Any comic book fan of the 1960’s will know about “Count Dante, The Deadliest Man Alive.” His menacing grimace and “tiger stance” graced the back cover of all major comic books portraying him as another character in the comic itself.
At first glance, any serious martial artist would see this as another example of hyped up, exaggerated marketing. Or was their any substance behind the outrageous claim. Was he really deadly or just the failed martial artist/hair dresser his critics claim him to be.

In the United States during the 1960’s there were only a handful of martial artists teaching in the country. Even in Chicago there were only 13 martial arts studios, and two of them were owned by a local boy named John Timothy Keehan. He had trained as a boxer growing up and after graduating from high school he joined the Marine Corp reserves and later the Army. In the military he learned hand to hand combat techniques based off of Japanese Jujutsu. After he finished his military service he trained with Robert Trias who had opened the first ever Karate school in the United States. There Keehan learned traditional, deadly karate. He trained with soldiers, police officers, and sorted tough guys of questionable character. After Keehan received his black belt he struck out on his own, and began marketing martial arts to a wider audience.

At first Keehan started off with a sound plan to recruit more students for his schools, but things quickly got out of hand. He offered training in judo and karate and taught his students practical martial arts techniques meant for street fights instead of the rigid, traditional movements normally associated with traditional Okinawa styles of the day. You could say he was an original mixed martial artists of sorts, combining striking with grappling techniques. To take the training to the next level he even has part of his dojo included a “bar” set up so he could add even more reality to the training.

Above all, Dante was also willing to train anyone who wanted to learn regardless of race or culture, which wasn’t exactly common place in the 1960’s. Many Asian run schools would simply not teach African Americans or other ethnic groups. It was only after the other schools saw the money he was making; they changed their tune and open their doors to every one.

John Keehan began promoting himself through ads in comic books, and declared himself the Deadliest Man Alive. A potential student could order his instructional booklet World's Deadliest Fighting Secrets and receive free membership in his Black Dragon Fighting Society. While the marketing may have been over the top Keehan’s booklet contained a lot of good information about practical martial arts training, and it was combat proven. One of Keehan’s former associates said that before meeting Keehan he order the booklet, and found plenty of useful. He would even include some of Keehan’s techniques as part of the training he provided to local guerilla fighters while he served in Vietnam as a Green Beret. The same individual also found Keehan’s methods very useful in street fights while patrolling the mean streets of Chicago as a police officer.

It was a good marketing campaign, but the Irish Keehan began to believe his own marketing. He claimed he was actually Spanish nobility and his parents were forced to abandon the family’s lands and titles during the Spanish Civil War. Now, there is a Dante Avenue near where he grew up, but otherwise, according to record, his story was total lie. But that didn’t stop him; by 1967 John Keehan legally changed his name to “Count Juan Raphael Dante” The Deadliest Man Alive. Contrary to what some have said though to his closet friends and students he was still John and some even called him “Don Juan,” because of his reputation with the ladies.

Keehan been grounded in reality when it came to his martial arts, as time grew he continued to push the “marketing envelope” and make outrageous claims. He claimed in an interview that he became martial arts master by killing other masters in secret "death matches." He reportedly challenged Muhammad Ali to a fight, a challenge the boxer's camp ignored. One time in an effort to promote his tournament he would begin the ceremony by killing a bull with his bare hands, but once the tickets were sold the authorities miraculously showed up and stopped the event before anything even happened. He even claimed to have been a CIA operative, while he worked for Playboy magazine as a hairdresser, and if things weren’t strange enough he kept a pet lion. Some sources say he even trained gang members and worked with organized crime figures to build up his reputation.

 

The truth is that Keehan did do some interesting things, but stories quickly got out of hand making him either a legend or giving his critics ammunition. He did know Playboy editor Hugh Hefner because he had met him at Chicago’s Playboy Club where Keehan was a member. He did work as a hair stylist while getting his schools off the ground, but his friends say he did it primarily to meet women. Friends and close associates also say Keehan liked to fight and was a real street fighter who would think of nothing of starting a fight to test his skills. One acquaintance stated, “Keehan could throw a reverse punch that could break a rib in one shot.” He also hung around and trained many police officers in the Chicago area, but nobody can confirm or deny his connection with the CIA. What is known is that towards the end of his life Keehan was said to be hanging out with “the wrong kind of people,” according to one source. 

The Beginning of The End Of Count Dante

Things spiraled out of control though when school rivalries in the Chicago turned deadly during the city’s “dojo wars." Keehan would be charged with arson for trying to blow up a competitor’s martial arts school over dispute about tournament fees. Things continued to get worse over the next few years. In 1970 Keehan and group of his students broke down the door of the Green Dragon Society's Black Cobra Hall pretending to be police officers. A fight ensued during which one of the Green Dragons took a sword off the wall and killed Keehan’s best friend. Now while this sounds wild Keehan wasn’t the only one doing this type of thing. During the “dojo wars” it was not out of the ordinary that students of rival schools fought often. After that things went town hill for the infamous Count Dante who died from a bleeding ulcer at the age 36 a burnt out and broken man. There were rumors of drug use, but those close to him believe his friend’s death at The Black Cobra Hall was just too much for him to bear.

Keeping It Real

One of the reasons Keehan has such a bad reputation in the martial arts community is because he refused to change how he taught. Back in the 1960’s a martial arts school was as rough and tough as any boxing gym. Often time’s students went home bloody. Another difference was that few of the students were kids and most martial arts schools were patronized by people wanting to learn how to fight, and how to defend themselves. While a growing number of schools provided training in competition martial arts that weren’t useful in street fights, but were great for tournaments. As the 1970’s began to approach though things began to shift more to towards the less gritty and violent style of martial arts and more towards the kid friendly martial arts day care centers you see today.

How did martial arts go from something for only the tough and the brave to something for the athletic but unrealistic? Well, it began to change after instructors saw that you could make real money if you were softer on the students. They also expanded their market dramatically and began teaching children. At the time instructors would call their kids programs “kiddy chops,” and it was a great way to make money. If you were less hard on your students and trained them in what they wanted to know rather than what they needed to know you could make money, but people wouldn’t know how to fight.

For Keehan who was a pioneer in reality based practical martial arts and mixed martial arts training and was an advocate for bare knuckle tournaments the change was all too much. He refused to sell out and teach people sport martial arts; he prepared his students to survive the streets and he was openly critical of anyone who didn’t. This attitude created a lot of bad blood between Keehan and the martial arts community. They were more than willing to isolate and criticize him rather than take his philosophies and training on their own merits.

As martial artists we can learn from John Keehan’s tragic story and not make the same mistakes he did. He began with good intentions, realistic training, mixed martial arts philosophy, unbiased, non racists attitude, his great drive and business acumen. John Keenan had the potential to be a great martial artist of legend, but he got caught up his own marketing hype and lost touch with reality.  A martial arts instructor doesn't have to be cool calm and collective all the time and there is nothing wrong with making money, but as an instructor you should never sacrifice your integrity. In the end Count Dante’s legacy is all but forgotten and he will be a footnote in the world of martial arts and self defense. Few who knew him remember him as he really was: a solid martial artist with the right ideas who believed in what he said and his combat abilities. An eccentric, definitely, a little crazy…maybe.