Patrick Baroux

One of the faces of French Karate during the early days of Karate in France, Patrick Baroux has been forgotten by many people. His accomplishments in French Karate include being the first European Karate Champion

Patrick Francis Marcel Baroux was born on 14 January 1945 in Orleans, France. He had a younger brother Jean-Robert.

At the age of 15 Baroux began Boxing. It was several years later that he began learning Karate.

In 1962 Karate met Karate master, Tetsuji Murakami, and became interested in Karate. He soon began training at the dojo of Henri Plee. He had the opportunity to be trained by many of the excellent masters Plee invited to his dojo.

Baroux also had the opportunity to train under Shotokan master, Tsutomu Ohshima, who had been invited to France by Henri Plee and the French Federation of Judo and Karate Organisation.

On 14 December 1963, the first international Karate tournament organised in Europe took place between France, Belgium, and Great Britain. Following a selection process held in Paris, Baroux was selected alongside Maurice Szpirglas, Bernard Michel, Guy Sauvin, Jacques Bahu, Jean Louis Neyraquet, and Guy Beaumont to represent France. France finished ahead of Belgium and Great Britain.

In May 1964, Baroux competed in the 3rd French Championships. He finished in third place behind Guy Sauvin and Daniel Ney.

Baroux was promoted to 1st Dan in July 1964.

Baroux competed in the Coupe de France (French Cup) in November 1964. He reached the final where he lost to Guy Sauvin.

In 1964 Yoshinao Nanbu was invited to France by Henri Plee. Plee had seen him training while on a visit to Japan.

A Shito-Ryu practitioner, Nanbu taught at Plee’s dojo. He also started competing in tournaments to showcase the effectiveness of Shito-Ryu. This put his reputation on the line. It was rare to see Japanese instructors competing and risking their reputations as being unbeatable. He made such a good impression that he was soon made the coach of the French National Team. His foot sweep technique became a popular technique among the French team.

In the 4th French Karate Championships in 1965, Baroux reached another final, finishing in second place. Later that year he competed in the final of the Coupe de France against Yoshinao Nanbu. Nanbu defeated him using his patented foot sweep.

On 22 January 1966, France competed against Italy in Paris. Baroux was a member of the French Team that was captained by Guy Sauvin and included Bernard Michel, and Dominique Valera. The team won 7-4. Later that year he was selected to French teams competing against teams from Scotland and England.

Between 7-9 May 1966, the 1st European Karate Championships was held in Paris, France. Jacques Delacourt of the French Karate Federation invited Italy, Great Britain, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, and Spain to take part in the first European tournament.

Baroux reached the final, where he defeated teammate, Guy Sauvin, to become the first European Karate Champion. Franco Gerometta and Alain Setrouk finished in joint third. Baroux joined Sauvin, Setrouk, Jean-Pierre Lavarato, Maurice Szpirglas, and Dominique Valera to defeat Switzerland in the Team Kumite final. Italy finished in third place.

To further his Karate knowledge, along with his brother, Jean-Robert, Dominique Valera, Phillippe Ficheux, and Jean-Pierre Lavarato, he visited Japan for three months. They wanted to train at the source of Karate.

The friends bought a Citroën Traction and drove from France to Russia. However, the car broke down and they had to abandon it outside of Moscow. They proceeded to Khabarovsk, from where they travelled to Nakaoka via the Trans-Siberian Railway. They then took a two-day boat trip to Yokohama, Japan where they were joined by Alain Setrouk and Yoshinao Nanbu. They all stayed at the house of Nanbu’s grandmother.

Before travelling to Japan, the Frenchman had imagined a country full of Karate masters, with whom they could train. They were disappointed to find that Karate was a fairly new martial art, mainly practised in universities and small private dojos.

They travelled around Japan trying out different styles of Karate. They were well received by Shito-Ryu master Chojiro Tani in Kobe, and Kyokushin master, Mas Oyama, in Tokyo. However, the Frenchmen were generally disappointed by their reception at some clubs. As foreigners, some clubs refused to teach them. They eventually left Japan feeding a little disappointed.

Between 2-4 May 1967, the 2nd European Karate Championships was held in London, England. In the final, Baroux defeated Guy Desnoes to retain his title. Henri Jordan and Peter Spanton finished in joint third.

In August 1967 Taiji Kase arrived in Paris. Henri Plee had invited him to teach at his dojo. Kase became the Chief Instructor in France for the JKA. Baroux had the opportunity to train under him.

Baroux was promoted to 2nd Dan in May 1968. That year he also represented winning French teams against teams from Yugoslavia and England.

Baroux had retired from competing. However, he returned to actively competing in 1973. He won the French Championships, defeating Christian Alifax in the final

In 1974 Baroux’s book, Karate Kata’s, was published. It was co-authored with Guy Sauvin.

On 9 March 1974, Patrick Baroux died in Paris, following an accident. He was aged only 29. During his funeral, his coffin was carried by his French teammates. This was a mark of how well-respected he was in French Karate.

By his death, Baroux had been promoted to 4th Dan in Shotokan Karate.

In the short time that Baroux was alive, he had become one of the main faces of French Karate. He always practised Karate with a smile on his face. If he was still alive, there is no telling what he would have accomplished in Karate. Many of his contemporaries went on to become legends of French Karate.