Jim Patus started reading everything he could find about the martial arts in the early 1960s, devouring what little there was to be found in the South Bend, Indiana library and local bookstroes, most significantly works of Mas Oyama and Bruce Tegner. with the opening of the first dojo in South Bend, the South Bend International School of Judo under the direction of Sensei Don Wrobel, in 1963 he was one of its first students. He studied there a couple years but diversification of interests took their toll in high school and he turned to fencing (foil and epee) in college.
Jim eventually relocated to Southern Indiana. Jim's son, Jacob, expressed an interest in martial arts at an early age and Jim did an exhaustive search for a good traditional karate school in the area. Jacob and Jim both studied Shotokan Karate at Southern Indiana Karate Do for several years receiving excellent instruction of Sensei Ilpo Majuri and Sensei Danny Huguley.
Jim's irregular work schedule lead to problems attending scheduled classes on a regular basis and he began looking for ways to supplement the training at Southern Indiana Karate Do. Ed Hutchison's Distance Education Dragon Kenpo Program looked like it would be just the thing. He very quickly worked through the Yellow Belt requirements but when he looked for more, the program seemed to have disappeared. eventually he found Coach Ron Pfeiffer. Jacob and Jim have been working with Coach Pfeiffer through his distance education program since 2003.