Breaking back into action

  • Published
  • By Nick DeCicco
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  At the age of 55, Gregory Trumbull is making a comeback.

The 60th Medical Group patient moving items center manager at David Grant USAF Medical Center moonlights as a breaker, a martial artist who breaks the surface of objects in a demonstration of his skills.

After a four-year layoff to focus on his family, Trumbull, a black belt master, is set to compete today and Saturday in the Golden Gate Internationals Open Martial Arts Championship in Santa Clara.

He said the hardest part of his return, for which he's trained the past year, is the physical challenge of getting back into shape.

"I used to hear this all the time - it's harder to make a comeback when you get older," Trumbull said. "I used to think it was just an excuse. You can come back physically anytime you want. But it does take longer, it's harder. Your body breaks down. Your bone structure breaks down as you get older."

Bones breaking down is a primary concern for Trumbull, whose specialty is breaking, also known as tameshiwari. In addition to breaking bricks and boards, Trumbull is known for using unusual materials, including breaking glass and slamming a 100-watt lightbulb through a cardboard box without breaking the bulb.

"He does things that you don't normally see or think of," said Mike Rose, 60th MDG patient movement items center assistant manager, who is training in ki-do karate. "It's not just bricks and boards. He breaks through glass and what have you with unusual items, water bottles, odd every day things."

In one maneuver, Trumbull falls off a folding chair and crushes multiple stacks of bricks. During a 2008 competition, Trumbull was permitted to break glass, which he said he plans to do at the Golden Gate Internationals with more panes than before. Also new to his repertoire is breaking a glass bottle by effectively karate chopping it.

"I'm always pushing myself to more difficult challenges," he said. "That's what I enjoy doing all my life."

It's been a lifelong passion for Trumbull. This year marks his 40th year in martial arts. Training began in 1973 after other children bullied him.

"I got picked on a lot," Trumbull said. "I was jumped by gangs walking back and forth from school or to work at a bowling alley. I was a scrawny guy and I got tired of it."

Inspired by San Francisco-born martial artist and feature-length filmmaker Bruce Lee, he learned a mixed martial arts form called Defense, Offense and Common Sense from grandmaster Victor Hughes in San Diego.

Fast forward 40 years and the circle is complete. Trumbull is now the master, trying to establish Millennium Street Smarts, a business with the aim of teaching a three-pronged form of self-defense that encourages basic techniques, self-defense and spirituality.

"Now I'm the teacher," he said. "It's really great, really gratifying to see kids with low self-esteem, low confidence improve their knowledge and skill and by the same token comes coordination. It's really neat to see that happen."

Trumbull aims to get the business going in the fall, but before then, he will begin breaking competitively once again, something Rose said gets people's attention.

"The crowd really gets excited," Rose said. "They're captivated by it."