Stephen Oliver’s
Mile High Karate Classic
1989–1999
The history of Denver’s NASKA World Tour tournament, promoted by Grand Master Stephen Oliver.
NASKA “AAA” World Tour1989–1999MileHighKarate.com
A decade of sport karate in Denver
The Mile High Karate Classic was a national open martial arts tournament founded in 1989 by Stephen Oliver in Denver, Colorado. It held NASKA World Tour status, the highest designation in North American sport karate, every year of its run from 1989 through 1999.
The tournament drew competitors from all fifty states as well as Canada, Mexico, Guatemala and Haiti, and was recognized as one of the premier martial arts competitions of its decade.
The Classic grew out of Mile High Karate’s own tournament program. By the late 1980s the school was already running quarterly intramural tournaments for 500 to 800 of its students, a scale that rivaled many open competitions. The Classic took that event infrastructure to the national level and brought the same organizational standards to the sport karate circuit.
The first Classics were held at the DoubleTree Hotel Denver, 3203 Quebec Street. When the tournament outgrew the space, it moved downtown to the Adam’s Mark Hotel at 1550 Court Place, at the eastern end of the 16th Street Mall. The 22-story tower opened in 1960 as the Denver Hilton, the hotel component of Zeckendorf Plaza beside May D&F and its distinctive hyperbolic paraboloid entrance. It later became the Radisson, was the Adam’s Mark during the Classic years, and is today’s Sheraton Denver Downtown. One year the finals moved to the Paramount Theatre, a couple of blocks from the hotel, and the Classic’s name went up on the theatre’s marquee.
| Years | 1989–1999 |
|---|---|
| City | Denver, Colorado |
| Venues | DoubleTree Hotel Denver, 3203 Quebec Street (first years); Adam’s Mark Hotel, 1550 Court Place, downtown (after the Classic outgrew the DoubleTree); one year’s finals at the Paramount Theatre, a couple of blocks from the Adam’s Mark |
| Promoter | Grand Master Stephen Oliver, founder of Mile High Karate |
| Rating | NASKA World Tour (“AAA” circuit) every year of its run |
| Competitors from | All 50 states, Canada, Mexico, Guatemala and Haiti |
| 1989 grand champions | Charlie Lee (forms) and Steve “Nasty” Anderson (sparring) |
| Scale | 200+ divisions, 20+ rings, 150+ volunteers, 100+ Black Belt judges |
| Friday night | Seminars taught by Grand Master Jeff Smith (sparring) and World Forms Champion Charlie Lee |
| Video | 1997 eliminations and complete night finals recorded by Black & Blue Productions |
The look of the Classic
Every Classic carried the Denver skyline and the Flatirons, a Black Belt in a high kick, and the NASKA “AAA” circuit rating.
Grand Master Stephen Oliver
Stephen Oliver came to sport karate through the Jhoon Rhee system. He began training in 1969 at the Jhoon Rhee Institute’s branch in Tulsa, Oklahoma, under Bob Olinghouse, Gran Moulder and David Harrelson, all Black Belts under Grand Master Jhoon Rhee. In 1976 he trained at the Jhoon Rhee Institute headquarters in Washington, D.C., alongside Jeff Smith, Larry Carnahan, John Chung and Charlie Lee. He earned his 1st Degree Black Belt from Jhoon Rhee in August 1978, with one of the highest scores recorded on the Black Belt exam.
He returned to Washington in 1980 as a Jhoon Rhee Institute head instructor and branch manager while attending Georgetown University, where he graduated cum laude in 1982 with a degree in International Economics. On August 6, 1983, with Jhoon Rhee’s blessing, he founded Mile High Karate in Lakewood, Colorado, with $10,000. Mile High Karate reached five schools within eighteen months and six within thirty-six months, and by his 25th birthday had more than 2,500 active students.
