After 31 years, teaching martial arts still hobby for Tarpein

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By Doug Green | Tuesday, October 14, 2008 6:33 PM CDT | () comments

Do something you love, and you never will work a day in your life. Nick Tarpein does what he loves. And at 55, he’s been doing it a long time. Tarpein began martial arts training in 1972 at the age of 19. After six months, he began fighting. Five years later, he opened his own gym.

The gym, located in north central Davenport, remains open today with Tarpein still teaching almost every class himself.

But his love for martial arts forced him to make a difficult career choice early in his career.

“I was going to Palmer Junior College and then went on to Palmer to be a chiropractor,” Tarpein said. “And I just loved the martial arts so much, and I knew that I was going to have to move from this area because it’s so saturated here with chiropractors. I wanted to make a living here.

“I knew I was going to have to move away and I had my school going. And I just thought, ‘I love the martial arts.’ It’s been such a hobby and it’s been so good to me I just felt like I couldn’t abandon that. My heart really wasn’t in chiropractics.”

He still received a lucrative offer to continue his chiropractic career.

“My buddy offered me a great job as a chiropractor down in Peoria,” Tarpein said. “He’s a multi-millionaire. And I had to make a choice, do I want to be a multi-millionaire or do I want to do something I really love? To me, I want to do something I really, really love. This is like a hobby. Can you imagine getting up and doing a hobby? Something you really, really enjoy doing? Now, for me, this is not like work. They say, ‘You work a lot.’ I say, ‘I love doing this.’ On my days off, I’ll come here.”

Tarpein can be found training or teaching at his school six days a week. And it’s the growth of his students that keep him motivated.

“There are people who come in here and maybe have the desire to do it but really no ability,” he said. “And then you see them transform, and they just start growing. Not only in the sport, but I think as an individual. Their confidence gets so much better.”

Tarpein teaches the skills to his students, but sometimes they are not the only recipients of the benefits. Tarpein told the story of Brett, a former student he ran into one night at a pub. Brett wanted to thank Tarpein for what he had learned.

“He said, ‘You helped me so much. I was able to teach the Navy Seals. I taught a lot of the martial arts you showed me.’ And his dad saw me before this, and he just started crying. His dad said, ‘You gave my son so much confidence.’ So I guess the reward is when people come back and say, ‘You were a big influence in my life. This is part of my accomplishment, and I owe it to what you taught.’ I mean, that’s a reward. You can’t put a price tag on that.”

Diverse offerings

Tarpein started his school in 1977. He has kept it viable by adding new disciplines through the years.

He started with karate but then went to Thailand to learn Thai kick-boxing. When Ultimate Fighting and mixed martial arts became popular, he added that to his repertoire, studying with Hoist Grayson in California. He later added Tae-Bo and signed up 60 students for that in one month.

Tarpein is the primary instructor for all classes to ensure students get a consistent message.

“It’s very, very, very seldom that you get the owner actually teaching,” he said. “Again, this is my hobby. I enjoy teaching. I know exactly what’s being taught. I oversee every class.”

Mixed martial arts (or MMA) is the new hot sport being taught at Tarpein’s gym.

“We got MMA going from this school,’’ Tarpein said. “I trained in Thailand in the Muay Thai system and I brought that back to Iowa. No one else in Iowa was doing it. I brought back Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Pat (Miletich) was my first student. We had the first MMA team from this school.”

Tarpein thinks the sport is just getting started.

“It’s just growing and growing,’’ he said. “I think it’s going to get continually bigger and bigger and bigger. And at the same, time they’re producing better quality martial artists because you have to train not in just jiu-jitsu, not just in kickboxing, not just in karate, not just in wrestling, but you have to combine everything.’’

Prized protégé

Tarpein’s latest prize student is Rusty Ward, who arrived at Tarpein’s gym at the age of 5. Now 14, he is close to earning his fifth degree black belt.

“That would be a master. That was his goal when he started,’’ said Jerry Ward, Rusty’s father. “It’s been one of the best things that’s happened to him.’’

Ward has seen himself grow, and he credits that to Tarpein.

“I couldn’t ask for a better instructor,” he said. “I’ve learned pretty much everything except maybe one or two more forms in the whole system. He gave me a lot discipline from when I started. I’ve been here for 10 years.”

Ward struggled to learn his forms early but eventually the light bulb went on. It’s now on so brightly that Ward helps teach classes four days a week. Tarpein has entrusted Ward to remember moves and forms that he might teach only occasionally.

“He’s my encyclopedia,” Tarpein said.

Competitive comeback?

In addition to teaching a generation of Quad-Citians how to fight and defend themselves, Tarpein has done his share of competing in various martial arts, too.

He formerly held national championships in karate in fighting and forms and won the International Kickboxing Federation cruiserweight championship in 2002.

He already was the oldest competitor at that time. He last competed in 2005 at a Keokuk (Iowa) kickboxing tournament in which he won two first places and received a samurai sword for his accomplishments.

But he said the siren song of competition still calls his name.

“It’s always there. It’s always calling you. ‘C’mon back. C’mon try it again,’’’ he said. “If there was an age bracket thing I really would do it. I figured, you got two first places. That’s like hitting a grand slam. A grand slam, that’s a good time to retire.”

He still keeps a heavy workout schedule. It’s not unusual for him to train six days a week with his fighters.

It’s clear that his age doesn’t hold him back, although it would be a consideration in whether or not he makes a comeback.

“I could be motivated,” he said. “If someone would say, ‘Hey, we’ll give you a fight.’ To me, it would be more about the recognition. People would look and say, ‘This guy’s 55 years old and look what he’s doing.’

“And the money would have to be right. For me, when you train at 55, it’s not like you’re 25 anymore. The joints kind of ache a little bit, you get little tears in your muscles. It’s not as easy as it was 20, 30 years ago. But if it was right monetarily, with the right opponent, yeah, I’d do it.”

Miletich part of Tarpein training

Nick Tarpein’s most famous student in 31 years of teaching martial arts to the Quad-Cities was Pat Miletich, who has become an international star both as a competitor and coach in the sport of mixed martial arts.

“From the get-go, I thought Pat had potential,’’ Tarpein said. “The other students really didn’t think so. This guy was really strong. He was a fast learner.”

Miletich quit once during his early years because he couldn’t afford to attend the school. Tarpein was more interested in teaching him than taking his money.

“I said, ‘You get back down here. I’ll give you a job teaching.’”

Miletich grew as an instructor, eventually running Tarpein’s Bettendorf location.

He lost a few early kickboxing matches, but then blossomed.

“We set him up with some MMA matches,’’ Tarpein said. “He started winning a lot of those. He was 19-0 when he was here. At one time, he was as close as my brother and I. We were real close.’’

Today, Tarpein’s face shows the pride of a teacher whose student has reached his potential when he speaks about Miletich.

“I’m glad he’s had success,’’ he said. “He and I don’t really keep in contact that much. When we see each other, he’ll shake my hand in passing. We don’t sit down and talk like we used to.’’

Doug Green can be contacted at (563) 383-2285 or dgreen@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.