History of Rising Star

                Mu-Gil Lee started Taekwondo in the early 1950s, studying under Master Chung Chil Kim in the Sang Mu Kwan system.  He eventually earned the title of “First Instructor” with the Korean Navy and Marines from 1958 through 1966.  In 1970, he went to Europe to teach the NATO forces, which is where he met John George (a captain in the U.S. Army)  who brought him to Bloomington, Indiana, in 1972. 
At the time, Master Lee was a 7th Dan and one of the highest ranking black belts in Taekwondo in the United States. 
 

                Mu-Gil Lee opened the first Korean martial arts school in Bloomington, Indiana in the very early 1970s.  Mu-Gil Lee was greatly responsible for the spread of Taekwondo in Indiana.  Not only did he open a series of schools, but he also brought a host of other Korean instructors to Indiana.  He first brought over Il-Sik Kim and Ki-Duk Lee, but later brought over Masters Kwak, Ko and Sa as well.  
 He also helped Dexter & Patty Grove open a school in Dyer, Indiana, in 1983, which they named Rising Star.  Mu-Gil Lee himself was last heard of in Austin, Texas, where he started the Master Martial Arts Academy in 1990.  In 1993, he returned to Korea to retire.

Grandmaster Dexter Grove began his training in Bloomington in 1977, under Mu Gil Lee and Ki-Duk Lee.  In 1983, Master Grove, at that time was a third degree blackbelt and both a sparring and forms champion, opened up the Rising Star Taekwondo Academy in Dyer, Indiana.  In 1989, Grandmaster Grove began training under Master Michael Willoughby who completely revamped our system.  Master Willoughby brought us the muscle and bone alignment concepts as well as other changes to our curriculum. Grandmaster Grove relocated Rising Star in 1996 to the Midlothian, Illinois park district.  He currently holds a seventh degree blackbelt and continues to train and develop blackbelts.  

                Master Brent Messmer has been mentored by Master Grove since starting his training, at age 12, in 1987.  Master Messmer received his first degree blackbelt in 1989 and continues to uphold the traditions of quality technique, skill and winning championships.  Rising Star II, in Portage, Indiana was established in 2008, with the goal of promoting effective Taekwondo and continuing with the legacy of quality.  ​Master Brent Messmer received his sixth degree blackbelt certification in 2022.  

Master Dylan Gluszek began training with Master Grove in 2009. Master Gluszek eventually grew to love the art and later decided that he wanted to be a lifelong martial arts practitioner. Dylan has studied under Grandmaster Grove since 2009 and he still studies under him today. In 2021 Dylan left Illinois to go to college in Florida and while in college Dylan was able to continue his martial arts journey. He achieved this by not only practicing on his own time but also by taking some classes from Bill “Superfoot” Wallace and training under Sifu Vito at Elite Martial Arts in Melbourne, FL. In July of 2025 Master Gluszek began spreading the Rising Star tradition of quality by teaching out of another Martial Arts school in Highland, IN.