Good Job Out There, Jason

Without a doubt in my mind, Jason David Frank was one of the greatest martial arts stars in Hollywood. Though he's best known for his badass run on Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers in the '90s, leaving behind a legacy that inspired millions of kids to follow in his footsteps—including me. When he tragically died at the age of 49 this past Saturday, I returned to a photo that I've had hanging up on my wall since I was four years old.

I'm a tiny little kid, just in my early days of fandom, posing for a picture with my hero. I attended a martial arts class he set up for fledgling rangers—one that he still showed up for even though he was in crutches after a nasty skydiving fall. At the time, I was totally starstruck. Because Jason David Frank (who really was a skilled kick-punch guy in real life; more on that later) was doing things on TV that no kid had ever seen before. He summoned massive, mechanical dinosaurs with a futuristic knife that doubled as a flute. The man beat down all five Power Rangers on his own, and still won their respect enough to later lead them. He had children running around the playground screaming, "It's Morphin' Time!" like that was a normal thing to say.

"Back when you were kids, you can tell when an adult is bad or good; and I think people can feel that I’m genuine," Frank once told ScienceFiction.com. "It’s the best thing in the world."

After the event, he signed a photo of us, writing, "good job out there."

To many, the actor was known as the most popular Power Ranger of the franchise's nearly 30-year-long history. Combining elements of martial arts, Japanese Super Sentai stories, and massive megazords full of camp, Power Rangers truly gained steam when it introduced Frank's character, Tommy Oliver—an evil Green Ranger that would eventually turn good and make friends with the core group. By 2001, the massive media and toy franchise generated over $6 billion in sales, Forbes reported. Tommy Oliver went from a ten-episode-arc guest star to a recurring regular, evolving from the Green Ranger to White, Red, and eventually the Black Dino Ranger. (I know. It was cool as hell). Unlike some of his co-stars on TV, Frank was a real martial artist and stunt fanatic, taking inspiration from Jackie Chan, Tom Cruise, and Jean-Claude Van Damme. He had experience in Aikido, Brazillian Jiu-Jutsu, Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do, Judo, MMA, Muay Thai, Taekwondo, and Wing Chun. Later, he started his own Rising Sun Karate school and signature Toso Kune Do style of American Karate.

Now, over 20 years later after I crossed paths with Jason, he's the one I want to commend for a good job out there. Along with millions of other kids, he inspired me to become more confident, driven, and dedicated. I applied myself to martial arts, even at a young age, and eventually got my second-degree black belt in Tang Soo Do—a South Korean form of self-defense. It's something, to do this day, that I never would have imagined I could accomplish. And even though I did it for myself—and my mom, who never returned to martial arts after becoming pregnant—I did it because of him. As the social media tributes pour in, I can see that I'm nowhere near alone in my experience watching Tommy Oliver on television and film for over 20 years.

"I guess it's time to say goodbye again," Frank said in the tenth-anniversary Power Rangers special that declared him the greatest ranger of all time. "May the power protect ya'll."

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