eventually, John would become upset with Clay Micheau as he was teaching sweeps...not as a part of the Shaolin Kenpo curriculum, but with the understanding that knowledge equals power.
Sam Kraft would finally earn his Shaolin Kenpo Black Belt in 2015. In 2016, Clay Micheau, John Kraft and Ben Galeana would be recognized as Fourth-Degree Black Belts within the ISKA.
2017 would see three more promotions as Bob Alexander, Jenny Kraft and Sam Kraft would all be recognized as Second-Degree Black Belts.
2018 would bring about another change in the group when John Kraft made the decision to strike out on his own again. Similar to the situation when he left Mike Skinner Sr., John didn't leave a message or an email. The class showed up to work out one day and John, Sam, and all the students who had previously trained at Pacific Shaolin Kenpo had disappeared. In fairness, they had previously been his students this time before being brought back to have Clay Micheau be their primary instructor.
...and then there were three. Bob Alexander, Ben Galeana, and Clay Micheau pose with Sifu Howard Wong and Professor Vince Ronan after the departure of Sifu John Kraft.
Photo courtesy Clay Micheau
Also in 2018, Great Grandmaster Ralph Castro's health began to fail. The one opponent none of us can defeat is Father Time. The practitioners in Washington State needed to choose whom their instructor would be moving forward.
John and Sam Kraft would choose the new head of the Association, Great Grandmaster Rob Castro. His knowledge and teaching skill within the system were unparalleled. Clay, Ben and Bob would elect to utilize the availability of Professors Gerald and Vince Ronan, Ninth-Degree and Eighth-Degree Black Belts in Shaolin Kenpo.
Additionally, John Kraft would take a trip to California to convince Great Grandmaster Ralph Castro that he, and not Clay Micheau should be the Northwest Representative for the ISKA. His logic being that he was the first of the three Fourth-Degree Black Belts to receive his Third-Degree back in 1995. This is spite of the fact that Clay Micheau had literally a decade or more of experience in Shaolin Kenpo than he did. John had now beat the system twice.
This formal changing of representatives took place without the knowledge of Clay Micheau until John Kraft informed him that "I'm the Northwest Representative of the ISKA now, you have to do what I say."
Great Grandmaster Ralph Castro would pass away early in 2019 and John Kraft would actually boast that he was one of only a few families invited to the wake at the family home following the funeral. A bizarre flex for sure.
2020 would bring us a global pandemic. Covid-19 did not slow everyone down. Clay Micheau and Bob Alexander would still make a couple trips to California to train with Great Grandmaster Rob Castro. Masks were worn during the workouts and the sweat came by the bucketful.
When asked, John and Sam Kraft said they were not training, yet suspiciously, three new names appeared under John's as individuals promoted to Black Belt by him. Later, we would find out why.
Bob Alexander reached out via Facebook Messenger to Mike Skinner Jr. in January of 2023. His message went unanswered until April of 2023.
Mike had been training in other arts for the last twenty-five years and had put Shaolin Kenpo behind him due to the situation with the Kraft family...or so he thought.
Dedication renewed and a quest to share the truth.
Photo property of SKMAO
Mike Skinner Jr. would begin training again in earnest in Shaolin Kenpo in April of 2023. In addition to bringing back muscle memory, there was a goal to right what he felt was an egregious wrong regarding rank elevations in 1995. Armed with a far different version of the truth than the ISKA was told, Mike made several attempts to rectify the situation by providing Professor Vince Ronan AND Great Grandmaster Rob Castro with information regarding the situation. The second goal was to have recognition for ALL the Black Belts who had earned the rank in Washington.
At least one of those goals has been partially realized in that all names excepting one are now on the lineage tree. A few names have been removed after investigation determined they had not earned the rank. A book was even published through Amazon that documented each of the Hidden Dragons of Shaolin Kenpo who had been buried in obscurity - some for 50 years!
Look for this book on Amazon if you would like to know more about the 46 individuals who have been promoted in Washington State in the style of Shaolin Kenpo.
Photo property of Mike Skinner Jr.
While performing research for both the book and this website, with utilization of the tree as it was listed by the International Shaolin Kenpo Association, as well as conversations with individuals who were there, it was noted that there were some discrepancies in information.
The listings for those promoted under Rick Warwick was absent, and the list for those promoted by Maria Warwick was both incomplete and incorrect. Several names were missing. Dates of promotion were wrong, and there was at least one name on Maria's list that had not received a Black Belt. Ernie Evans was gifted in the fighting arena but made it only as far as his Brown Belt.
The most glaring discrepancies however, were found under John Kraft's name. John had listed thirteen names under his own as earning the rank from him. The first of these to come to light was Ralph Delaney. John Kraft had listed him as a Black Belt when Ralph had earned his Blue Belt shortly before moving to Montana. Ralph was removed from the Black Belt listing without incident.
