Kim Sang Hyun is 56 years old, lives in a basement apartment in Queens and regularly drives to Florida and back to get plants for stores in New York.

He is also a man with a vision.

For the last 30 years, he has almost single-handedly labored to bring the sport of ssireum, a 1,700-year-old form of Korean wrestling, to the United States. In this task he has been undaunted.

“So many Korean-American kids who are born in America or come when they are young don’t know much about Korean culture,” he said. “Even if there is only one student who wants to learn ssireum, I must be there for them.”