Red Rock Resort casino dealer to tackle karate championship

Many patrons at Red Rock Resort likely only know Dennis Franklin, 44, as a table games dealer. But he has a talent that's taking him all the way to Tokyo later this month to represent the United States in the 11th World Karate Championships, held every four years.

The tournament is Oct. 31 and Nov. 1. There are 208 fighters, and it's an elimination tournament with no weight limits.

Franklin, who was born in Youngstown, Ohio, lived up and down the East Coast from Pennsylvania to Florida. He started karate at age 5.

"That desire? I had it since I was a kid. It's been my whole life," he said.

He started competing in 1990 and credited Chuck Muckinhaupt, with whom he began studying that year in Meadville, Pa., with taking him to the next level.

Franklin, at 5 feet 8 inches tall and 195 pounds, said karate is different when training or teaching versus facing an opponent at a competition.

"When I'm fighting, you want to do it to the best of your ability," he said. "The intensity of it is the difference and the nerves, of course. Your stomach gets jittery, and you can't wait to get down and get busy."

He estimates he's won 30 trophies, including the Professional Karate Committee national title in the mid-1990s.

"The first trophy that I won at 19 means the most to me," he said of the Pennsylvania state kickboxing championship. "Because it was the first one that I won. It means a lot to me. I've kept it 25 years."

Since 2012, he's been training at Shinkyokushinkai Karate Las Vegas, 7171 N. Hualapai Way, under sensei Luis "Pipo" Torregrosa.

He said many instructors have been influential, but Muckinhaupt probably made the biggest impression on him.

"The best advice was from Chuck: Stick to the basics," Franklin said. "All the fancy kicks and stuff — in a real fight, they don't work. Just stick to the basics: your front kick, side kicks, round kicks, combinations. They're the most effective."

His wife of more than 20 years, Alicia, said she feels safe with him at her side.

"It's nice to have a strong man, you know?" she said. "You always feel protected."

Franklin's training is never ending. He starts at the gym for a workout on the elliptical and with weights. He swims laps.

"It's like running sprints," he said. "I swim as fast as I can."

In the afternoon, he trains in the dojo.

He also has a passion for Lone Mountain. Anyone who's tackled it knows its elevation gain can be killer. Franklin? He runs it.

"I go straight up and run back down," he said. "I like double timing it."

When the mountain was off limits while the county upgraded the park that surrounds it, he moved his vertical training to a detention basin near Tenaya Way and Gowen Road, running up the steps for a total of 1,000 stairs followed by wind sprints.

He gets off his shift at 3 a.m. To unwind, he takes his dog for a half-hour run.

He said he enjoys being a dealer and started at Texas Station, then moved to Green Valley Ranch before Red Rock Resort. An issue he has is dealing with smoke.

"Luckily, the ventilation is good in there," he said. "I also talk about my martial arts, so a lot of them try to blow it (the smoke) up, but I'm sure it affects me somehow."

Franklin has competed in Costa Rico and Panama. In November, he'll be fighting in Montreal.

To advance to the international competition, he had to win a tournament held in January at the Longevity Center in Henderson. There, he fought contestants from different parts of the country.

"It was awesome. At 44 years old, I was fighting kids in their 20s," he said. "They're much younger than me, and I was probably not expected to win. I'm fighting for the world title now."

His daughter, Jasmyn, 23, plans to travel with him.

Did he ever think he'd get to this point of competing for a world title?

"I always hoped I would, but once I got into dealing and I got older, it wasn't that I didn't think I could do it, but I didn't think the opportunity would come to me," he said.

— To reach Summerlin Area View reporter Jan Hogan, email jhogan@viewnews.com or call 702-387-2949.