John Kraft had also listed Gabe Jacobus and Tom Mull as being promoted in 1998. While both were at advanced rank when they left Aberdeen Kenpo Karate in 1994 and trained for a substantive time at Pacific Shaolin Kenpo, based on the information regarding Ralph Delaney, it was necessary to look further into this.
Gabe Jacobus was the son of Sue Messenger who had operated Pacific Shaolin Kenpo as a co-owner but had departed in 1997. Sifu Sue had been the primary instructor at the school. The information that was sent was that John and Sam Kraft had reached out offering a Black Belt. Gabe stated in no uncertain terms that he would never take a Black Belt in that manner.
This is a screenshot of a text message to Mike Skinner Jr. from Sifu Sue Messenger.
Gabe was an exceptionally talented Martial Artist. He was also an individual who was known for doing the right things in the right way.
Photo courtesy Mike Skinner Jr.
Tom Mull was also a very dedicated Martial Artist back in the 1990s. He had made it to Green-Brown Belt under the tutelage of Mike Skinner Sr. before departing to Pacific Shaolin Kenpo with many members of his close-knit family.
Although we were unable to reach Tom directly, I did speak to his son. Although the information is not as conclusive, based on the fact that Tom was very much a man of Christian faith, this promotion was also unlikely.
This next section I wish to explain as delicately as possible. The three men listed are not to blame for what took place. At a time when John Kraft and Sam Kraft stated they were not even training; they were apparently teaching private lessons.
Dominic Keesler, Jeremiah Jones, and Scott Morrow had been students at Pacific Shaolin Kenpo in the mid-nineties. They had come back to train around 2017 in Olympia with Clay, John, Ben, Bob and Sam. Please remember that during this time, Clay Micheau was teaching all the classes.
When John made the decision to split schools for the second time, he took Dominic, Jeremiah and Scott with him as they had been previous students of his. At the time of their departure, Dominic and Scott held Green Belts and Jeremiah was a Purple Belt.
Imagine the surprise of Clay, Ben, and Bob when they noted that all three had been listed as Black Belts under John Kraft's name less than two years after leaving SKMAO...especially when told there was no training taking place.
In speaking with Jeremiah Jones, he was found to be a man of honesty and integrity. It was found that what the three men were given were termed "Shaolin Kenpo Loyalty Belts".
All three had been promoted directly from their previous rank to Black Belt. An unconventional method by John Kraft to pad a Black Belt list to remain relevant, but a slight to everyone who has left enough on the mat to actually earn a Black Belt.
Their Black Belt tests consisted of watching Sam Kraft perform the first five kata, being given paperwork (created by Mike Skinner Sr., Ray Warwick, and Wayne Toy), describing the techniques, and then tie on the Black Belt. Jeremiah informed me that he only had five private lessons following his departure from SKMAO.
While we accept the current rank of each of these gentlemen, and we are sorry for their being used in such a manner, the offer remains open for them to come earn their Black Belts in a more respectful fashion. One should never reach a destination without the journey.
In finding out this troubling information simply regarding the number of false promotions claimed by John Kraft, it brings many things into question.
Mike Skinner Sr. was believed to have self-promoted. He was unaware his rank was not sanctioned. Beyond this perceived mistake, his only crime was maintaining and growing the art of Shaolin Kenpo in Washington State without the direct oversight of the International Shaolin Kenpo Association.
He conducted himself with honor in all his Martial Arts interactions and was respected throughout Washington State. He is (as of 2026) officially recognized within the ISKA as a First-Degree Black Belt, despite it being 49 years since he was promoted to that rank by Maria Warwick in 1977. 30 of those years following his promotion were active.
In comparison, John Kraft has knowingly shared false information with the International Shaolin Kenpo Association regarding at least three individuals he claimed to have promoted to Black Belt, was not even suited up for the promotion of two others and also promoted three more directly from colored belt levels.
He shared with the world an incorrect version of who his instructor was and has done what he could to erase the person who trained him from history and a legacy rightly earned.
The person he fraudulently claimed was his instructor he termed a mutineer when she took his school away from him.
John Kraft is recognized in the International Shaolin Kenpo Association as a Fourth-Degree Black Belt and is currently the Northwest Representative of the ISKA. His actual floor time training is somewhere between 10-15 years.
John Kraft has maintained for over 30 years that Mike Skinner Sr. was wearing a fraudulent number of stripes on his belt while John was listing fraudulent promotions under his own name. THIS is why we asked the ISKA to revisit the situation from 1995. THIS is the discrepancy we have sought to fix. THIS is the story that has caused the splintering of Shaolin Kenpo in Washington State for more than a generation.
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