Green "T" Thomas Waggener III

Green Thomas “T” Waggener III, age 67, passed away January 8, 2020 in Koganei-shi, Tokyo, Japan. T was born in Tullahoma, TN to Mr. and Mrs. Green Waggener, Jr. He graduated from Little Flower Catholic School, attended McGill High School, and graduated from Murphy High School in Mobile, Alabama. While in high school, T threw newspapers for the Mobile Press Register, and was a lifeguard for the City of Mobile and the U.S. Coast Guard. After his first year of college, he hitchhiked across the country to California to successfully “meet a girl with flowers in her hair.” When he returned to Mobile, he dug into his classes at the University of South Alabama which began his lifelong pursuit of education driven by his “insatiable curiosity.” His first degree in Geography from the University of South Alabama in led to a variety of experiences that included original research in Cayman Brac, British West Indies, and Guatemala resulting in his first published abstract. He returned to Guatemala where he hitchhiked to Zunil to collect locally made clothes to sell in America. He met ‘Elvis’ in Mobile while working for the Mobile Auditorium, then again he hitchhiked across America where travel included hitching through America to Canada from Calgary to Manning on the Peace River, to Montreal and back to Mobile. In Idaho he helped round up sheep, bareback, on a U.S. Army mare. He worked briefly as a histology technician at Doctors Hospital/Pathology Lab, the South Alabama Regional Planning Commission as a Land-Use Technician, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Core Drill Operator, and Bhate Engineering as a Soil Science Laboratory Supervisor. Gaining an education degree from the University of South Alabama, his initial teaching experience started in the Mobile County Public School System teaching in 4th grade at E.R. Dixon for 2 years, Jefferson County Public School for one year, then Mobile County Training School where he earned tenure and taught Mathematics and Science. During that period, he earned a master’s degree at the United States Sports Academy in Fitness Management and a minor in Sports Medicine. Continuing his commitment to health and fitness, he earned a Masters of Public Health and a Ph.D. in Exercise Physiology from the University of Southern Mississippi. With his doctorate, he first worked at the College of Charleston, SC, as a professor teaching a variety of undergraduate courses in Health Promotion. Next, he attended Florida State University where he earned a MS in Nutrition. He gained further experience at Valdosta State University, GA where he earned tenure as an Associate Professor as Director of the Human Performance Laboratory working on the University Institutional Review Board for use of human subjects in research and was Chair for two years. He was chosen to participate in the inaugural class of the Georgia Board of Regents Executive Leadership. He also earned tenure and Associate Professor status. After Valdosta, he worked at the University of West Florida in the Department of Exercise Science and Community Health teaching Exercise Science and Research courses to undergraduate and graduate students. He has published numerous peer-reviewed articles and various other publications in areas of personal interest; many can be found on the internet.

Since his early years beginning when he was 12 years old, T studied Japanese martial arts. His first experience was two years in Judo at the Mobile Downtown YMCA. T began studying Shotokan Karate his first semester at the University of South Alabama. He never stopped training, with a final achievement of 5th degree. His teaching specialty was Collegiate Karate. He taught Karate at University of South Alabama, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Spring Hill College, University of Southern Mississippi, The College of Charleston, and Valdosta State University. He produced a biography on his Sensei, Mr. Takayuki Mikami, 9th dan Japan Karate Association. From 1965, Sensei Mikami developed Karate-Do in the U.S. Southern region by creating the All South Karate Federation and hosting the annual All South Tournament in New Orleans, now the longest running traditional Karate tournament in the United States. From for almost two decades, T was a ‘visiting’ member of the South Atlantic Karate Association under the leadership of Sensei Shigeru Takashina, 8th dan.

T met Ayako Hisamatsu at the University of Southern Mississippi in 1992 and later married. In 2017, they moved to Koganei-City, Tokyo, Japan. They have traveled extensively in central Japan. With Ayako’s help, T returned two ancient Japanese swords to the Tanzan Jinja (shrine), near Osaka. He found the swords in a knife shop in Mobile, AL. One of the swords was signed and dated 1441 and both had red lacquer kanji on them attesting to their origin in Japan. T contacted the shrine and successfully returned them. Originally, the swords were removed by Japanese soldiers during World War II, captured by American soldiers and taken to the USA, then put up for sale.

T was preceded in death by his parents, Green Waggener Jr. and Anna Waggener. Survivors include his wife Ayako Waggener; sisters Mary (Larry) Inman and Anna Waggener and brother Harry Waggener; other relatives including Rachel (Bill) Mitcheson, Jessica Inman, Terry Waggener, Cody Waggener, Vance Thompson, Allen Thompson; and numerous friends across the globe.

A Chapel Service Celebration of Life will be held in Mobile, AL, on March 7, 2020, 10:00 am, at Pine Crest Funeral Home, Mobile, Alabama. In lieu of flowers (T was allergic to pollen), the family requests memorials be sent to Little Flower Catholic School, 2103 Government Street, Mobile, AL 36606, phone 251-479-5761, where T served more masses in two years than there are days in two years and where he donated his collection of fossils and his father’s books. http://www.school.littleflower.cc/