Franco DeLorenzis: An Early Ascent
Long before his name traveled through dojos across Ontario, before the black belt came so young it felt like rumor, Franco DeLorenzis was simply a small boy standing at the threshold of the King William and Wellington Eastern Karate Club—almost eight years old, eyes wide, taking in a world he somehow already understood belonged to him.
After his beginner class with Ray Greenway ended, he wouldn’t go home. He lingered. He watched the seniors. Benny Allen would teach a kata, and Franco, still “Frankie” then, would sprint to the bathroom to rehearse each segment in the mirror. Then back again, catching the next sequence, absorbing what the adults learned in slow measures all at once.
One night Benny caught him—burst through the bathroom door to scold the tiny figure practicing with fierce precision. But instead of ending the habit, it changed everything. Benny began pulling him aside, teaching him at the speed he learned.
Yellow belt, then orange, then—unthinkably—skipping green altogether. Blue, brown. And two years later, at the improbable age of twelve, a black belt.
By fifteen he had shot upward in height, but the confidence had come first. He could handle any adult long before he looked like one.