In August 2026, the National Association of Professional Martial Artists posthumously inducted Chuck Norris into the NAPMA Martial Arts Professional Lifetime Achievement Awards.

There are champions who win tournaments. There are instructors who build great schools. There are performers who bring the martial arts to the screen. And there are people who use the martial arts to change lives. Chuck did all four, and very few people in the history of our profession can say that.

He learned American Karate under Grand Master J Pat Burleson — himself a NAPMA Lifetime Achievement recipient — and retired a six-time undefeated Professional Middleweight World Champion. He built a chain of schools, developed his own system, and founded the United Fighting Arts Federation. Then he carried the martial arts somewhere they had never been: into the living rooms of mainstream America, through The Way of the Dragon, a run of international films, and eight seasons of Walker, Texas Ranger. Every school owner working today inherited some of the public awareness that men like Chuck spent decades building.

But the achievement we recognized above all was Kickstart Kids, the organization he founded in 1990 to put martial arts instructors inside Texas public schools and teach character as part of the school day. As of 2026 it reports roughly 8,349 students across 55 public schools, and more than 120,000 young people reached since it began.

For Grand Master Jeff Smith and me this one was personal. Chuck was not a name from the history books to us. He was our friend, and he never once forgot that underneath all of it he was a martial artist first.

His championships built his reputation. His films and his television work made him an icon. But the lives he changed made him a legend.

— Grand Master Stephen Oliver
CEO and Chairman, NAPMA · Publisher, Martial Arts Professional

Read the full induction citation  ·  All Lifetime Achievement recipients  ·  Kickstart Kids ↗