For Kenneth Hill Jr., the road to success has been a difficult one. Faced with adversity and even a hereditary health issue, Hill overcame it all and was inducted into the American Martial Arts Alliance Institute Hall of Fame in June.
Hill began his martial arts career when he was just 9 years old after being inspired by Bruce Lee’s 1973 classic “Enter the Dragon.” The movie started a lifelong passion for Hill, however, at the time Hill first began, he didn’t realize just how much martial arts would come to impact his life.
“When I was 9, me and my family went to a drive-in movie theater to see ‘Enter the Dragon,’” said Hill. “As soon as I saw the movie, I was hooked. I started learning Taekwondo, a Korean martial arts style. I was fascinated with the kicks.
“Part of the reason why I wanted to learn martial arts was because I was bullied as a child,” Hill continued. “I was bullied for about 10 years of my life, but martial arts was able to teach me focus and discipline. Once I started learning it, I couldn’t see myself doing anything else. Also, I didn’t even realize the health benefits at the time.”
After initially learning Taekwondo, Hill spent the next 28 years becoming a master in it as well as two other Korean martial arts styles, including Hapkido.
While Hill has spent the vast majority of his life perfecting his craft and even becoming a competitive fighter, when Hill was 22 years old he was carried out of a match and later diagnosed with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a hereditary disease that affects the muscle tissue on various parts of the body. For Hill, it affected his legs.
“Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease is a hereditary disease,” said Hill. “No one in my family has it, but it was something that the women in my family are a carrier of. My mother was a carrier of it and it basically gave me weakness in my legs. The doctor at the time told me that I should have surgery and that I could be confined to a wheelchair.
“I’m blessed to have my parents in my life because my mom told me that anything you believe in you stand your ground,” Hill continued. “I ended up not having the surgery. I just continued on. Once the doctor understood my history, he realized it was better that I didn’t have the surgery. I fought through it and it basically self-medicated.”
Due to the weakness in Hill’s legs, he started to learn different ways of martial arts. He realized with focus and discipline that he didn’t have to be like everyone else. While he may not be able to match others physically, he proved he could be just as capable through technique.
Throughout the years, Hill has continued to learn about martial arts. He has also begun teaching at martial arts to students with special needs to show them exactly what he learned through his own adversity.
“I’ve been teaching for seven years and I love it so much,” said Hill. “I want to teach them never to give up on themselves. Some kids start by saying I can’t do it. Well I want them to know that we can start and build from there or even develop other skills that can be just as effective.”
