HOUSTON — How does one deal with the injury bug? Strike it with a judo chop.
It’s October 1977 and KHOU 11 News is on the scene at Rice football practice as a man without a shirt presses a knife against his throat.
What’s this all about?
Rice University is getting crushed. Not just on the scoreboard -- the team’s been outscored 284-71 through its first six games -- but also by injuries to two starting quarterbacks, as well as its top two wide receivers and five linebackers.
"I've never been through anything like this is in my life," said head coach Homer Rice.
Enter martial arts expert Ted Gambordella of Louisiana. He's been traveling the region, pitching his book, titled "The End of Injury," which is about injury prevention to sports teams.
"I have about 12 different factors that teach them to prevent injuries," said Gambordella.
The factors range from how to fall properly to "the proper breathing techniques" while being tackled which, Gambordella claims, “is the first time it's ever been taught to athletes."
He adds he's hosted similar demonstrations for the University of Texas and Lousiana State University, plus the Houston Rockets.
And that knife? It’s a lesson in muscle control and mind over matter.
"And that's what I emphasize the most is how to control your mind," he says.
The players?
"I think it'll be really beneficial for us,” said one player believed to be linebacker Darrell Simmons.
They’re impressed.
"If you learn how to take the blows like he's teaching, it'll help us out,” said running back James “Bo” Broeren.
Rice later reports his team went through a whole week of practice without any injury. The Owls finished the 1977 season with a record of 1-10, however.
And whatever happened to Ted?
"This is the old knife I used to use," he said, during a Zoom meeting with KHOU 11’s Jason Bristol in December of 2022.
Gambordella was easy to find through a Google search. Now 75, he's living in the Dallas area. Still into martial arts and still writing books - more than 140 total.
Ted told Bristol his sales pitch back then was simple: Go to the coach's office with an offer: "I'll take a punch (in the stomach) from your biggest player," he recalled.
"None of them believed that they couldn't hurt me when they hit me," he said.
While his book and program had plenty of endorsements, it never sold the way he had hoped.
"I think it was a great experience for me,” Gambordella said.
A martial arts expert at a Rice football practice? It’s a strange but true Houston sports story.
Though Ted Gambordella maintains it's not strange at all.
"No, it's been proven for over 2000 years that this stuff works."