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 and was a standout collegiate powerlifter. He is a Kukkiwon certified Tae Kwon Do Black Belt. He is known for his proficiency with several non-projectile implements, that are commonly classified as weapons.
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[edit] Summer 2006
The Summer 2006 highlight video CD that will be available in deluxe (pictured left) and standard CD format has a production length of about 12.5 minutes. It will likely available commercially by May 2007. Preliminary prices are $99.99 for the limited edition deluxe, $39.99 deluxe and $19.99 standard. Preliminary autographing fees will be $15. The CD includes approximately 75 clips from Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, New York, New Jersey, and Ontario beaches and parks, including his solo debut performance on July 3, 2006. It is likely that there may be a limited edition deluxe version with a finite print run starting with 600 copies of the monochrome deluxe version. If there is sufficient demand for these, an additional 310 copies of the monochrome deluxe version will be printed. No further monochrome deluxe versions will be printed after these 910 are printed. It is possible that if the technology becomes available in the future, an additional 165 color disc printings will be made available. The promotional print runs is currently in distribution. It includes only 25 discs. The first 10 discs have variation in contrast (experimentation with disc print contrast levels), image choice (differences in actual image and in cropping) , inscription (hand numbering starts with disc 9), and video clip selection (two clips video clips differ). Friends, family and business interests have received and will be receiving discs. It is uncertain whether all 25 discs will be released, but it has been confirmed that #23 will not be distributed unless requested by the proper individual. A promotional discs has been sent to Adidas because Tony's father wore Adidas in his prime when he was Athlete of the year for the Republic of Panama and because Tony may be looking for sponsors. Tony's former classmate of sorts at the Ross School of Business, Rob Pelinka has been sent one as well. Currently, no other wikipedia bio article subjects are expected to receive promotional printings.
[edit] Autographs
Tony's celebrity signature will feature a single capital "T" for all three words in his "Tony The Tiger" autograph. His alternate celebrity signature (available upon request) will feature El Tigre signed with the l and T combined in such a way that he never picks up his pen. Prior to March 2007 Tony had signed no autographs. To date he has signed just a few with his primary signature and none with his alternate signature. At this point it is unclear if Tony will issue any permanent autographs other than on his CD productions.
[edit] Limited Edition
The current manual process being used by all members of the production company entails handling the disc approximately 7 times. Therefore, although the team will not be able to handle the discs with kid gloves, they will produce all limited edition discs using kids gloves when production commences on that set.
[edit] Academics
Antonio Vernon was raised in suburban Buffalo, NY. He attended the public schools in Amherst, NY, including Amherst Central High School, 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. You can follow the progress of this case at Tony's press release page.
[edit] Family
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.
[edit] Martial Arts
Tony's weapons proficiency includes 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 practices or performs in the Chicago Park District. 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 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. You can follow along with the case at his press release page. Note that the March 1st hearing has been moved to March 7th. Due to Vista incompatibility issues Tony has not been able to update the press release page to reflect such while on business out of state.
