Everyday People features the people who make the greater Ingleside neighborhood a special part of San Francisco.
Korean Martial Arts Center Grandmaster Merrill Jung teaches martial arts with the same passion he had on his first day.
Growing up, fitness and sports were always a strong fascination for Jung, 76, who grew up in the North Beach neighborhood. All it took was one judo class at the YMCA for him to find his passion. Soon after, he went to work for the Y, lifeguarding and cleaning locker rooms before teaching a judo class of his own at its Embarcadero location.
“Growing up, for the different teachers I had, they never gave up on anybody,” Jung said. “That’s what I learned from my traditional type of thing. Everybody comes. Everybody means something.”
