How badass is Chuck Norris? He was the first Westerner to achieve this big Tae Kwon Do accomplishment.

Most of Chuck Norris’s younger fans (and those who know him just from his movie and television career) don’t know that, from 1965 through 1974, he won hundreds of state, national and international championships.

He was voted into the Black Belt Hall of Fame in 1968 as Fighter of the Year, in 1975 as Instructor of the Year and in 1977 as Man of the Year.

In 1990 he was honored with another milestone by being the first man ever in the Western Hemisphere to be awarded an 8th degree Black Belt Grand Master recognition in the Tae Kwon Do system.

This was a first in 4,500 years of tradition, something that still humbles him to the core of his being and all of his fans.

(Source)