History

karate historyAllegheny Shotokan Karate was established in 1969.  The club was founded by Shihan William Viola.  He chose the name “Allegheny” as a strategic marketing ploy.  In those days, the only way to find business were with a telephone book.  “A” in Allegheny not only represented the school’s first location in Allegheny County (East Allegheny High School) but put them first in the yellow pages. “Shotokan,” is the base style of Japanese Karate taught.  Over the past 50 years the school has held classes in the suburbs of Pittsburgh including Turtle Creek, North Versailles, Paintertown, White Oak, Irwin, North Irwin.  The honbu dojo is in North Huntingdon, Pennsylvania.