Grand Master Stephen Oliver, MBA, founded Mile High Karate in Lakewood, Colorado, on August 6, 1983. He began training in 1969 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, opened his first school in 1975 at age 15, earned his Black Belt from Grand Master Jhoon Rhee in 1978, and was promoted to 10th Degree Black Belt in April 2026. This page covers what he built at Mile High Karate. His complete biography and current work are at StephenCOliver.com.
Rank timeline
| Year | Rank | Promoted by |
|---|---|---|
| August 1978 | 1st Degree Black Belt | Grand Master Jhoon Rhee |
| April 1992 | 5th Degree (Fifth Dan) | Grand Master Jhoon Rhee |
| 1994 | 6th Degree | Grand Master Jhoon Rhee |
| 2001 | 7th Degree | Grand Master Jeff Smith |
| October 2006 | 8th Degree | Grand Master Jeff Smith |
| October 2016 | 9th Degree | Grand Master Jeff Smith, Bill Wallace, Pat Burleson and Joe Corley |
| April 2026 | 10th Degree | Grand Master Jeff Smith |
Grand Master Jhoon Rhee awarded him his 1st Degree Black Belt and his ranks through 6th Degree. In August 2026 he was inducted into the Official Taekwondo Hall of Fame (Lifetime Achievement).
Halls of fame and awards
- Official Taekwondo Hall of Fame — Lifetime Achievement induction, August 15, 2026.
- ASAMCO Award Bushido, Premium Gold, and ASAMCO Grand Master Diploma — both March 14, 2025, from ASAMCO Martial Arts (Italy and Brazil); the Award Bushido honors the seven virtues of Bushido.
- Joe Lewis Eternal Warrior Award — June 15, 2018, presented by PKA Warriors in concert with Joe Lewis Fighting Systems, in memory of Joe Lewis, the first PKA World Heavyweight Champion, in honor of the warrior spirit he has shown for decades.
- Masters Hall of Fame — 2014 inductee, Golden Lifetime Achievement Award, Fort Worth, Texas, June 7, 2014.
- Sport Karate Museum Dragon Image Fighting Award — July 1, 2013, for long and dedicated service to the martial arts.
- Battle of Atlanta Officials Hall of Fame — inducted as The Black Belt Leader, June 22, 2012, by Joe Corley American Karate.
- Educational Funding Company (EFC) Hall of Fame — 2000 Hall of Fame Award, presented at the EFC Convention 2000.
- U.S. Martial Arts Association Hall of Fame — 2000.
The complete list is on his achievements and awards page.
Diplomas, Rank Certificates and Honors
Images of the original documents behind the degrees, ranks and honors described on this page, in date order. Select any image to view it full size.
Before Mile High Karate: 1969–1983
- 1969 — began training in Tulsa, Oklahoma, under Bob Olinghouse and Gran Moulder, Black Belts teaching for the Jhoon Rhee Institute. He also trained in Kenpo, Goju Ryu and judo while in Tulsa.
- 1974 — began teaching.
- 1975 — opened his own school, under Jhoon Rhee, at age 15.
- 1976 — trained at the Jhoon Rhee Institute headquarters in Washington, DC, with Jeff Smith, Larry Carnahan, John Chung and other Jhoon Rhee Black Belts.
- 1978 — returned to Washington to train with Jeff Smith and tested for his Black Belt before Jhoon Rhee and the Institute’s Black Belt staff.
- 1978–1980 — University of Tulsa, as a University Scholar.
- 1980–1982 — head instructor, then branch manager, for the Jhoon Rhee Institute while studying at Georgetown University.
- 1982 — A.B. cum laude in International Economics, Georgetown University.
What he built at Mile High Karate
With Jhoon Rhee’s blessing, Oliver moved to Denver and opened the first Mile High Karate school in Lakewood on August 6, 1983, with $10,000. The school passed 150 students in its first 90 days. Mile High Karate reached five schools within 18 months and six within 36 months, and by the time Oliver was 25 it had more than 2,500 active students and over $1,700,000 in annual revenue (approximately $5,200,000 in today’s dollars). It went on to 3,500+ students and kept growing, including international franchise locations from 2000. Mile High Karate has promoted more than 1,000 Black Belts, ages 5 to 76.
In 1992 he completed an Executive MBA through the Executive Program at the Daniels College of Business, University of Denver, and later served on the university’s Entrepreneurship and Venture Management Board.
The full story is in The History of Mile High Karate.
The Mile High Karate Classic and NASKA
From 1989 to 1999 Oliver promoted the Mile High Karate Classic in Denver, which held NASKA World Tour status every year. Over the same decade he served on the North American Sport Karate Association’s Board of Directors and executive committee and as its National Sanctioning Director, responsible for rating World Tour and national tournaments.
Community work
Mile High Karate staff and students have worked in Colorado schools since 1983 through character-education programs, school carnivals, career days, fundraisers and teacher training, and were strong supporters of Chuck Norris’s Kick Drugs Out of America program and The Children’s Hospital. Chuck Norris visited the Arvada Mile High Karate school on his national tour for the film Sidekicks. In a signed letter dated November 21, 1995, Norris thanked Oliver for his effort to develop a long-lasting relationship between the Educational Funding Company and Kick Drugs Out of America. In a second letter, dated November 29, 1996, Norris thanked Oliver for raising $18,267 for Kick Drugs Out of America, and in December 1997 Norris’s T.E.A.M. News reported a further $15,000 contribution. On December 8, 1997, Norris wrote again: “I was very happy to learn that you had contributed the most this year.” See the original documents. Winning the 1997 top-fundraiser prize, which he had proposed himself, put him on the set of Walker, Texas Ranger as referee and fight choreographer: How I Ended Up on Walker, Texas Ranger.
From building schools to coaching school owners
Oliver has coached martial arts school owners since 1985, first as a founding member of the Educational Funding Company Board of Directors (formed April 1987; he served until 2001) and its lead keynote speaker. In 2000 he formally founded the coaching organization as Stephen Oliver’s Inner Circle, later rebranded Martial Arts Wealth Mastery — one continuous body of work. Today he is Founder and CEO of Mile High Karate and Martial Arts Wealth Mastery, CEO and Chairman of NAPMA (the National Association of Professional Martial Artists) and Publisher of Martial Arts Professional magazine.
Standards and responses to criticism
Some critics have called the school-business systems Grand Master Oliver teaches a blueprint for the “McDojo.” His answers, and the standards behind them, are published in full: The Mile High Karate Standard, Coaching Standards at Martial Arts Wealth Mastery, and Criticism and Responses on StephenCOliver.com.
About Grand Master Stephen Oliver
Grand Master Stephen Oliver, MBA, is a 10th Degree Black Belt and the Founder and CEO of Mile High Karate and Martial Arts Wealth Mastery, one of the martial arts industry’s leading coaching and consulting organizations for professional martial arts school owners, BJJ academies, and MMA gyms. A martial arts school owner since 1975 and business coach since 1985, Oliver has spent more than five decades building, operating, and advising successful martial arts schools. He also serves as CEO and Chairman of NAPMA (the National Association of Professional Martial Artists) and Publisher of Martial Arts Professional magazine. A Georgetown University cum laude graduate (1982), he earned his Executive MBA through the Executive Program at the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver. He was promoted to 10th Degree Black Belt in April 2026 and inducted into the Official Taekwondo Hall of Fame in August 2026. Learn more at MartialArtsWealth.com and StephenCOliver.com.