Felix Nichalson thinks his love for physical activity probably began when he was a youngster in Cincinnati.

"Fighting was a way of life then," he recalled yesterday. "I had to fight to get back and forth to school. If you wanted to keep your lunch, or the change in your pockets, you had to fight."

Since that time, Nichalson has had more diversified experience in fighting and body building than anyone in the State of Ohio.

For starters, he was an excellent boxer who won both professional and amateur championships and spent two years as a sparring partner for Rocky Marciano.

Turning for a time to weight lifting, he won several titles -- once dead lifting 658 pounds. When he concentrated on body building, he was awarded the Mr. Ohio, Mr. Midwest and Mr. Bronze titles.

It was during a four-year hitch in the Navy, however, that he got hooked on the facet of physical activity that takes up most of his time now -- karate.

Nichalson, who admits to 49 years but looks not a day over 35, has hung his hat at the Tang Soo Do Karate Academy on Salem Avenue for the last few years, but he's been in the teaching business off and on for two decades.

"I started in 1955 or '56," he recalled. "I had boxed for 10 years (under the name Felix Antonio) and I decided to get into something less demanding."

Nichalson opened a karate studio on Germantown Street, the first black man to do so in Dayton. At the time he was holding a job at the American Health Studio. One of the other instructors was Debbie Drake, who later pioneered televised fitness instruction for women with a national show.

"She went on to make a million dollars, and I'm still here," said Nichalson, who doesn't seem to regret his lengthy stay in Dayton.

"This is my life," he says. "Happiness is fitness. Fitness is happiness. Without your health, you have nothing."

Nichalson is certainly fit. He is a solid six-foot, 200 pounder with 18 in. biceps, a 48 in. chest and a 33 in. waist. He is muscular, but not obnoxiously so.

"Muscles are only good if they're usable," he says. "If you have a lot of muscle, you've got to use it or it will become excess baggage ... fat."

His studio is a reflection of his experiences. There are facilities for weight lifting, boxing, and karate. Whatever your bag, you'll find it there.

"We have a lot of dropouts here," he admitted. "We don't mess around people who aren't serious. If a fellow comes in here to fool around, he's wasting my time and his. They come here to work -- not play."

Nichalson's first experience with karate was in Japan, but it was in the West that he decided the Korean version (Tang Soo Do) was better. It was in West Dayton.

"A fellow named Robert Thompson, who was stationed at Wright Patterson AFB, came out to my school," Nichalson recalled. "He had just been in Seoul, Korea, and he started teaching me Tang Soo Do."

What Nichalson liked about Tang Soo Do was that it involved more foot techniques than other methods of self protection.

"You're able to defend yourself better at a distance with the feet, once you're trained," he said. "The hands are better at close range. Tang Soo Do is hand foot action."

Of course, if his clients want the REAL hand -- foot action, Nichalson will teach them kick boxing.

"You go for the knockout in kickboxing," said Felix, who has few peers in that sport despite his age. "Anything goes. You can kick, elbow, or use the knee to the groin. The rules say you have to kick once, then hit twice with the hands."

Having boxed more than 100 rounds with the legendary Marciano when the "Brockton Blockbuster" was training for bouts with Archie Moore, Ezzard Charles, and Oscar Bonavena Nichalson has demonstrated no such fear of getting hit.

But he doesn't exactly enjoy it.

Explaining why his face doesn't bear the scars that a man with his background is supposed to have, Nichalson said, "If you're smart, you duck the punches. Your not supposed to let a guy hit you."