By P.C. Staff
Yosh Uchida died June 27 at his home in Saratoga, Calif., about 13 miles San Jose State University, where he put his mark on American sports — and where in 1997 SJSU feted the 10th-dan judo sensei by naming a building after him: Yoshihiro Uchida Hall. He was 104.
Some press reports listed his height as 5 feet, 2 inches. Others added three more inches. It almost doesn’t matter: By any yardstick, Yosh Uchida was a sequoia, judo’s Japanese American Johnny Appleseed, a San Jose community businessman-turned-benefactor, and a much-honored icon.
Uchida was born April 1, 1920, in Calexico, Calif., to Suye and Shikazo Uchida. Like the chili peppers, lettuce and tomatoes his farm family cultivated on leased land, he grew up Garden Grove, Calif. At his parents’ insistence, he and his brothers began training in judo.
After completing high school, Uchida attended Fullerton Junior College, transferring in 1940 to San Jose State College to study chemical engineering and help coach the school’s judo students. He would also receive his draft notice prior to his nation’s Dec. 8, 1941, declaration of war on his parent’s homeland following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. In the Army, Uchida would eventually be assigned to Fort Meade, S.D., where he trained to become a medical lab tech.
After serving, Uchida rematriculated to SJSC and earned a degree in biology in 1947. He also returned to judo, now as a coach. But before he could begin his push to have the Amateur Athletic Union to recognize judo as a collegiate sport, he needed a job.
Enter San Jose wrestling coach Sam Della Maggiore — later a City of San Jose councilman and Santa Clara County supervisor — who helped him land a job at a local hospital. That would lead to him later becoming San Jose Hospital’s manager of medical technology — and by 1956, set the stage for his wife and he to found what would become Laboratory Services Inc. In 1989, the Uchidas sold it for $30 million.
In 1964, when Japan was the host nation for the Summer Olympic Games and judo was introduced as an Olympic sport, Uchida coached the U.S. team, a duty he would repeat on several more occasions.
Uchida’s judo résumé led to several honors, including entry into the San Jose Sports Authority Hall of Fame and SJSU’s Legends Hall of Fame, the Tower Award — SJSU’s highest award — for his decades of service to SJSU and from the Japanese government, the Order of the Sacred Treasure with Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon.
The sale of Uchida’s Laboratory Services Inc. led to him forming with other investors the San Jose Nihonmachi Corp., which went on to develop housing and commercial buildings in a drive to revitalize San Jose’s Japantown.
In addition to being predeceased by his wife, he was also predeceased by daughter Janice Uchida and siblings Isamu (Sam), Suehiro (Henry), Shikao (George) and Kazuko. He is survived by daughters Lydia Uchida Sakai (Steve Sakai), Aileen Uchida (Steven Shimizu), grandsons Michael Sakai and Kyle Sakai (Anh Thu Tran) and granddaughter Amelia The Sakai, many nieces and nephews and grandnieces and grandnephews, as well as judo students, alumni and friends.
A public memorial is being scheduled for early fall. To view a video about Uchida, visit tinyurl.com/4bx7z4vp.