Jhoon Rhee promoted him to 6th Degree Black Belt in 1994. He earned his Executive MBA from the University of Denver’s Daniels College of Business in 1992, and today holds the rank of 10th Degree Black Belt. Full profile →
NASKA and the World Tour
The North American Sport Karate Association (NASKA) was formally established in 1986, but its roots go back to 1977, when Karate Illustrated magazine introduced a national ratings system for tournament competitors. Competitors were ranked across twelve regions, and tournaments were rated A, B or C on level of competition, organization, hospitality and overall quality.
When Karate Illustrated ended its ratings in 1986, the promoters of the top “A” tournaments, including the AKA Grand Nationals, Battle of Atlanta, Diamond Nationals, New England Open, Ocean State Grand Nationals, U.S. Capitol Classics and U.S. Open, joined forces to keep the system alive. NASKA was born, with Larry Carnahan elected its first president. At its peak the NASKA World Tour featured as many as fifteen world-class tournaments.
Ratings drove the circuit. A tournament’s grade set how many points its winners earned, and therefore how many rated competitors it attracted. In the 1990s Larry Carnahan served as president, Mike McCoy was closely involved in competitor ratings, and Stephen Oliver held the sanctioning chair that assessed the events themselves.
The Classic filled a geographic gap. The tour was concentrated in the East, South and Midwest, and Denver gave the western United States a World Tour stop where competitors could earn top-tier points.
1989: The inaugural Classic
The first Mile High Karate Classic immediately earned NASKA World Tour designation, and its grand champions set a high standard.
Charlie Lee
A national and world forms champion who began training under Grand Master Jhoon Rhee in 1969, the same year as Stephen Oliver. Lee joined the Karate World Tour in 1983, became NASKA World Champion within three years and held the title for five consecutive years. He was a member of the 1983 and 1985 World Champion U.S. Karate Team, a NASKA board member and promoter of the Charlie Lee Classic.
Steve “Nasty” Anderson
Then the number-one-ranked point fighter in North America. The Ohio native dominated sport karate from 1980 to 1990, won ten world championship titles and was inducted into the Black Belt Hall of Fame as 1982 Competitor of the Year. From 1984 to 1985 he did not lose in semi-contact competition. He passed away in January 2020.
The early 1990s: classic NASKA point fighting
- Steve “Nasty” Anderson, first in men’s fighting in the late-1980s NASKA ratings.
- Tony Young, Terry Creamer, Jerry Fontanez, Joey Shiflett and Anthony “Mafia” Holloway, perennial top-ten fighters who remained active on the tour.
- Christine Bannon-Rodrigues of Warwick, Rhode Island, the dominant “triple threat” of the decade: NASKA World Champion, nine-time WAKO world champion, Black Belt magazine’s 1989 Female Competitor of the Year and the first woman on Team Paul Mitchell.
- Chris Casamassa, the number-one North American sport karate champion from 1989 to 1994 and 1991 NASKA Sportsman of the Year, who went on to play Scorpion in the Mortal Kombat films.
- Kevin Thompson, “The Total Package,” NASKA and PKL champion in both fighting and forms and 1990 WAKO world forms champion.
1992 and 1994: March in Denver
The surviving program covers date the 1992 Classic to March 7, 1992, and the 1994 Classic to March 12, 1994, both on the NASKA “AAA” circuit. The 1994 cover added a skier beside the Black Belt: a Colorado welcome for competitors flying in from across North America.
The mid-to-late 1990s: the extreme forms revolution
As the decade went on, musical, creative and extreme forms took over the night-show grand championships, and the Classic’s fields reflected the change.
- Mike Chaturantabut (“Mike Chat”), 1995 NASKA Overall Forms and Weapons Champion, later the Blue Ranger in Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue and co-founder of XMA.
- Jon Valera, 1996 Otomix World Forms Champion and 1997–98 ISKA World Forms and Weapons Champion, a member of Team Paul Mitchell.
