Hyunwoo Park is the nicest guy I ever got the chance of knowing. I don't exactly know how to start his story but let me try.
He was a Taekwondo athlete, trained at the prestigious KyungHee University In Korea.
My Dad, hosted a big Taekwondo tournament here in Los Angeles. He was able to sponsor Hyunwoo and his Taekwondo Team to come to Los Angeles to participate in the tournament. $10,000 was the prize for first place which is a pretty big deal in the Taekwondo world.. it isn't a mainstream big market sport like boxing or UFC, so $10,000 was a lot at the time. Hyunwoo and his 5 Player Team won 1st.. and he had a little chit chat with his Team, and they declined the $10,000 prize. My Dad was taken back by this.. and My Dad kept trying to change his mind but Hyunwoo.. was very adamant about not accepting it. He respected my Father and he said he was thankful for the sponsorship to even come to America. He never thought he would even visit America.. ever.
Ever since that incident, we kept in touch. We invited him to America a few more times after that, and he stayed at my house, we drank together, trained together, he helped teach our students. A couple years later my Dad sent our 2 best fighters at the time to Korea to train with Hyunwoo. That's when we realized how poor he was. My students told us that Hyunwoo was dirtpoor.. his whole family lived in a small apartment. They had to share rooms, and some members of the family even slept on the floor. This guy.. who is dirtpoor, refused the money.. he is definitely one of a kind.
Anyway, years passed, he got married and just had a baby, thats when he called my Dad with the bad news that he has cancer and its very bad and he won't have long to live. Talked to him on the phone.. and I honestly didn't know what to say, just tried to make small talk with him.. I suggested, "Hey you should make a facebook so we can keep in touch!".... He actually did make a facebook that very day, sent me a friend request, his profile picture is him holding his infant son.. he died like a week after this. His facebook profile is still there.. sometimes I kind of wish he didn't make it because it makes me sad to see him holding his son.. but it's also good to be reminded of him. My Dad actually flew out there and was able to visit him on his deathbed and they shared tears together.
The good die young man. I think he was only 31 at the time?..