Aikido of San Jose at Candlestick Park

In late August of 1994 the 49ers played their last exhibition game on route to a season that would take them onto a Super Bowl victory over the San Diego Chargers. At half-time of that game Aikido of San Jose participated in a martial arts extravaganza. We occupied center stage for the opening of the demonstrations.

For me personally, it was a powerful experience. There were about 60,000 people in the stands, making it by far the largest aikido demo I have ever done. My father had died earlier in the year. As a boy I went with him to countless Giants games at Candlestick Point. We saw Willie Mays, Juan Marichal, Willie McCovey and other Giants greats in the '60's. My dad was also a passionate 49er fan, though the only games we saw in person together were at Kezar Stadium. So I felt that in some way I wanted to dedicate this all to him. It was overwhelming to run around in the same space that in years past had been occupied by Mays and Montana.

I remember that we wore tennis shoes and that there was a lot of running. I had been jogging 2 miles several times a week just to prepare for it. People present included James Friedman(of Suginami Aikikai San Francisco), Sue Ann McKean( of the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology), Harry Concepcion, and others.......

I want to thank all those who appeared with me. And a special thanks to Elise Bauer, who had never handled a camcorder before but who shot this video footage.