Born on August 14, 1934, Jersey City NJ. In 1952 he joined the United States Navy to be stationed in Japan, where he was to meet Master Richard Kim, who would take him on as a student and also introduce him to his other two teachers Gogen Yamaguchi and Masutatsu (Mas) Oyama. Urban spent 8 years in Japan during which he was the first occidental to compete in the All Japan College Karate Championships. Urban was disqualified for unnecessary roughness.