Tom Callos is a 7th degree black belt under Ernie Reyes, Sr. --and a 1st dan in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu under Andre Galvao. His first lessons were in judo, in 1969. He earned his 1st degree black belt in Taekwondo in 1979 --and his Black Belt in Jiu-Jitsu 49 years after he first stepped on the mats.

Tom owned 2 schools located in Reno, Nevada that at their peak taught over 800 students each week. He was, for a time, in a partnership with his teacher in 11 schools in California’s Bay Area and owned a school located in Hilo, Hawaii which is now owned and operated by his former student, BJ Penn.

For several decades before his retirement in 2019, Tom was in service to the international martial arts community as a business consultant and curriculum designer. The programs he designed focused on altruism and his “Out of the dojo and into the world” approach to marketing, teaching, and rank testing.

He designed programs such as The Ultimate Black Belt Test, The 6-Tasks Character Development Program, The Random Acts of Kindness Program --and for 15 years ran an annual “build-vention,” a martial arts business convention that was held in rural Alabama and had participants raising money for --and then building --homes and other structures to benefit people in need. His efforts in Alabama brought a quarter of a million dollars in donations and was a catalyst for more than 40,000 man-hours of volunteer labor.

Now retired from consulting, Tom is working on his Bachelor of Fine Arts, with a specialty in printmaking at Boise State University.