Jeff Smith

American martial artist, born 1953

ジェフ・スミス

Born

4 March 1953, United States

Citizenship

United States

Sport

karate, taekwondo

Occupation

martial artist, karateka, taekwondo athlete, kickboxer

Jeff Smith is an American martial arts instructor, best known as the former seven-time PKA World Light Heavy Weight Karate Champion. One of his title defense matches was on the undercard for the Ali vs. Frazier "Thrilla in Manila."

Jeff Smith began his Tae Kwon Do Training in Texas in 1963 with a Jhoon Rhee Branch there. While finishing up college he was recruited by Jhoon Rhee to move to Washington, DC and help run that organization. We worked as Instructor, Branch Manager, Head Instructor, then Vice President until 2005 when he opened his own "World Champion Jeff Smith Schools."

Jeff Smith operated martial arts schools in Virginia where he taught Tae Kwon Do, in which he holds the title of grandmaster. Jeff Smith received his first black belt and all of his black belt ranks through ninth degree from Jhoon Rhee.

On April 6, 2007, Jeff Smith was inducted into the Taekwondo Hall of Fame.

On June 15, 2013, Jeff Smith was the first to be presented the Joe Lewis Eternal Warrior Award, along with Bill "Superfoot" Wallace and Chuck Norris at the Battle of Atlanta World Karate Championship.

External links

• Wikipedia
• Wikidata

Facts from Wikidata Q16931887 (CC0); quoted introduction from English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Data retrieved 2026-10-22.

Data: Wikidata (CC0 1.0); Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.