- Garry Waugh, NASKA National Champion, NBL World Champion and ISKA International Champion, a bo staff and extreme forms specialist.
- Ho Sung Pak, forms star and 1991 Hall of Fame inductee.
- Hakim Alston, NASKA Overall Men’s Fighting Champion and four-time NASKA Heavyweight National Champion, later “The Machine” on WMAC Masters.
- James Webster, ranked first in NASKA and undefeated in ten consecutive national AAA tournaments.
- Ashley Lane and David Douglas, nationally active forms and weapons competitors.
- Harrison Snider, a Mile High Karate Black Belt under Stephen Oliver who competed on the NASKA circuit, became a Mile High Karate instructor, trained with Mike Chat and became a WKC world champion.
1996–1998: the independent record
- 1996National competitor Jeremy Keller’s published record lists fourth place in men’s Korean Black Belt forms at the Classic, alongside the Diamond Nationals, Compete, New England Open and U.S. Open.
- 1997Black & Blue Productions recorded “Stephen Oliver’s Mile High Classic,” with highlights of the eliminations and the complete night finals, and sold it beside its U.S. Open, New England Open, Empire State Nationals and Las Vegas USA Nationals recordings. Watch clips below.
- 1998Keller won men’s Korean forms and placed fourth in men’s middleweight sparring at the Classic.
- 1999The final Mile High Karate Classic, still rated on the NASKA World Tour.
Night finals at the Classic
Grand championship finals ran as an evening show on a raised stage, under the Classic banner and Mile High Karate’s “Student Spirit Award” banner.
1997 Mile High Karate Classic on video
Black & Blue Productions filmed the 1997 Classic, including the daytime eliminations and the complete night finals. These clips are on the Black and Blue Video YouTube channel and open on YouTube.
Fighting
Forms and weapons
Team forms and demonstrations
Video from other years has not yet been found online. If you have footage of any Classic from 1989 to 1999, please call (303) 280-1839.
Stephen Oliver’s role in NASKA
From 1989 to 1999, Stephen Oliver served on NASKA’s Board of Directors and executive committee and as its National Sanctioning Director. He rated World Tour and national tournaments and oversaw quality control of sanctioned events, evaluating their organization, level of competition, hospitality and overall quality. The position gave him influence over which tournaments received the World Tour designation.
The role connected him to the wider martial arts industry. He served on the Board of Directors of the Educational Funding Company (EFC) from its inception until fall 2001. Through EFC he helped raise more than $500,000 for Chuck Norris’s Kick Drugs Out of America program, with Mile High Karate contributing more than $50,000 directly. Chuck Norris visited the Arvada Mile High Karate school during his national tour for the film Sidekicks, and Oliver later trained with Norris at his ranch in Texas.
The end of the Classic, 1999
No announcement of the Classic’s end has been found in the public record. The tournament held NASKA World Tour status to the end and, in Oliver’s own account, was profitable at its peak. His reasons, as he later wrote them, were time, travel and opportunity cost.
The timing matches a turn in his career. In 1999 he wrote what is regarded as the first book on internet marketing for martial arts schools. In 2000 he founded the coaching organization that became Martial Arts Wealth Mastery, and in August 2007 he acquired NAPMA and became Publisher of Martial Arts Professional magazine. The Classic was the bridge between the Denver school owner and the national industry figure.
From Tulsa to the World Tour
- 1969Stephen Oliver begins training in the Jhoon Rhee system in Tulsa, Oklahoma
- 1976Trains at Jhoon Rhee Institute headquarters in Washington, D.C.
- 1978Earns his 1st Degree Black Belt from Jhoon Rhee
- 1980Returns to Washington as a Jhoon Rhee Institute head instructor and branch manager; attends Georgetown University
- 1982Graduates cum laude from Georgetown University
- Aug. 6, 1983Founds Mile High Karate in Lakewood, Colorado
- 1985Oliver begins coaching other martial arts school owners
- 1986NASKA formally established; Larry Carnahan elected president
- April 1987Joins the original Board of Directors of the Educational Funding Company (served until 2001)
- Late 1980sMile High Karate intramural tournaments reach 500–800 students a quarter
- 1989First Mile High Karate Classic; grand champions Charlie Lee (forms) and Steve “Nasty” Anderson (sparring). Oliver joins NASKA’s board as National Sanctioning Director
- 1989–1999The Classic holds NASKA World Tour status every year
- Early 1990sClassic NASKA point fighting: Anderson, Young, Creamer, Fontanez, Shiflett, Holloway, Bannon-Rodrigues, Casamassa, Thompson
- Mar. 7, 1992Mile High Karate Classic, NASKA “AAA” Circuit, Denver
- 1992Oliver earns his Executive MBA from the University of Denver
- Mar. 12, 1994Mile High Karate Classic, NASKA “AAA” Circuit, Denver
- 1994Oliver promoted to 6th Degree Black Belt by Grand Master Jhoon Rhee
- 1995“Karate Classic ’95” logo; the extreme and musical forms era arrives
- 1996Jeremy Keller places fourth in men’s Korean Black Belt forms
- 1997Black & Blue Productions records the eliminations and complete night finals
- 1998Keller wins men’s Korean forms and places fourth in middleweight sparring
- 1999Final Mile High Karate Classic; Oliver leaves NASKA leadership and publishes the first internet marketing book for martial arts schools
- 2000Oliver founds the coaching organization that becomes Martial Arts Wealth Mastery
- 2001Oliver publishes “Martial Arts Tournaments and Other Diversions From a Business Perspective”
- Aug. 2007Oliver acquires NAPMA and becomes Publisher of Martial Arts Professional magazine
Why the Classic still matters
During its run, the Mile High Karate Classic was one of the highest-rated NASKA events in the western United States and one of the top martial arts competitions in the world. It brought national and international competitors to Denver when the World Tour was concentrated elsewhere, and it showcased the sport’s evolution from classic point fighting to the extreme and musical forms that defined the late 1990s.
The Classic also launched Stephen Oliver’s national profile. The relationships and leadership experience of his NASKA decade led directly to his work as founder of Martial Arts Wealth Mastery, CEO of NAPMA and Publisher of Martial Arts Professional magazine. Mile High Karate has since produced more than 1,000 Black Belts, ages 5 to 76, and more than 120 intramural tournaments.
Sources
- Stephen Oliver, “Martial Arts Tournaments and Other Diversions From a Business Perspective” (2001)
- Martial Arts Professional: Stephen Oliver’s NASKA Decade
- NASKA: About
- Black and Blue Production: 1997 Mile High Karate Classic
- USAdojo.com: Stephen Oliver
- USAdojo.com: Charlie Lee
- Wikipedia: Steve Anderson (karate)
- Wikipedia: Christine Bannon-Rodrigues
- USAdojo.com: Mike Chaturantabut
- IMDb: Chris Casamassa
- IMDb: Hakim Alston
- Black Belt Magazine: Black Martial Artists that Influenced the World
- StephenCOliver.com: About
- Martial Arts Wealth Mastery: Who Is Stephen Oliver?
Mile High Karate today
The school that built the Classic still trains children, adults and families in Thornton, Colorado.
(303) 280-18393979 E 120th Ave, Thornton, CO 80233
© 1983–2026 Mile High Karate, LLC and Stephen Oliver – All Rights Reserved. Mile High Karate® is owned by Mile High Karate, LLC, Stephen Oliver – Founder, CEO.
Before the Classic: the Intramural Tournaments
The Mile High Karate Classic grew out of Mile High Karate’s own Intramural Tournaments, held for its students since 1985 and drawing 500 to 800 competitors a quarter by the late 1980s. The intramurals continued long after the Classic’s last year; the 125th was held on September 26, 2026. Read Mile High Karate Intramural Tournaments, 1985–Present.