Jim has since appeared on multiple covers and in hundreds of articles over the past forty years, and has received several awards for his efforts and contributions.
[2] Jim Arvanitis was born in the Greater Boston area, the son of a Greek-immigrant father who instilled ethnic pride in him from an early age.
Arvanitis was a decorated high school athlete in track and basketball for which he set a city league record for points scored in a single game (68) and in a season.
Arvanitis' interest in grappling brought him in contact with many former professional wrestlers from the old NWA and World Wrestling Federation (now WWE) including the likes of Lou Thesz, Bruno Sammartino, and Walter "Killer" Kowalski.
Arvanitis later took an interest in martial arts but rather than studying the more popular Asian styles he opted for Thai boxing (muay-Thai), savate, and combat judo.
He opened his first Spartan Academy in 1971 in the greater Boston area, and continually gave public demonstrations throughout much of New England to attract students.
[5] Owing to his Greek heritage, his effort to reinstate pankration was only partially due to ethnic pride but more to his sincere desire to forge a new path in the martial arts by combining things that worked and discarding those which did not.
There were no prearranged forms, bowing, or belt ranks but an emphasis on conditioning and applying one's tools against a live opponent in hard contact sparring.
Arvanitis's system was geared to reality-based street fighting but was very similar to today's MMA in that it included standup and ground tactics, along with an amalgam of strikes, joint locks, takedowns, throws, and anything else that he felt was effective.
[6] In 1973, prominent martial arts journalist and weapons expert Massad Ayoob learned of Arvanitis and approached him for an interview.
They teamed up to do a story for Black Belt magazine and, at Ayoob's urging, Arvanitis headed to Los Angeles to demonstrate at their offices.
Arvanitis was content that the controversy he started made people at least think about the possibility, and not merely cling to the common belief that it was the Asians who were the sole inventors of martial arts.
In 1992, Arvanitis prepared military special forces in hand-to-hand close quarter combat for Operation Desert Storm.
[10] Mas Ayoob once stated in another 1970s article that "Jim Arvanitis was possibly the finest total combat athlete that America had yet produced.
[12] Jim Arvanitis has received numerous international Hall of Fame induction awards for his accomplishments including Historical Figure, Grandmaster of the Year, and Living Legend.