Uchida 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, where he coached the…
San Jose State University judo coach Yoshihiro Uchida smiles after being honored for 70 years of service coaching judo for the University, at the Diaz Compean Student Union at San Jose State University, in San Jose, on Thursday, April 5, 2017. 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.
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. 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.
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.Then another man asked if Uchida knew anything about judo. Not much, Uchida said. In a strange historical twist, Yoshihiro Uchida Hall — now San Jose State’s dojo for judo — was used as a Santa Clara County processing center for interns. Uchida’s parents were sent to Poston, Arizona. His brothers landed at the Tule Lake Relocation Center in the eastern Sierra. His sister and her husband were interned in Idaho.
Uchida said then-wrestling coach Sam Della Maggiore, who later would serve as a San Jose councilman and Santa Clara County supervisor, offered to let him stay on his farm not far from campus. “What are you going to do to me if I grab you by the collar?” the student asked, then swung the instructor in the air.
With guidance from Henry Stone, Cal’s judo and wrestling coach, Uchida created an organized system that turned the martial art into a sport. By 1953, he had done enough to persuade Amateur Athletic Union officials to sanction it. He founded the Japanese American Chamber of Silicon Valley in 1996 and the National Collegiate Judo Association.
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