Michael D. Echanis Honored by Chuck Norris
From left to right: President Ken Gallagher, UFAF, Mr. Dan Branson (Security Professional), Mr. Cam Echanis, Ms. Liz Echanis, Grandmaster Rick Preito (UFAF), Master Greg Walker (Farang Mu Sul), Mr. Randy Ford (Wounded Warrior, Afghanistan). Not pictured is Mr. John Echanis (Cousin). (Credit: Author Collection)
Wounded Warrior and legendary martial artist Mike Echanis and Chuck Norris, 1977, Virginia Beach, Virginia. Mike taught a Black Belt only class at the Hilltop Karate Studio when he wasn't training selected Navy SEALs from SEAL Team TWO in close quarters fighting and special weapons and tactics at Camp A.P. Hill in Virginia. He was to join the Norris Brothers in Los Angeles and become part of their film empire when he was killed along with former "Green Beret" and CIA operative, Chuck Sanders. (Credit: Author Collection)
Master Echanis was posthumously ranked by the Norris Brothers and Grandmasters Prieto and Gallagher as a 5th Degree Black Belt for his contributions to the Norris System of self-defense and street combatives. (Credit: Author Collection)
And so says the Chairman of the Board, Mr. Chuck Norris. (Credit: Author Collection)
By Greg Walker
On July 8, 2023, at the International Training Convention and World Championships in Las Vegas, Nevada, “American Warrior” Michael D. Echanis was posthumously ranked by Chuck and Aaron Norris with a 5th Degree Black Belt in the Norris System of self-defense.
Grand Master Rick Prieto, who likewise knew and trained with Echanis in 1977 at the Norris Hilltop Studio in Virginia Beach, Virginia, offered this to the 500 plus attendees at the evening banquet.
“Few know Mike Echanis became a part of the Norris karate family in 1977. Mike introduced Chuck, Aaron, and myself to self-defense and street combatives that worked. Until then we’ been teaching Tang Soo Do karate and point fighting. Mike’s input and instruction became the foundation for what we teach today in the UAFA curriculum. But most of all, Mike was family, and this honor is long overdue.”
Liz Echanis, Mike’s sister, and Cam Echanis, his brother, accepted the honor during the banquet. “We now have our brother back,” Liz told me afterwards.
Echanis was inducted into the Black Belt Magazine Hall of Fame in 2014, the Special Forces Association in 2017, and now the UFAF in 2023. In 1978, Echanis was promoted posthumously by Hwa Rang Do Grand Master Joo Bang Lee during a traditional mourning ceremony in Downing, California, to Black Sash, 4th Degree. Mike was killed on September 8, 1978, in Nicaragua while serving as a CIA operative in the fight against Communism in that country.
This is the first and only time since the UFAF, established in 1979, has extended a posthumous ranking as authorized by the Norris Brothers, Grand Master Prieto, and Grandmaster Gallagher.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR — An author and Special Forces historian, Greg Walker served with the 10th, 7th, and 19th Special Forces Groups (ABN). He retired in 2005. He is a Life member of the Special Operations and Special Forces Associations.
Today, Mr. Walker lives and writes from his home in Sisters, Oregon, along with his service pup, Tommy.
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