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| Pano Perdaris. |
WSU produces artists of all stripes — sculptors, actors, poets, musicians. But Pano M. Perdaris ’75 works not in clay or paint but with his own body.
Pano Perdaris is a martial artist — and a world-class one. A sixth-degree black belt, he took home four medals, including a gold, from the 2002 World Congress of Martial Arts world competition in Isla de Margarita, Venezuela. He has also received the Presidential Sports Award for Martial Arts for eight consecutive years and in 2000 was inducted by the World Karate Union into the Martial Arts Hall of Fame.
Originally from Arkansas City, Kan., Perdaris began his “artistic” journey during his first year at WSU. His scholarship required a certain number of credit hours. To make his quota, he enrolled in a martial arts course, not taking it very seriously. But at the end of the semester, his instructor coaxed him back for another class and later introduced him to Roger Carpenter, a world-renowned artist at the Kansas Karate Institute. Perdaris studied with Carpenter throughout his college years.
But martial arts was not Perdaris’ only field of study. After graduating with a degree in respiratory therapy, he accepted a job at the Albany (N.Y.) Medical Center, eventually working in its burn and trauma unit and on its top-tier neonatal transport team.
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| BLACK BELT FAMILY |
He then worked in Albuquerque, N.M., at the Bernalillo County Medical Center, as head of its cystic fibrosis clinic. But he became disenchanted with his profession: “Not with medicine itself, but with some of the politics surrounding it.” So, on lunch break one day, he headed for the airport, interviewed for and landed a job as flight attendant with United Airlines, a job he’s had for almost 23 years.
His work — indeed, nearly every aspect of his life — is shaped by his commitment to martial arts. In 1982, he established the American Academy of the Martial Arts. Now living in Parker, Colo., he is second-in-command at Omega Martial Arts. One of his favorite aspects of the school is its tendency to produce “black belt families.” His own family is an excellent example. His children started studying around kindergarten-age, and his wife trained “behind his back” while he was serving in the skies.
All three are working on second-degree black belts. Yet, Perdaris says, “It’s not about martial arts. It’s about life in general. You find that the principles used in martial arts can be used in your marriage, your family, your work.”
The tenets written on his school’s wall include Courtesy, Perseverance, Integrity, Indomitable Spirit, Self-Control and Honesty. Those are some of the tenets Perdaris has tried to live by — with, by the way, a little Shocker pride thrown into the mix: “I’m very lucky to have attended WSU. It’s where everything really, really began.”
— Anna Perleberg
