For 28 editions, DAOS Magazine has documented the martial artists the mainstream overlooks — the masters who built schools, systems, and legacies in neighborhoods the history books skip. Our 25th Edition alone reads like a hall of fame. These are Black martial artists who changed the game — not with hype, but with decades on the mat.
Grandmaster Milton Quiles — 54 Years Strong
Born in 1960 in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, Milton Quiles took his first martial arts steps around 1971 — and never stopped. In 1992, a car accident left him paralyzed from the neck down, a halo drilled into his skull, doctors watching the clock. At the 26-and-a-half-hour mark, his big toe twitched — and a 54-year journey refused to end. He came all the way back. Today his school stands as the longest-running martial arts school in Hammonton, New Jersey, with 35 years of service. Read his full story: 54 Years Strong.
Kyoshi Derrick Williams — 62 Years of Budo
Derrick Williams started in February 1964, age six, at the Forest Neighborhood Center in the Bronx — no foam pads, concrete under thin mats, stances held until legs trembled. Six decades later he holds an 8th Dan in Shotokan and a 10th Dan in Jujitsu, earned under Master Osamu Ozawa, a kamikaze pilot turned karate legend in Funakoshi's lineage. His DAOS feature counts over 4,000 championship wins and five world titles at Madison Square Garden. His philosophy: “Technique without toughness is incomplete. Toughness without discipline is dangerous.” Read more: 62 Years of Budo.
Jessie Wray — King of NY
From the Castle Hill projects in the Bronx to world #1 middleweight: NASKA Middleweight Champion in '98 and '99, ISKA champion, and a two-time WAKO Team USA winning coach. When COVID shut down contact sports in 2020, Wray invented the Virtual Fight Tour — streamed fights that are still running across the US, Europe, and Mexico. He also founded the King of New York Martial Arts Championship and Next Level Martial Arts in the Bronx — after surviving a catastrophic 2003 car crash that doctors thought would end him. Read more: King of NY.
The Torres Family — A Legacy in Blood
It started in 1967, when five-year-old GJ Torres Sr. began Hei-Long Kung Fu in New York City. Through Taekwondo, Shotokan, and Ron Van Clief's Chinese Goju, he forged the Torres Hei-Long System — and named his dojos the Black Dragons. His twin sons, GJ Jr. and Ray, trained 14 years before being allowed to test for black belt — “no black belt before 18” — and today stand as 9th Dan co-leaders of the system, with the grandchildren already training. Their family also built Team Achieve, a special-needs dojo. Sixty years, three generations, one system — the cover feature of our 25th Edition. Read more: A Legacy in Blood, or get the 25th Edition ebook.
Professor Mo — Father of 52 Blocks
Mahaliel Sha Bethea Sr. took an underground street art and gave it angles, progressions, a unified curriculum, and a federation — preserving 52 Blocks without watering it down. He earned his place on this list and his own deep dive: What Is 52 Blocks? The Bronx-Born Martial Art Explained.
These stories live in the magazine. Browse the official DAOS Magazine collection — and if you know a martial artist whose story belongs here, apply to be featured.
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