User:TonyTheTiger/Antonio Vernon
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See Tony The Tiger (disambiguation). For the article about the cartoon mascot, see Tony The Tiger. This is a userspace page not an article in the main namespace.
| Antonio "Tony The Tiger" Vernón @ the Kukkiwon Stone | |
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Antonio Miguel Rafael Vernón, a.k.a. "Tony The Tiger" or "El Tigre" (born June 24, 1965 in New Orleans, LA) is a prominent Chicago martial artist. He is a Kukkiwon certified Tae Kwon Do Black Belt. He is known for practicing several non-projectile weapons including nunchucks, sais, bo staff, escrima, butterfly knife, short and long chains, manriki/Surujin, cane, poi balls, jo staff, sword, and knives. He has also studied Uechi Ryu Karate. He has trained with West Side Tae Kwon Do and New York City Uechi Ryu in New York City, World Martial Arts Academy in St. Louis, MO and U.S Tae Kwon Do College in Washington, DC. Tony has instructed at East Sea Martial Arts in Chicago. Tony has been seen performing formally at the Taste of Chicago and the Wilmette Parks District Independence Day celebration. You can often see Tony performing informally in the summer along the beaches of the Milwaukee-Chicago-Gary corridor on the weekend. Most summer days Tony performs in the Chicago Park District.
Antonio Vernon was raised in suburban Buffalo, NY. He attended the public schools in Amherst, NY after brief residences in Norman, OK, Fredonia, NY, and Orchard Park, NY.
Tony Vernon was a scholar as a youth. He excelled in the sciences and mathematics. As a junior and a senior he earned scholarships from the NAACP ACTSO Olympics in both Physics and Mathematics. He received admissions offers from MIT (early action), Harvard, Yale, Brown, University of Texas-Austin, and SUNY-Buffalo as well as Princeton University. Oddly, Tony matriculated to Princeton because of personal relationships with students there. He had no close friends at any of the other out of town schools. At Princeton, Tony became a standout powerlifter in the 75kg. (middleweight) and 67.5kg weight classes. He recorded personal bests of 600lbs deadlift, 310lbs. bench press, and 470lbs. squat. He was the first collegiate middleweight to deadlift 600lbs without using steroids. At the time the national collegiate record was 585lbs, but national collegiate records must be set at the national collegiate championship meet.
After spending most of his undergraduate career at Princeton, Tony graduated from SUNY-Buffalo with a B.A. in Economics. He went on to receive an M.B.A., with distinction, from the Ross School of Business (then named the Michigan Business School), and a M.A. in Statistics from Washington University. He was attempting to become the first Afro-American to obtain a Finance Ph.D. from one of the top 5 Finance Ph.D. Programs (MIT Sloan School, Stanford Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, Harvard Business School, and Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania). However, he is currently in court with the University of Chicago over a breach of contract with respect to his scholarship and related matters.[1]
Tony Vernon went on to receive an M.B.A. from the Ross School of Business and a M.A. in Statistics from Washington University. He is currently in court with the University of Chicago over a breach of contract with respect to his scholarship and related matters.[2]
In addition to being known for his non-projectile weapons exhibitions, Tony is known for his catchphrase "Have nunchucks. Will travel," which is a take off on the old gunslinger motto "Have gun. Will travel." Additionally, Tony is known for performing using the nickname "Tony The Tiger". Tony's Junior and Senior High School Mascots were the Tigers. Princeton University's mascot was the Tigers. The Tiger is an important animal to martial arts and eastern cultures. Additionally, Tony's Business school alma mater, the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI, is just down the road from the home of the most prominent Tony The Tiger, the cartoon mascot for Kellogg's Frosted Flakes in Battle Creek, MI.
Tony's father Carlos Vernón, a former world class sprinter from the City of Colón, Panama, in the Colón Province, was 1957 Athlete of the Year of the Republic of Panama. Tony's mother was born and raised in uptown New Orleans, LA.
Tony is also involved in ongoing litigation with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources regarding the use and display of martial arts devices in public places.[3] On June 8, 2006, the Illinois Appellate Court, 2nd District, reversed and remanded the case in Tony's favor. Unfortunately, the decision was non-precedential. Tony is fighting for the right to use martial arts devices in public. He currently preparing a Illinois Supreme Court Rule 383 Motion for Supervisor Orders requesting that the Supreme Court direct the Appellate Court to disambiguate the state's 2 weapons use statutes that regulate public state parks: § 720 ILCS 5/24-1, which has been extensively clarified by precedential case law, and § 20 ILCS 835/6 7 Title 17 sub (a) part 110.110.170 (or 17 IL Admin. Code 110.170 under § 20 ILCS 835/6 (7)), which has no existing precedential case law.
