Yoshihiro Uchida, Peerless Judo Coach, Is Dead at 104

Yoshihiro Uchida in 1993. Under his tutelage the men’s judo team at San Jose State University won 52 national championships in 62 years, and the much newer women’s team won 26. He was one of the winningest coaches ever, of any sport.Yoshihiro Uchida, the longtime San Jose State University coach who helped establish judo as one of the most popular martial arts in America — and who was widely regarded as the best college judo coach in history — died on June 27 at his home in Saratoga, Calif. He was 104.

His daughter Lydia Uchida-Sakai confirmed the death.

The son of Japanese immigrants, Uchida, who went by the nickname Yosh, began coaching judo at San Jose State in the 1940s, while he was still…