Al Tracy Archive • Writings • Manuals • Newsletters
Al Tracy Writings & Documents
A catalog of Al Tracy material that can be documented from surviving public sources—separating confirmed bylines, historical research, newsletters, manuals, training documents and spoken history.
Copyright & attribution policy
We do not copy entire copyrighted Al Tracy articles or manuals unless permission is established. This archive provides original summaries and links to surviving sources. Items whose exact authorship is uncertain are labeled as research, attributed material, or referenced-but-not-yet-recovered rather than being promoted to a false Al Tracy byline.
Confirmed Al Tracy byline
Was Elvis really a Black Belt? / He Dared to Promote Elvis
2001
Al Tracy's article about Hank Slomanski, Elvis Presley's original black-belt promotion, and the military-service context Al wanted preserved after 9/11. The surviving page explicitly credits Al Tracy and states that reproduction requires permission.
Open surviving source Open local Legacy copy
Al Tracy research, introduced by Pat Tracy
The History & Origins of the Kenpo Katas (AKA Sets or Forms)
2010 material
Pat Tracy introduces the material as Al Tracy's response to misinformation about the origin and order of Kenpo forms. It records Al's historical research and seminar explanations, including the Panther/Book Set and the sequence of forms introduced into Kenpo.
Open surviving source
Al Tracy organizational writing
Tracy System News Flash — Volume 11, No. 1, Summer 2002
2002
A later Advisory Council page preserves portions of Al Tracy's News Flash instructions on succession, preservation of the system, and making videotapes of self-defense techniques, katas, required basics and supporting material available.
Open surviving source
Referenced newsletters — originals not yet recovered
Tracy Newsletters, late 1970s–early 1980s
c. 1978–1982
Former students and custodians of the Tracy curriculum refer to Al Tracy newsletters from this period, including business guidance about opening schools and the importance of staying with the curriculum. Until original issues are recovered, this archive records the references rather than inventing or reconstructing their wording.
Open surviving source
Original curriculum documentation
Al Tracy Quick Reference Manual — Yellow through Fifth Black
multiple editions
Self Defense Studios identifies the Quick Reference Manual as GGM Tracy's original manual, documenting the system from Yellow Belt through Fifth Black. This site catalogs the document but does not reproduce copyrighted manual text.
Open surviving source
Curriculum / archival documentation
Kata Manual and Required Kata Documentation
multiple editions
Al Tracy emphasized preserving all aspects of the system. Current custodial material describes a Kata Manual covering required forms and additional material, alongside video documentation.
Open surviving source
Instructor material attributed to Al Tracy
Instructor Manuals / Technique Family Groupings
early 1980s
Later Kenpo researchers describe Al Tracy's early-1980s instructor manuals as a source for organizing technique families. This is cataloged as an attributed training-document series; the complete originals have not been republished here.
Open surviving source
Late curriculum work
Yang Sword Folder and New Material
2010s
Self Defense Studios records step-by-step Yang Sword material and other late additions that Al Tracy worked on with Rebecca Mornar, including material discussed publicly in 2015.
Open surviving source
System creation / forms
Tracy Long #7 and Long #8 Technique Sets
early 1980s
Independent Kenpo historical resources attribute Tracy Long #7 and Long #8 to Al Tracy as technique-based sets created during the early 1980s. They are included here as authored training material rather than prose articles.
Open surviving source
Video lecture / spoken historical record
Lecture on the History of Kenpo
archival lecture footage
A public video preserves Al Tracy explaining his perspective on Kenpo history and Ed Parker. This is an important primary spoken source even though it is not a written article.
Open surviving source
What we know about the missing body of work
A memorial published by Kido Kwan states that Al Tracy wrote many articles and that the site's author had been allowed to reprint or copy them. That tells us a larger article/newsletter corpus once existed even though public indexing does not expose every title today. This page is designed to grow as original issues or user-owned copies are recovered.
Read the Kido Kwan remembrance