During the time of Bruce Lee’s uprising, he came into contact with and befriended many people ranging from the average guy who may have been a student to the popular actors of the time. Bruce’s first student is Jessie Glover in Seattle, he trained with Lee for about 5 years, sometimes more than once a day, and is considered an authority on Lee’s training style.

When he started teaching his Jeet Kune Do martial arts style, Lee only personally certified 4 people as instructors. These 4 are; James Yimm Lee, Ted Wong, Dan Inosanto, and Taky Kimura. Dan Inosanto has trained most of the Jeet Kune Do instructors after Bruce Lee’s death.

Inosanto Certified Instructors for over 30 years, giving everyone direct lineage contact with Lee through him. Inosanto and Taky Kimura were allowed to teach only small groups of students after Lee’s death. Other Bruce Lee students were Chuck Norris, Joe Lewis, and Mike Stone, who were already martial artists.

We all know that Chuck Norris is Lee’s opponent in the Return of the Dragon movie in the famous parceum fight. Norris was already an accomplished martial artist when he met Lee, having learned Tang Soo Do in Korea while in the Air Force and competing and teaching in the US.

Actor James Coburn could be found dating Lee and was one of his students. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, a basketball star in the ABA and NBA, was a student and was in Bruce Lee’s Game of Death as the last of the characters Lee fought while climbing the pagoda. Steve McQueen took his son to Bruce to teach him martial arts. Chuck Norris had also tutored his son.