Utah grandma, 83, receives karate black belt from Chuck Norris

SALT LAKE CITY (KSL via CNN) — Carole Taylor may be 83, but she now has a fifth-degree black belt in karate — an honor she received from Chuck Norris himself.

The Utah woman’s passion for martial arts began 15 years ago at the age of 68, when she started taking her 11-year-old granddaughter to lessons.

“I thought: ‘Wow, this is mental and physical. This would be a good thing for someone my age to do. … So I asked the teacher if it would be all right if I joined the class, and so that’s why I did it,” she recalled.

Taylor learned karate alongside her granddaughter.

“We both got our first-degree black belts at about the same time,” she said.

On Saturday, that granddaughter was there to watch Taylor show off her skills in front of dozens at Chuck Norris’ annual United Fighting Arts Federation International Training Convention. For her demonstration, Taylor chose to show forms of karate including traditional hand techniques, stances, footwork, targeting, focusing and power.

She performed to the Beach Boys’ song “Little Old Lady from Pasadena,” because that’s where she grew up. Taylor fooled the crowd by using her bow as a cane to hobble onto the center of the mat, prompting laughter and smiles from Norris and the rest of the crowd, a video of the event shows. She then straightened her back and began a display of powerful stances and fierce facial expressions. Taylor received a standing ovation from Norris and many in attendance.

Afterwards, Norris awarded her a fifth-degree black belt — an accomplishment that takes years to reach in the Chuck Norris System.

“I was so excited. I was able to bow to him, turn around, he put (a black gi) on me, I turned back around and bowed, and then he grabbed me and hugged me so hard, he actually pulled me off the ground almost … my one foot went up,” Taylor said.