SAN JOSE — Yoshihiro Uchida, a San Jose State graduate and erstwhile Spartans coach who overcame World World II-era prejudices to elevate judo in America, died Thursday morning. He was 104 years old.
San Jose State’s judo program and the United States Judo Federation announced Uchida’s passing. He was surrounded by family.
The man known as “Yosh” was a fixture at San Jose State over eight decades while turning the school into a national power in the martial art that made its Olympic debut at the 1964 Tokyo Games.
The 5-foot-5-inch black belt organized the inaugural collegiate national championship in 1960, leading San Jose State to its first of more than 40 titles. He turned the South Bay into a judo grooming ground that has spawned numerous Olympians, including retired U.S. senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colorado.
Uchida, also a prominent San Jose businessman who helped promote Japantown, had attended every Summer Olympics except the 2008 Beijing Games and the 2020 Tokyo Games, since serving as America’s coach 60 years ago.
“Going to the 1964 Olympics is something that I treasure,” Uchida told this newspaper during a 2 ½-hour conversation a month shy of his 95th birthday.
“Here I am representing a country that had thrown my parents into internment camps.”
Uchida was born April 1, 1920, in Calexico, but spent his youth in Garden Grove, where his family grew strawberries and tomatoes after giving up dairy farming in the Imperial Valley.
One of four children of Japanese immigrants, Uchida worked on the family farm and attended programs at local community centers to learn about his ancestral culture. Uchida took up judo at age 10.
“We enjoyed football, softball and all the American sports,” Uchida recalled. “But this is not what our parents wanted us to do.”
By the time Uchida graduated from Garden Grove High School he had embraced the martial art, saying, “I enjoyed throwing big guys.” He had no idea how judo would transform his life.
All Uchida knew was he wanted to do more than the backbreaking life of tomato and strawberry farming. He asked his parents if he could go to college.
They agreed to let him attend Fullerton Junior College but Uchida wasn’t motivated there. After one semester, a roommate suggested they enroll at San Jose State.
“Where’s that?” Uchida asked.
“They got a teacher’s college and a good football team,” his roommate replied.
Uchida was sold on the idea of watching college football.
Yoshihiro “Yosh” Uchida, center, chats with Victoria Taketa, right, and Kathy Sakamoto, left, after the 40th Annual San Jose Day of Remembrance at the San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin in San Jose, Calif., on Sunday, Feb. 16, 2020. The event commemorates the anniversary of the signing of Executive Order 9066. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
He began the chemical engineering program at San Jose State in 1940. Soon, Uchida became a student-coach of the school’s judo program.
After that, he was recruited by the college wrestling team. Uchida recalled playing basketball at the school gymnasium with roommates when a wrestler approached the slight freshman.
The student asked if Uchida …read more
Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment
